Excellent & interesting Ford concept cars you may have never seen

The Ford Heritage Vault is one of the finest sources of publicly available archive information provided by any car maker – and it just keeps getting better. In a recent update, many previously unseen images of concept cars have been added, bringing the total to nearly 2000.

We can’t show them all here, but what we can do is take you through 50 Ford concepts, many (if not most) of which you might never have heard of. We’re presenting them in chronological order, starting with one which dates from over 70 years ago.

The name of the FX-Atmos (including a hyphen in Ford literature of its time, though not in the Vault) stood for “future experimental atmospheric”. According to Ford vice-president Lewis Crusoe (1895-1973), the concept “is not proposed as a future production vehicle, and for that reason, no engineering considerations have been involved in its development”.

Crusoe added, however, that the FX-Atmos “represents one of many avenues which styling could take in the future”. Sure enough, while bubble canopies and sharp spikes protruding from the front never really caught on, tailfins and extended rear lights, not yet common in 1954, soon would be.

Unveiled, like the FX-Atmos, in Chicago, the La Galaxie six-seat luxury concept was slightly less futuristic. The cowled headlights were unusual, but the reverse-angle rear window and very long trunk were already becoming available in the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, and would appear in the last-generation British Ford Anglia before the end of the decade.

A windscreen which continued over the heads over the front passengers was more unusual, though. The car also “envisions”, as Ford put it, “an electronic proximity warning device that would stop the car automatically if it came dangerously close to another vehicle or object in its path”, an idea which would not reach production for many years.

According to a Ford press release issued on 16 February 1962, the day before the opening of that year’s Chicago Auto Show, the Cougar 406 “embodies design features to excite the hardiest sports car fan, along with the comfort and style required in a personal car”. Among the most notable of these features were gullwing doors which, unlike those already seen on the Mercedes 300SL, were electrically operated.

The concept’s name referred partly to a new engine from Ford’s FE V8 family which measured 406 cubic inches, or 6.7 litres.

The Heritage Vault includes concepts produced by Ghia long before Ford bought the Italian design house. One example is the Selene II, a radical sports car with an extreme cab-forward design unlikely to score highly in a modern crash test.

Since there was clearly no room up front for an engine, this would have been mounted in the rear. Passengers at that end faced backwards, so they could see where they had been rather than where they were going.

Completely unrelated to the Austin of the same name which went into production a decade later, Ford’s Allegro concept featured pedals which could be adjusted four inches four and aft and a steering wheel which moved four inches in or out and five inches up or down.

As displayed, the car had the 2.4-litre Mileage Maker straight-six engine (already used in the Falcon, among other vehicles) driving the rear wheels, but Ford said it could alternatively have the much smaller Ford Taunus V4 driving the fronts.

The Super Cyclone was adapted from a standard ‘64 Comet Caliente two-door hardtop and featured rectangular headlights (which would not have been legal for a car sold in the US at the time), aerodynamic bodywork described by Ford as ‘full fastback’ and a radar system which detected the presence of vehicles approaching from the rear. The radar was there merely for show on the concept, “but functional versions have been under study by Ford scientists”.

The exterior colour was called Murano Gold, and was created by applying a transparent gold outer coat over a black base.

The GT-X started out as a standard fifth-generation Fairlane which was reassembled by Ford engineers and then passed on for further work to customizer Gene Winfield (born 1927). Its purpose was to promote the stock Fairlane at events around the country, but became surplus to requirements in 1967, when the road car was redesigned.

The concept disappeared for a long time, but returned to public view in 2019 after a restoration which included a repaint by Winfield, more than half a century after he last worked on the car.

This picture shows the first of two concepts named Mach 2, this one being developed for road use and the other for racing. They were both designed by Ford but constructed by Kar Kraft Engineering, and were based on first-generation Mustang platforms adapted to accept a mid-mounted 4.7-litre Windsor V8 engine and Colotti transaxle.

Despite the connection, Ford insists that the Mach 2 was never planned as a future mid-engined Mustang, and that if it had ever been put into production it would have been a separate model.

Having first used the Mach 1 name for a bizarre, wheel-less, single-seat, levitating pod displayed in 1959, Ford brought it back seven years later for a converted Mustang with a very low roof and a hatchback rear.

The same car is shown here in its revised 1968 form with a new front end which does not resemble anything Ford put into production. The first Mustang Mach 1 available to the public went on sale in the 1969 model year, and there have been many more since then.

