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The Ford Interceptor


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Just a quick note on that one:

 

The Interceptor was designed by Freeman Thomas, and it has a lot of J Mays in it.

 

The MKR, OTOH, is probably pure Moray Callum.

 

(there will be a blog entry on this shortly).

 

I am trying to figure out which parts were designed by Jay-May... Maybe the squircle taillamps... I dunno.. But at least I don't see anything copied from a VW...

 

Anyway, Ford is gonna completely loose credibility of they don't make good on this concept...

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http://blueovalblogs.com/blogs/?p=76

 

J Mays & Freeman Thomas collaborated on most of the late 90s VW/Audi stuff.

 

These two, like Ian Callum, are designers' designers.

 

Makes you wonder if the Ford designs we are seeing now would have ended up up VW's if they stayed there... The 3-bar grille probably just escaped being put on a Jetta instead of a Fusion...

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After over looking at the dimensions of this vehicle, the hieght in particular @54.8" This vehicles sits very low to the ground, and may not take on any of the DCX 300 looks at all.

 

I mean come on, the overall dimension alone put this car in whole new ( white space possibly) category.

Edited by J2D
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After over looking at the dimensions of this vehicle, the hieght in particular @54.8" This vehicles sits very low to the ground, and may not take on any of the DCX 300 looks at all.

 

I mean come on, the overall dimension alone put this car in whole new ( white space possibly) category.

 

 

Whoops! Check the numbers, its just about the same size(length) as the 500. It is a foot longer thatn the Stang, about a foot shorter than the Vic, and the same wheelbase as the 300(five inches longer). Checking the width....

 

Overall length Height Wheelbase Width Track F/R

Interceptor 201.6 54.8 120.8 76.4 66.5/67.8

300 C 196.8 58.4 120 74.1 63/63.1

500 200.7 60.4 112.9 74.5 64.6/65

 

New skin is a pain in the ---

Edited by JETSOLVER
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Though I do think the Interceptor in some ways is an answer to the 300, I don't think it was inspired by it. What I like about this concept, as opposed to the 300, is the Mustang-like proportions with the long hood and short deck. The 300 has a short deck too, but the Interceptor's more steeply raked glass at the front and rear of the greenhouse give it a racier look. From the photos, I am really impressed with the surface detail and smoothness. It looks like a pool you could fall into. Whatever one's opinion, it looks like Ford has accomplished what it intended which was to create a strong reaction be it positive or negative. In a production version, I think the greenhouse would have to be a bit taller, but overall I really like this design.

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I got the press release last night and decided to wait and have another look at it this AM.

 

If this sort of car had been out for a couple of years already and was on a second styling generation, I think it would seem fresh and exciting. As it is, it seems sadly like a 300 redeux, as the single most notable thing about it is the short greenhouse, which is make pretty obvious by the slab sides. At least to the non-enthusisast observer. Having said that, and realizing that either the mustang greenhouse has been used wholesale on the much larger concept, or having been reduced from what is now being used, if they made the beltline a bit lower the sides still work. The front and rear overhangs speak of a classic and handsome proportion, the rear of the car looks like the most thought about domestic rear treatment in a LONG time. Shame that the liftover looks to be a non starter, and the cut lines for a trunk would just kill it. Good on them for the side to side strip that makes it look much shorter visually than anything out there with the exception of the Challenger. Its an easy trick, wonder why more don't use it. The lights are gorgeous!

 

The front is squircle overload however. If you need an example of using a theme shape with taste(and restraint), think the last Lexus SC 300/400 and the hood/front. This is just over done and the thick grill bars make it worse for the same reason the thin one on the rear works. The bulge is just that a bulge. More work needed on both the idea and the excecution. Look to the 96-98 SVT COBRA hood for an example of a power bulge done right. I would ask them to send the front for a rethink, perhaps a little taper to the nose would help.

 

I like it overall, and if it was going into production this June, I think it would stand a chance of restablishing Ford in the large sedan field as a styling leader. As it is, those who don't remember the 427(pretty safe to assume thats a lot of people) will assume its a ripoff of the 300, and pan it just because. Call it the unintended consequences of NOT following through on a styling exercise.

 

As for using the Cammer, thats just disgusting. That motor was announced years ago with a bunch of hooey about "patented spray bore technology" and that also was bunk as this is an iron sleeve engine. They choose to let the Mod die on the vine from lack of development(the 3 valve Stang/truck engine is an example vs the 550 horse Grand-Am 5 litre engine). If they had put the kind of attention into the Mod that the 4 valve GT heads and the 2000 COBRA "R" showed was possible, we wouldn't be waiting on an entirely old/new H/B engine series now to save the company. Don't forget the compromise that they made with the Mod series by trying to make it fit ever damm thing they make, whether it used it or not. That didn't work very well.

