Telnack finds it difficult to let go of the car business

Last November, Jack Telnack told his wife that he wanted to do a little market research.

So he drove the black 2002 Thunderbird he had purchased a few days before Thanksgiving from their home in Stuart, Fla., about an hour south to Palm Beach. The plan: lunch at Breakers Hotel, shop on Worth Avenue and gauge the reaction to the T-Bird.

After a short time shopping, Telnack returned and found a crowd around the car. "That to me is market research," the 65-year-old Telnack said. "That tells you if you have a winner. I never had a car with this reaction. It made me feel good."

Telnack, Ford Motor Co.'s former vice president of corporate design, produced a string of winners during a nearly 40-year career at the automaker. His portfolio includes trend-setting vehicles such as the first Ford Fiesta, 1979 Mustang, 1983 Thunderbird, 1986 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable, 1996 Ford Ka, 1997 F-150 pickup, and the 2002 Thunderbird. And though he retired to Florida four years ago and spends much of his time on his 50-foot sport fishing boat, the car business remains a part of Telnack's life.

Telnack has been connected to Ford Motor since his 1937 birth in Detroit. His father was a foreman at the Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Mich. Telnack received a Ford scholarship and attended Art Center College in Pasadena, Calif. He was one of three graduates offered a position at Ford Motor's design studio in 1958.

"I couldn't draw a Chevy if I tried," Telnack said. One of his earliest projects included work on the 1965 Mustang. "I have the distinction of designing the wheel covers for that car," he said. "I always said they must have been pretty good because a lot of them were stolen."

After stints in Australia and Dearborn, Telnack joined Ford of Europe. He rose to vice president of design, working on vehicles such as the Fiesta and Granada - and changing Henry Ford II's view of auto styling in the process.

Gene Bordinat Jr., who was vice president of design at that time, warned Telnack that Henry Ford II demanded that all cars have vertical front ends. Telnack wanted to move in a different direction - to slightly slanted front ends. Seeing that European automakers were moving in this direction, he decided to make his pitch to Henry Ford II during one of his quarterly visits.

The first meeting ended with Ford saying he would consider the idea and that they would talk further.

At a later meeting, Ford told Telnack he liked the design. So the Granada that was marketed in Europe received a slant-back front end, as did the Mustang when it was redesigned for the 1979 model year.

"By today's standards it was just off vertical, slightly slanted, but it was really dramatic back then. It started a trend in our company," Telnack said.

Telnack returned to Dearborn in 1976 as design director in the Ford Studio and started work on the 1979 Mustang. He considers that Mustang a breakthrough car because it was Ford Motor's first step into aerodynamic design.

After the 1979 Mustang, Telnack and his team applied the slant-back front end and the touches of aerodynamic styling to the 1981 Ford Escort. They followed with a more extensive aerodynamic design on the 1983 Thunderbird, and eventually the 1986 Taurus, which redefined American automotive styling.

"It really broke the mold that was coming out of Detroit, Europe and everyplace else," Telnack said.

And buyers responded. Taurus tallied 263,450 sales in 1986, and its sibling, the 1986 Sable, registered 98,593 units. Both cars contributed to Ford outearning General Motors in 1986 for the first time since 1924. Ford posted earnings of $3.29 billion to GM's $2.95 billion.

Two factors drove Ford Motor's push to aerodynamic design: a need for better fuel economy and the desire for a new look that would lure buyers.

While working in Europe, Telnack said his team constantly used the wind tunnel to improve aerodynamics and boost fuel economy. When he returned to the United States, he pushed aerodynamics.

Telnack said then-Ford Chairman Philip Caldwell pushed the design studio to create the Taurus: "The whole industry was in dire straits in those days. Everybody was losing millions every day. Caldwell said, 'The only way we will win is to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the industry. I want you to be different.' And he meant it.

"Caldwell would come into the studio and ask, 'Are you sure you reached far enough?' He didn't back off."

The aerodynamic shape started an industry trend. "All of the people who criticized aerodynamic design originally had no choice," Telnack said. "They had to jump on the bandwagon and incorporate aero design into their cars."

He believes that it's only a matter of time before someone again designs a four-door sedan that duplicates the excitement of the original Taurus.

"There are three important ingredients you have to have for an exciting product. Proportion, proportion, proportion. Aside from the design of the basic shape of the original Taurus, the proportions were different than other cars on the road that day - the length of the hood, the length of the deck, the relationship of the greenhouse to those areas.

"It will take a proportional change to really give a new look to any vehicle, especially a four-door sedan. I will give Chrysler credit for cab forward, that was a proportional change."

The 2002 Thunderbird had the longest birthing process of any car Telnack worked on.

"The car was done before I left," he said. "J (Mays, Telnack's successor) picked up the details, the trims, fabrics, the interior and colors."

The car was wrapped in 1997, but the production version didn't debut until the 2002 model year.

Telnack said Ford wanted a sporty, two-passenger car, and the 1955-1957 Thunderbirds were the obvious choice for inspiration.

Telnack set up a competition among studios in Italy, England, Germany, California and Dearborn. He brought a 1955 and a 1957 Thunderbird to Dearborn, but before sketching began, he told each designer to wash the cars.

"I told them, I want you to rub your hands over the surfaces, understand the shapes, the forms that build the character lines, really get into it," he said. "You learn more by washing a car than standing there and looking at it. It gets in your blood after a while."

In the end, the Dearborn studio won, and the 1955 Thunderbird became the inspiration for the 2002 car.

"If you look at the '55 in side elevations, you will notice that the car starts high in the front, reaching the high point over the front wheel and then tapers to the rear. Guess what? So does the new one."

So what's the secret for keeping the retro-styled Thunderbird fresh?

"I would continue doing that car and slowly evolving it over the years," Telnack said.

As his research project with the redesigned Thunderbird has shown, distancing himself from the car business is not easy. Since retiring, he has returned to Ford a few times: "J has taken me around, but I almost feel like I'm interfering. It is his show.

"On the other hand, I'm really curious. I can't stand being away too long. I want to know what is going on. Once it is in your blood, you can't get it out."

He laughs as he recalls the reaction to the Thunderbird in Palm Beach. One woman who had gathered around the car asked if she could sit behind the wheel.

"She gets in the car, and says, 'Oh, I love this. I want one. I want one in pink!' " he said. "I said, 'That's it. Get out, lady. We don't do pink.' "