Using a period-correct term, Ford described Saturn II as a “far-out variation” of the ‘69 Thunderbird. Its design, which included gold paintwork and interior upholstery, was radically different from that of the standard model, and foreshadowed trends of the following decade, but there was a lot going inside too.

In addition to a CB radio, a microphone and a portable tape recorder, Saturn II featured a primitive equivalent of today’s satellite navigation, though in this case the directions were stored on a “’trip control’ computer card” which could be pushed into a slot in the centre console. “Theoretically”, a small screen would give the driver the distance to, and direction of, the next turn on the journey.

Employees at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn collaborated, perhaps not entirely successfully, with their counterparts at the now Ford-owned Ghia in Turin to produce the Flashback concept. Despite being only 134in (3404mm) long, or about three feet shorter than the contemporary Mustang, it had several styling features of past decades, including a long hood, a prominent grille and wire-spoke wheels.

There were hints that the pearlescent apple green two-seater could be powered by a four-cylinder engine, but this never happened, and the Flashback remained a “non-driveable design exploration”.

The Microsport was the fourth of many Ghia concepts based on the Fiesta supermini, and the only one revealed in 1978. Ten inches shorter than the standard car, it had only two seats, and had aluminium body panels, lightweight glass and impact-absorbing plastic structures at each end.

Ford literature states that the Microsport had a two-tone white and red paint scheme, but this was clearly not the case when the images uploaded to the Heritage Vault were taken.

Along with the Fiesta-based Tuareg off-roader, Megastar II was part of Ford’s celebration of its 75th anniversary. The concept, designed by Ghia, was based on the contemporary Taunus (the German equivalent of the UK’s Cortina), and used the same four-cylinder engine, four-speed manual gearbox and front and rear suspension.

The floorpan was shortened at the rear, however, and the hatchback body was wedge-shaped, with deep windows in each passenger door. Megastar II made its public debut in Geneva in March 1978, and went on to be displayed at Auto Expo in New York and an import show in Los Angeles.

Another of Ghia’s various Fiesta-based concepts, the Pockar, short for ‘pocket car’, had room for four passengers (or perhaps five – Ford’s own contemporary accounts vary) despite being only 129in (3277mm) long.

To maintain some level of practicality, luggage could be stored in the sides, and the rear seat could be folded flat to release more cargo space. The bumpers wrapped around the entire vehicle, providing “added protection when parking in congested areas”.

The Antser, displayed at the Detroit Auto Show in January 1980, was a wedge-shaped electric concept with 2+2 seating, an injection-moulded plastic body and sliding doors.

Its seats had inflatable cushions whose level of support could be altered by pressing buttons on the console, while a “highly sophisticated electronic instrument panel” provides a wide array of computer-controlled readouts”, including a map display.

Having experienced, like everyone else, two global oil crises in the past decade, Ford was naturally giving a lot of thought to fuel economy in the early 1980s. One example of this is the Ghia Cockpit, a very aerodynamic tandem two-seat city car with a front-hinged canopy and an overall weight of just 770 pounds (349kg).

The single rear wheel was driven by a 12bhp 200cc single-cylinder petrol engine supplied by Piaggio, though Donald F. Kopka, then Ford’s vice president of design, explained at the Urban Car News Conference in Dearborn on 14 July 1981 that it could also be powered “by electricity or by an alternative fueled engine”.

The Brezza (Italian for ‘breeze’) was a proposal for an economical two-seat sports car. Its mid-mounted engine was the 1.6-litre four-cylinder CVH which had recently made its debut in the first front-wheel drive European Escort and would also appear in the Fiesta and Sierra.

In the interests of disturbing the air as little as possible, the Brezza featured a rounded nose, retractable headlights, flush-fitting glass, rear wheel fairings and what Ford described as a “partial belly pan”.

Designed jointly by Ghia and Ford of Europe’s design team, but built by the former, the Barchetta was more conventional than the previous year’s Breeze, being based on the front-wheel drive Fiesta platform. The engine was once again the 1.6-litre CVH, which also powered the hot hatch XR2 variant of the Fiesta.

The two-seat roadster did not lead directly to a production car, but two decades later Ford launched the conceptually similar SportKa. By that time, Fiat had come up with its own Barchetta, based on the Punto hatchback.

Ford put a production car called Probe on sale in the late 1980s, but before then it used the name several times for a series of aerodynamic concepts. The Probe IV was notable for its incredibly low drag coefficient of 0.15, achieved partly by canting the turbocharged 1.6-litre CVH engine over by 70 degrees to allow for the lowest possible bonnet.