 

 

Whoops! Check the numbers, its just about the same size(length) as the 500. It is a foot longer thatn the Stang, about a foot shorter than the Vic, and the same wheelbase as the 300(five inches longer). Checking the width....

 

Overall length Height Wheelbase Width Track F/R

Interceptor 201.6 54.8 120.8 76.4 66.5/67.8

300 C 196.8 58.4 120 74.1 63/63.1

500 200.7 60.4 112.9 74.5 64.6/65

 

New skin is a pain in the ---

 

Sixcav?

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kinda like the taillights, wish they were even more square like a 66 or better yet a 69...

 

hate the grille.

 

I cannot understand trying to plaster the same big chrome nose on every car they build except the mustang...say screw the aerodynamics a little bit and give that nose some character(recessed grille,'corners' on the fenders). with the 'universal nose' mentality Ford seems to have, folks tend to either like or hate the design- not much in between...the mustangs nose showed that perhaps alternate styling could be appealing too...or didnt they notice that.

If they'd have stuck that nose on the mustang in 05, there certainly would NOT have been waiting lines to get them.

 

overall the 427 I think looked better, but they still need to rethink the nose...big flat and shiny just dont cut it for me.

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I do not know why they make such great concepts, and then do not even attempt to build it!!!

 

Face it, this will never make production.

 

They have to build it, or something like it. The fact that they're showing a sedan on this platform at all is an acknowledgment of this reality: the one place where "American car" still means something is in mass-market RWD sedans and coupes. Chrysler's already there and GM will be there shortly. Ford has to join in -- or come up with an alternative, somehow.

 

IMO this thing looks great, except for the front end. The truck grill looks stupid on Magnum, but this is worse. A front clip that was proportioned more like the Fusion's would be perfect. Get it done, get it an IRS, give it a heritage name (Galaxie, Fairlane, even LTD would work) and get it to dealers, and you'll start stealing Charger sales immediately -- and generating lots of new ones from people who can't abide the Five Hundred's dullness or the Charger's looks and iffy interior.

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I do not know why they make such great concepts, and then do not even attempt to build it!!!

 

Face it, this will never make production.

 

:stirpot:

 

I guarantee it gets built. Horbury said last year that Ford was done building concepts that never made it to production like the 427 and Continental and Navicross. And there's a new sheriff in town who now holds the purse strings, not the bean counters. It will happen - only question is when and on what platform.

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I also think there is a strong possibility that something like this gets built, especially since it is sitting on the Mustang platform. To accomplish the design they have on an extended version of a chassis that underpins a more affordable car than T-Bird or LS shows a seriousness in the intent to produce. Assuming they do, I suspect that it would be a wonderful way to amortize the costs of a potential IRS since there is this and the Lincoln concept.

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Build it!

 

It already looks like Ford has production in mind. The license plate recess, standard badging, shark tail attenna, and even the cost saving 3 link rear suspension in lieu of an IRS unit are already in place. All they really have to do is make the bumpers crashworthy, add functioning door handles, and swap the 5.0L for a 4.6L 3V (maybe add the 4.0L or the long awaited RWD setup of the 3.5L as a base engine) and the Intercepter is ready to go.

 

I think we are in fact looking at a thinly disguised production model. If not then off to Chevy I go!

 

-Decade long Ford loyalist (3, count them 3 Fords in the driveway) ready to jump ship.

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The only reason it WILL get built, because it's a competition driven product...NOT consumer driven. And again I cringe to think of the final outcome might be. BEing that GM is jumping on the RWD sedan bandwagon, really...Ford needs to answer that as well.

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This is the first concept I've seen from Ford which would truly motivate me to sell both my 1989 LX 5.0 and my commuter Altima, and purchase ONE vehicle for both the commute and the soul. So here it is, Ford -- Do you have the stones to FINALLY proceed with one of these concepts??? I'm sick of concepts from Ford that never see the light of production. Nothing came of the 427 except for the interpretation of the grill and headlights on the acceptable yet non-inspiring Mexican-built Fusion triplets. (While I'm on it, note to Ford -- Changing the grill and taillights does NOT fool the public, a Milan is a Fusion. Damn, they piss me off!) If Ford shows some LEADERSHIP and builds the thing, I will show up with my checkbook. If not, I will drive the Altima until it dies, replace it with an Accord (built by Americans) or slightly used Escape of my own, and sink a little money into the Pony as finances allow. In other words, unless Ford offers something HOT like this, they will get no more of my money for a new car. (I've had 5 Fords, 3 of them new and 2 used).

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