Photos courtesy Wright Auctions.
While scale models from Detroit?s automakers offer significant historic glimpses into the automobile development process and seldom come up for public auction, they rarely warrant headlines by themselves. Exceptions can be made, however, particularly for models that represent the last physical evidence of a lost concept car and that come from the fertile mind of one of Detroit?s leading designers ? as is the case with this model of the Ford Gyron concept car that will head to auction later this year.
In 1956, Alex Tremulis, then head of Ford?s Advanced Studio, conceived of the two-wheeled, gyroscopically stabilized, delta-shaped Gyron as ?a genuine breakthrough that would influence all future car design,? according to Jim and Cheryl Farrell, writing in their book Ford Design Department Concepts and Showcars, 1932-1961. ?He told anyone who would listen that he thought his idea represented the ultimate in aerodynamic design (an overarching philosophy of Tremulis?s throughout his career). Ford Motor Co., on the other hand, thought of the Gyron as a two-passenger showcar only, and never as a predictor of what was to come on production Fords.?
Nevertheless, work began in earnest on the Gyron in 1959, with designers McKinley Thompson, Syd Mead, Bill Dayton, and John Najjar contributing to the final shape of the concept car. Tremulis intended for the Gyron to be fully functional, but after getting a $60,000 quote for a two-foot-diameter gyroscope and figuring it would cost another $75,000 to complete the Gyron as a functioning car (totaling more than $1 million in today?s money), he and Najjar decided to use two outrigger wheels to keep the concept car upright. Electric motors powered the full-size fiberglass concept car to a maximum speed of 5 MPH, and Dayton?s interior featured a center-mounted dial that controlled both speed and direction, theoretically allowing either of the two passengers to drive the car. Ford debuted the Gyron at the New York International Auto Show on April 1, 1961, then the following month moved it to the Ford Rotunda in Dearborn, where it remained until the November 1962 fire that destroyed it and the Rotunda.
According to Wright Auctions, which will handle the sale of the Gyron model, the model made it into the hands of Joe Oros, at the time the head of the Ford design studio. Oros then held on to it until March 2012, when he sold it to the current owner. The model ? which measures 21-1/2 inches long, 11-3/4 inches wide, and 7-1/4 inches tall ? will be among the lots in Wright?s Important Design Auction, scheduled for December 13 at Wright?s Chicago location. For more information, visit Wright20.com.
Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/09/27/ford-gyron-model-to-cross-the-auction-block/
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