Although the engine was mounted at the front, the radiator was placed at the other end to remove the need for an air-disturbing grille. Fans drew air towards it through vents behind the rear wheel wells, then sent it into the low-pressure area behind the car.

Referred to both as a Ford and as a Lincoln, the Quicksilver luxury sedan concept demonstrated that it was possible to design a mid-engined car with enough room inside for five adults. This was possible because the 3.0-litre V6 engine was mounted transversely, so that it didn’t take up much of the car’s length.

Ghia, which designed the vehicle, paid a lot of attention to aerodynamics, and in particular developed what Ford said was “a totally new method” of flush-mounting the door windows.

Although the Maya is referred to in the Heritage Vault as a 1985 car, it actually made its debut at the Turin Show in the previous year. Unlike other Italian Ford concepts, this mid-engined two-seater was created not by Ghia but by Italdesign, and there was talk of producing 50 a day.

That never happened, but Italdesign was commissioned to produce two follow-ups in 1985 – the softer-edged Maya II ES and the Maya II EM whose 3.0-litre V6 engine was, unlike those in the earlier versions, turbocharged.

Ford has created off-road concepts named Bronco since the 1960s. This version was named after its designer, Derek Millsap, who had graduated from the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California in May 1987 and was given a job at Ford’s Design Centre in Dearborn.

Millsap’s design, which first took shape as a clay model, featured low-drag fibreglass and steel-reinforced bodywork, electronic instrumentation and seating for five. Ford contracted Concept Center California to build a full-scale version. According to a company press release, this process began in late 1986 and lasted for nine months, but the Heritage Vault dates the finished product to 1990.

To most North American motorists, the Contour was essentially the local version of the European Ford Mondeo, also sold as the Mercury Mystique. However, the name was also used for a radical concept car.

Among its more remarkable features was a straight-eight engine (a layout popular between the two world wars but never used by Ford in a production car) mounted transversely across the front axle. Designed by Donald Carriere (1929-2016), its drive was taken from the centre of the crankshaft, allowing the use of equal-length driveshafts and reducing the possibility of torque steer to a minimum.

We’re using this name because that’s what appears in the Heritage Vault, but Ford referred to the vehicle as the Boss Bronco when it was revealed in late 1991.

Displayed at auto shows across the US the following year, it was, like many concepts, simply an adaptation of an existing model, in this case the recently-launched fifth-generation Bronco SUV. Changes included a new hood with power dome, a retractable roof, a wraparound rear step bumper and shade of bright yellow paint named Lone Star.

Revealed six years before the introduction of the very different European Focus hatchback, the Ghia Focus was a high-performance four-wheel drive roadster based on a shortened Escort RS Cosworth platform and powered by a 230bhp version of that car’s turbocharged 2.0-litre engine.

Design features ranged from ancient to modern. The car’s body panels were made of carbonfiber composite, but it also had a far more traditional wood-rimmed steering wheel.

According to Ford, the Mach III “brings back the spirit of the 1965 Mustang with styling and technology for the 1990s and beyond”. Powered by a supercharged 450bhp 4.6-litre Modular V8, the concept did have some classic touches, including a wood-rimmed steering wheel, but its shape was far curvier than that of the pony car launched nearly three decades earlier.

The fourth-generation Mustang was just round the corner. “There’s no doubt that people will readily recognise some of the styling cues from the Mach III,” said Ford. There was indeed a slight resemblance, but the production car’s design had much sharper edges.

Like the Vivace of the same year, the Arioso was a coupe powered by the 2.5-litre 24-valve V6 engine used in the production Mondeo. The Arioso was the more practical of the two concepts, being a full four-seater rather than a 2+2.

It was based on an aluminum spaceframe which was covered with easily replaceable lightweight carbonfibre panels. The method of construction meant that the sunroof and rear window could be retracted into the rear luggage compartment without compromising the vehicle’s structural rigidity.

The Outback was a follow-up to the Bronco Boss revealed two years earlier, and was fitted with a very similar hood. Other equipment included a cattleguard, front foglights, a winch, side pipes and flared wheelarches.

Two years later, the Bronco was discontinued, and did not return until 2021. The Outback could reasonably have gone into production as an end-of-line special edition, but didn’t.

