Ford Capri Hall of Fame

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IFHP
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Ford Capri Hall of Fame

Post by IFHP »

Here is a recent Press Release from the Ford Capri Hall of Fame

Capri Club North America
The Ford Capri Hall Of Fame


September 6, 2010

Ford Stylist & Designer Phil Clark Inducted Into Hall Of Fame


Phil Clark, born in Iowa and raised in Nashville TN, was the chief exterior stylist of the European Ford Capri Mk1, 1969-1974.

Code-named GBX, his drawings and clay models for Project "Colt", the name given to Capri preproduction planning within Ford, range from 1964 through 1966. Early Clark renderings show nearly all the classical Capri hallmarks: Long hood, Short rear deck, Fastback pillars with notchback rear window, Squared-off rear quarter, Upswept front valence, Dramatic side crease, etc.

Clark graduated from the Pasadena CA Art Center College Of Design in 1958. He worked at GM immediately afterwards, until 1962 when he went to Ford in Dearborn working for the legendary chief Gene Bordinat. There he worked as a stylist for Lincoln-Mercury in the Design Center. He was involved in the Mustang I concept car of 1962, and created the iconic "Galloping Horse" Mustang logo used on the concept and production Mustangs ever since.

In February 1964, Clark was transferred to Ford of England's Research & Engineering Center in Essex, working for John Fallis and Roy Haynes in Design, and Stan Gillen, the American CEO of Ford of Britain. There, Clark worked on many other projects in exterior design such as the Ford Transit and the Zodiac-Zephyr. He also contributed to designs coming out of the Merkenich studios of Ford of Germany, run by Uwe Bahnsen, and later Hans Muth.

Clark died in 1968 at age 32 of kidney failure. His daughter Holly Clark, two years old at the time of his death, has since reconstructed much of Phil Clark's career from his surviving art folios, Ford Motor Company research (courtesy of Bill Ford, J Mays, and Jack Telnack), and Clark's former work associates at Ford.

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Contact: Norm Murdock, Executive, Ford Capri Hall Of Fame, blitz@teamblitz.com
European Ford Collector
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