Re: [ihc] Ford's Concept "Scout"

[Steven Stegmann <steve.stegmann@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pete,

Excellent story.  Except for one detail.  The
designer's youth was last week and it was his
grandfather's Scout.

Steve

--- Pete  Shubin <pshubin@domain.elided> wrote:

> My daily driver is a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. 
> When I bought it in
> November 2003 Ford gave me a little card that asked
> if I would be willing to
> participate in market research.  It explicitly said
> that the research would
> not include any sales and it sounded interesting so
> I returned the card and
> told them I would be willing.  I occasionally get
> e-mails with on-line
> surveys that mostly ask about preferences about
> specific characteristics of
> cars and I also get an occasional invitation to one
> focus group or another.
> It's pretty interesting and painless so I usually
> respond.
> 
>  
> 
> This evening I went to a focus group meeting (the
> kind where everyone sits
> in a room with a one way mirror and they show you
> things and observe your
> response) regarding concept vehicles.  All us mice
> in the experiment were
> Sport Trac owners so all the concepts were midsized
> "sport utility trucks".
> They did a couple of exorcizes where they got
> everyone's feedback on the
> SUTs available today then they did the same
> experiment with twenty or so
> concepts.  All had four full sized doors and short
> pickup beds on the back.
> One of them so closely resembled a Scout II it was
> scary.  I stopped the
> presentation and asked when they were going to start
> selling it because I
> wanted to buy one.
> 
>  
> 
> Why did it resemble a Scout II?  It had round
> headlights on a grille that
> was rectangular and had horizontal slots that made
> it closely resemble a '71
> or '72 Scout II grille or even a '70s IH truck
> grille.  The body was very
> squared off and rectangular.  They only showed a
> view of the concept looking
> at it from the front off set to the driver side but
> it had unmistakable
> Scout II lines.  The concept nearly the same side
> grille surround (upper at
> least), top of fender line that extends the entire
> length of the vehicle to
> the rear, a nearly flat hood, what could have been a
> flat windshield, and
> doors with squared off window corners than dropped
> straight down to squared
> off corners just above the rockers.  The cab above
> the top of the doors and
> hood was also stepped in slightly just like a Scout
> II.  The concept was
> different from the Bronco concept that appeared in
> magazines a while back.
> The lower grille on this concept was very similar to
> the one on that concept
> and looked like it had a place for a winch fair lead
> roller.  The conductor
> and I even discussed why it was more Scout II than
> early Bronco.
> 
>  
> 
> It seemed everyone in the audience thought of their
> Sport Tracs as tough and
> rugged but when asked liked the concepts that were
> described by the group as
> sleek and refined and said Ford should move in that
> direction.  Only one guy
> and I suggested they work more with the rugged and
> utilitarian concepts.
> Near the end of the evening the conductor of the
> meeting stepped out to
> check with big brother behind the glass.  One of the
> questions he asked when
> he returned was why I liked the look of the concept
> (other than it looked
> like my Scout) so someone was thinking about it.
> 
>  
> 
> Yes it was a Ford meeting but I can't help but think
> that the guy that
> designed that concept didn't own and love a Scout in
> his youth.
> 
>  
> 
> Pete