Created by Concept Center California, which as you’ll remember also built the Bronco DM-1, the Fusion combined “the toughness of a mini sport utility vehicle with the upscale image of a Mercury”.

One of its more intriguing features was an interior tubular steel frame which supported the seats, instrument panel and centre console, and contributed to the overall structural rigidity. Leather upholstery and chrome exterior trim made the concept look more expensive than a production version would probably have been.

The little Ka hatchback, based on the Fiesta platform and launched in late 1996, was the first production Ford with New Edge styling. It was previewed in April of the same year at the Turin Show in the form of the Saetta roadster, accompanied by official comments that it “explodes the myth that it’s necessary to put a soft radius on everything to create an aerodynamic form”.

The Saetta resembled the Ka very closely at the front, though its slightly retro tail did not get past the concept stage.

Like the exactly contemporary Saetta, the Lynx was based on the Fiesta platform, but was a coupe rather than a roadster. In a press release issued by Ford of Canada, it was described as “a clear indication of Ford’s desire to explore new concepts and research niche products”.

In fact, there was more to it than that. Look at the Lynx from any angle, but especially from the rear, and it is undoubtedly a preview of the Puma coupe which made its debut at the 1997 Geneva Show, a year after the Lynx had been revealed at the same venue.

Referred to as the Sand Court by sources other than the Heritage Vault, this concept was an adaptation of the third-generation Ranger pickup truck, which went on sale in the 1998 model year.

Clearly a promotional exercise rather than anything more serious, it featured several non-standard items including a high chair, a parasol and a drinks cabinet, all of which suggested it might be useful for beach patrols.

The MC4 was a roomy coupe with four seats designed for adults and one for a child. Its equivalent of a tailgate was a double gullwing, and there were four passenger doors – conventional at the front but smaller and rear-hinged at the back. The latter pair could not be opened while the fronts remained shut.

The door system was later used by Mazda (one-third owned by Ford at the time) for its own later coupe, the rotary-engined RX-8.

The vehicle referred to in the Heritage Vault as the 2000 Windstar TekSport was called TekSport Windstar in contemporary press releases, and was revealed at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) show in November 1998. It was based on the new second-generation Windstar minivan, but its appearance was both more aerodynamic and more aggressive.

Most of the innovation, however, was located inside the vehicle. Visteon supplied high-tech entertainment and lighting, and as Ford put it, “Those who travel with kids will appreciate the rechargeable hand vacuum cleaner built into the right rear trim panel.”

In the quarter-century gap between the end of the fifth production generation and the start of the sixth, Ford continued to create Bronco concepts. The U260 had an almost cuboid shape, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the current Bronco, which was introduced in 2021.

In the same year, the U260 was displayed in public for the first time, now with red rather than dual-coloured paintwork, and with a slightly revised front end.

In Ford’s word, this concept – referred to as MY in the Heritage Vault but as (my) in a contemporary press release – “blurs the boundaries between a car, a truck and a sports utility vehicle”.

The door arrangement was similar to that of the slightly earlier Mercury MC4, while the top of the tailgate (which included the rear side windows) lifted upwards and the bottom extended back, giving a load length of over six feet if the rear seats were folded down.

Based on the enormous Excursion SUV, the Desert concept was “customized to take on the most extreme weather conditions and terrain”, and was described as “the ultimate go-anywhere, do-anything truck”.

Up to 310bhp was provided by a 6.8-litre V10 Triton engine, available in both the regular Excursion and the F-Series Super Duty pickup, which was based on the same platform. The front-end styling was unique to this vehicle, and the interior, which had enough room for six passengers, was reported to be weatherproof.

The Equator was another extreme off-road concept, this time based on the F-150 pickup. It had “off-road-racing-inspired independent suspension”, and the bumper, fender, wheel wells and lower trim panels were made of Kevlar.

In September 2005, Ford announced that it was putting the Equator up for auction to raise money for the American Red Cross disaster relief following Hurricane Rita.

The Prodigy was part of Ford’s P2000 research programme into designing cleaner and more efficient vehicles in the 21st century. Its aluminium body was large enough to carry five passengers, and its hybrid powertrain consisted of a 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel engine and an electric motor.

The car made its public debut at the Geneva Show along with two other P2000 concepts, a sedan and an SUV with hydrogen fuel cells.

Revealed at the Chicago Auto Show in February 2001, the Lightning Rod was based on the tenth-generation F-150 (and powered by the supercharged 380bhp 5.4-litre Triton V8 available in that range) but was lowered and stretched to make it look like a custom vehicle.

