FORD MOTOR COMPANY STYLING CENTER 1961 PROMOTIONAL FILM "THE SECRET DOOR" 88464

This film is an adaptation of a 1961 episode, “The Secret Door,” from Jack Douglas’ series Keyhole for presentation by the Ford Motor Company. Jack Douglas greets the audience from the studio. Viewers see a security man open the door to the Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn, MI Styling Center. William Clay Ford joins Douglas on set for the episode (00:50). Douglas sits and talks with Ford, who is head of product planning and design at the company. The episode shows Greenfield Village (02:19), the first Ford Factory (relocated from Detroit), and the 1903 Ford model as it drives on a road. The episode also shows a 1910 Model T (03:13), a 1929 Model A, and William Clay Ford as he drives a Thunderbird along the Edsel Ford Expressway on his way to work (03:42). He drives through security at the Ford Styling Center. In the Advanced Styling Studio (04:35), men sketch new designs for cars. Ford and a styling executive, Gene Bordinat, look at sketches of new designs. Ford and other members of the Styling Committee review a new design dubbed the Astrion (05:48). A man builds a wooden skeleton for a full-scale clay model of the Astrion (06:10). Men apply warm clay and shape the new design. Inside one of the clay modeler’s homes, viewers see him design clay masks; viewers see inside another designer’s home as he paints. A man makes an interior appliance—a metal door handle—in the metal shop (08:15). Men add lights to the clay model of the Astrion. Mr. Bordinat looks at different fabrics for the car (09:12). Upholsters work on fabrics used in the interior of the car. Men put a thin film of plastic on the clay model to simulate glass windows. Sheets of painted DI-NOC are applied to mimic painting for the body. The Astrion model is presented to the Styling Board (10:40). A rejected model of a car is flipped over and destroyed. A man climbs into a model of a Futura (11:50). The car is tested for its aerodynamics in a massive wind tunnel named Hurricane Road. The Futura is frozen to test its response to sub-freezing temperatures (12:40). A man tests the car’s brake systems, while another tests the decibel levels of the engine. A test driver climbs into a Futura at the Dearborn Proving Ground and drives the car around the high-speed track (14:00). A man works on a delta-shaped model car, modeled after the delta wing (15:05). A toy train is used to test ideas for a compact radar scope (warning device). A man uses a small model of the Delta that features a gyroscope for stability. A man works on a model of the Volante (16:58). Men look at a model “dream” tractor called the Typhoon (18:15). The episode then takes viewers to “Dreamville” (18:48), where they see a number of advanced-design cars on display, including one that looks like a hovercraft and others that look like rockets and jet planes. Douglas and William Clay Ford talk about the future of the car design on the set of Keyhole, concluding the episode.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com