History Ford Town USA

So did any of teh cars end up staying there??like did someone like it and say hey I wanna buy this ? or where did 1600 used cars go??

 

Cool story.

Ford must have really been on top of marketing at the time. In January of '61 they sent a bunch of Tbird convertibles down for JFK's inauguration. Then of course the Ford Custom Car Caravan came around.

Sure seems a lot more effective than some of the crappy TV commercials they've run in the past few years.

 

FYI, Flora was chosen, because the last census showed that it was the population "center" of the US.

I believe the center is now much further southwest.

Rich

 

As of 2000, Edgar Springs, MO

 

A few bits more of info and more photos:

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/Nov/11/car-stunt-transformed-city-into-ford-town-usa/

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894984,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

http://www.madhauscreative.com/Components/PERSONAL PAGES/WEBLOG2007/ford_town_scan.jpg

http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/printpost.php?tid/1501742/

 

There are a few more (and better quality) pics in the Life Archive

 

Pretty cool!

here's a link to the Life archive:

http://images.google.com/hosted/lif...afe=off&sa=G&c2coff=1&imgurl=34cd57ca2c39e6cb

 

Ok guys...I just want to let you know that I spent the morning in Flora talking to people about the Ford Town event. I thought I would get a few stories and post them. Well, as it turns out, just about everyone I spoke to had a story, or had heard one about "the worlds largest test drive" as they call it in Flora.

I started off by talking to two buddies that have lived in Flora all their lives, Wes Young and Greg Hamilton. Both guys are going to be a great source of information. Greg is some what of a Flora historian, and has tons of pictures and memorabilia from the event. He's agreed to put a bunch of stuff on disc for me and I will post it in the up coming weeks. I want to separate the fact from the fiction so will put an account together as I get the facts.

For now, here's a couple of shots of the only know car still in the area. It's owned by Milt Smith the son of A.R. Smith. A.R. was the Ford dealer at the time of the Ford Town event. I've not talked to him as yet, but am working on setting up a meeting. The last picture is of a set of plates that came off of one of the cars. It seems that since they were going to be driven, they had to be registered in the state of Illinois. All the cars were plated with manufacturers plates as opposed to dealer plates because of the sheer number of cars. Since there were no automotive makers in the state at the time, the plates had to be made. They started with #1 and went to #1600. This set is #2 and I'm told that Milt Smith has set #1.

 

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing the local's pictures.

 

Very cool Glenn!

That one has a red interior. I wonder if all the interiors were the same or if they were different?

 

Thats cool . I live just North of Flora about an hour and have family that have lived there for a really long time and never heard anything of it .

 

Good question...I'll be sure to find out when I talk with Mr. Smith.

 

I don't even know why they put brake pedals in rental cars... That stick between the seats is a way more fun way to stop... and turn!

 

OK, Here is some of the rest of the story...

I went to high school in Flora IL but I'm only 35 so I wasn't even a gleam in my daddy's eye then. However, My Dad was a sophomore at Flora High School then and this is what he remembers from it.

The reason Flora was picked is because in 1960, Flora IL was the center of the US Population. It was also considered the "Crossroads of America" as it was the intersection of US-45 (North to South) and US-50 (East to West).

He said that both my Grandpa Leo and my Uncle Jim got Fairlanes. Grand-daddy got a sedan and Uncle Jim got a 500, he thinks. I am waiting for a response from my Uncle Jim as to any details he remembers.

Now for the fun story. My Dad remembers a High School senior named Jim Pickle who had a Fairlane 500. Not sure if it was his Dads or actually his. Well, as my Dad recalls it, Jimmy Pickle was drag racing the Fairlane one day (against who he can not recall). Jimmy decided it would boost his performance to remove the breather and get more air in. During the race, however, something went terribly wrong and Jimmy lost control. he flipped the Fairlane and escaped just before gas came streaming out of the open carb. The Fairlane caught fire and burned to the ground. Jimmy had to go to the hospital for a bit of a stay but recoop'd just fine. Classic High School Hot Rod story for ya there.

Anyway, there was an option for the lucky recipient to purchase their new Ford at the end of the week and some did. My Dad recalls seeing white Ford cars driving around the streets of Flora for quite a while.

if I get anymore info about this I will post it. I might even be able to get some people to post some old photos if they can dredge them up. I remembered my Uncle Jim telling me a little about the event and thought I would share what I could. BTW, my Dad said he didn't recall any trucks during the event.

 

This is cool. One of the old guys I was talking to said that he remembered that one of the cars burnt, but didn't remember the particulars. Must be the one you are talking about. According to the accounts I've gotten so far there were about 150 pickups in the event and one firetruck. Will know more when I talk to Mr. Smith.

 

I just heard from my Aunt Donna and she states:

"Yeah! I worked for the Ford Company while here in town as a secretary. I had just had Brad. They assigned us a plain old Ford and Jim had me pull strings so we ended up with a convertible. I've been a Ford person ever since!! Can you imagine trying to do something like that today?? It was a really big deal!"

That is how my Uncle is. He is a real "Car Guy" and I believe he owned a Gas Station in town at the time.

 

C'mon, man, do some more research into that high school graduating class. The stories gotta be there (of course, only about 10% would be true).

 

Several at at the Chevrolet dealer, while the owners were driving new FORDS.

 

aCTUALLY,I remember that being in a movie. some comedy with danny devito as sherriff?
Everyone in town drove a yugo for some reason. pretty funny.

 

I just received a 2 part story in the Clay County Hometown Journal (one of the local newspapers) commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the event. I am in the process of scanning the story so I will post it as soon as I can. My mom gets the local paper to keep up in the old home town and she passed it on to me.

 

Just stumbled onto this thread while looking for something else. Thought maybe some of you would enjoy a simple web page I've written.

Here's the link:

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/resuijjn/FordTown/Index.html

 

My brother signed up and got a full size 4 door sedan. We found out later you could have asked for any model. Later he got a job putting power steering on the cars that didnt come with it.