To the same end, the bodywork and interior were predominantly cherry red, with graphics inspired by Maori tattoos. At both ends, the standard truck’s lights were replaced by horizontal neon tubes.

As its name suggested, this concept – “designed to take America on a sentimental drag-race down memory lane” – was inspired by the 1949 Ford model range, the first to go on sale after the Second World War. First seen at the 2001 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, it was completely modern, but its styling harked back to the famous cars of more than half a century before.

Like the contemporary, and final-generation, Thunderbird, it was powered by a 3.9-litre AJ-V8 engine (designed by Jaguar but used in this capacity only by Ford and Lincoln), “tuned to fit the car’s appearance and muscle”.

In the 1962 and 1963 model years, Ford offered a Sports Roadster version of the third-generation Thunderbird, featuring a tonneau cover which concealed the rear seats and included two raised sections, one immediately behind each of the front passengers.

For its 2001 Thunderbird concept, which had red enamel paintwork and a white leather interior, Ford returned to the idea it had tried out nearly 50 years previously, but did not adopt it for the production car.

The vehicle pictured is the first of two concepts known as FR100. Both were adapted from 1953 F-100 pickup trucks, built in the debut model year of the second-generation F-Series.

The many radical modifications included fitting Ford’s then new 5.0-litre Cammer V8, a derivative of the Modular unit which became available as a crate engine in 2005.

Named after the famous toy brand, this concept also marked a technological breakthrough for Ford. Its turbocharged 300bhp 6.0-litre V8 engine was the first diesel the company ever mated to an automatic transmission.

The vehicle also had air suspension which automatically reduced the ride height by five inches when the doors were opened, making loading and unloading easier than might otherwise have been the case.

Ford was stretching things when it claimed that the Model U was “the Model T of the 21st century”, but the concept was certainly forward-looking, with a multi-configurable interior and body panels, adaptive headlights, a night vision display and a speech interface.

The engine was a hydrogen-fuelled 2.3-litre four-cylinder with a supercharger and two-stage intercooling. Its power output of 118bhp was modest, but the concept’s Modular Hybrid Transmission System (which acted as a flywheel, starter alternator and electric motor) contributed a further 33bhp in continuous use or 46bhp for short periods.

The rapidly growing significance of China as an automotive market was demonstrated when Ford chose to give the world its first glimpse of the second-generation Focus at the Beijing Auto Show in June 2004. That car would be offered as both a hatchback and an estate, but it was revealed in Beijing as a four-door saloon, the most popular type of body style in the region.

Ford branded it as the Focus Concept, which is why we’re including it here, but it must have been very close to the real thing, since production began not long afterwards.

When it was revealed at the Paris Show in September 2006, we described the iosis X as “a bit like a Puma on steroids” (referring to the Fiesta-based coupe on sale earlier in the century) and “pretty funky, actually” (in the positive British sense of the word rather than the less complimentary American one).

Ford said that the concept “intended to a very strong message that we will be entering [the compact crossover market] in around 18 months from now”, and indeed it did. The production version was the Kuga, which arrived in 2008.

Ford created a buzz in Beijing with its Start concept, a “design exploration into the feasibility of a future small car”, but designer Chris Svensson (1965-2018) admitted five years later that adapting it for production would have been too expensive to contemplate.

In one sense, though, the Start lives on. It was the first Ford powered by the turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, which has since been used in models as varied as the Fiesta and the Transit Courier, and is a ten-time overall or category winner in the International Engine of the Year awards.

Based on Ford’s global C-segment platform, the Vertrek was a compact SUV proposal which was already being spoken of, when it was revealed in Detroit in 2011, as a “great opportunity” to unify existing vehicles produced in Europe and North America.

Sure enough, after the usual tweaking for production, it became both the second-generation Kuga and the third-generation Escape, which retained their predecessors’ names in their respective markets. The process continued when those models were replaced in 2019.

The Mustang Cobra Jet customer drag racer was relaunched in 2008, and became available in 2011 with a 5.0-litre V8 engine. In the following years it would be offered in both supercharged and naturally aspirated forms, but in 2012 Ford displayed something different at the SEMA show. The engine was the same, but it was now fitted with two small turbochargers, which spooled up more quickly than one large one but still produced a lot of boost.

This was a nice idea, but it didn’t lead to anything. Once the concept had been and gone, Ford continued to rely on supercharging for its forced-induction dragsters.