StangerX

Ok, so I read the latest rant over on Autoextremist.com, and felt the need to respond with some thoughts. One of my talking points was in regards to Mays taking credit for designing the Mustang when in fact it was Thi Tang that designed it.

They responded with this:
So... how did this thing work? What was Mays' involvement? What was Tang's involvement? Who is this Erickson fellow? What else has he penned? I know a lot of folks put time in designing this car, but what was the overall flow as the car went from an idea to paper to clay to concept to production?

I'm totally lost by this. I'm not saying that they are wrong at all, but when I received this comment, I construed it to mean that essentially Ford took GM talent to design the new Mustang. They tend to lean towards GM, which is why I read it that way.

So how did this thing really go down? Does anyone truthfully know? It would be cool to get a little back story behind the car and figure out what REALLY happened. I've been on this site since the car was mearly being buzzed about (see the archaic BLUE concept). I never really remember reading anything about it.

Thoughts?

WarningSLO

Tang is indeed only an engineer, but that means he is responsible for the overall performance of the car... by no means an easy task. I have no idea who lead the artistic side of things though. But I think there was an overall consensus within Ford that they wanted to recapture the feel of the early stang in its appearance.

Tiberius1701

Thai Tang was Mustang Project manager, J. Mays is in charge of vehicle design he has many underlings, none of whom are copies-(a little Battlestar humour there)

I do not know much about Mr. Erickson, but J. mays has had a somewhat storied past with VW-Audi as Mr. DeLorenzo notes in his rant.

Alos when you say "they" tend to lean towards GM, do you mean the folks at AE? I have been reading their site for several years and they are definitely NOT easy on GM.

StangerX

Delorenzo isn't exatly easy on GM, but over time, I have found his stuff to be pretty formulaic. He takes everyone to the carpet. GM, he slams, and then said that good things are around the corner, slams them a little more, and says... we're all doomed.

I LOVE the rants for the most part. Sometimes I disagree, and that's why I like them. They are simply opinions on what's going on. At least they are all hard when they need to be. Sometimes they are a tad too hard when they DON'T need to be, but that's a small price.

Delorenzo is extremely pro-GM. I'm not sure if you ever read certain pieces, but his family is all steeped in the golden days of GM. They all worked at GM. His father was head of marketing (if memory serves). He slams GM for doing things incorrectly these days, but in the same breath, he usually is kinda like "Come on GM! You guys can do it!". I'm not faulting him. Everyone loves to play favorites, and if you read his columns long enough, you can start to see his favorites.

He loves to hate Ford (justified and unjustified), and he can be hard on Chrysler sometimes. He really has a few target companies and dumps the hardest on them (VW, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Toyota). He dumps on GM with the hopes that someone will read it and listen to his suggestions.

It's a fantastic column to read and is definately worth it. It's hard nosed, brutally honest, and increadibly insightful. I read it every week religiously. Sometimes you have to see through the slant though.

So say we all.

05fordgt

On another post on the forum, it was stated that Chip Foose himself had a hand in helping design the car, albeit in a small capacity. I believe Ford designers went to him, since he has a vast knowledge of vintage cars,(especially Mustangs), to help the Ford guys with the "retro touch". And so it goes he had a hand in the design.

TMSBrad

I believe Larry Erickson is credited for the design.

TheRealOne

I believe Brad is right. What I don't know is if he indeed was a GM guy. I heard his claim to fame was the ZZ top Cadzilla.

ukfiveo

Acording to Delorenzo's book "Mustang a new breed of ponycar 2005" J Mays & designer Doug Gaffka began the early styling work on S197 using a 67 Shelby GT350 as their main inspiration.

After the basic concept was created the project was handed over to Larry Erikson & his team, a former GM designer also credited with ZZ Top's Cadzilla.

HastaLaVista

Let's see, you have a design that the people that are biased toward other makes have to point out has been credited to a guy who is "not from Ford".

You know it's a winner when they're pulling out stuff like that.

Fact of the matter is Erickson joined Ford in 1999, he's not exactly new in the company. Yes, he was GM for 14 years before that.

Short Bio on Erickson

Infinity

To me, it sounds like Mays was in charge. He said "I want it to look like this", and Erickson then created that vision. Tang made it work in real life.

364

Tang, Ericson, Mays and everyone else involved should take a bow. This is a great car and anone that worked on it should be proud of whatever part they played in the final product. .

royb

to give credit to one or three people isn't right (unless your the boss) complex products like the automobile was designed by dozens of people and could go in to the hundreds depended on how far down the supply chain oyu want to travel. It's a great design and since FORD invented the mass production line he should get credt for GM being in buiness.

Nagman

Bottom line is: J. Mays is the top responsible for the
S197 nuff said.
Great car at that!!

V10

I think you need to read his rants a bit closer. I would say that Delorenzo has been harder on GM than any other manufacturer. He slammed GM for years when GM hired all the Procter & Gamble marketing people and tried to do "brand management" insead of investing in new products.

Yes he is rooting for GM and hoping that GM can rekindle some of it's past glory, but he really has been extremely hard on GM and how GM squandered its dominant position in the vehicle business.

d_mackey

Original exterior design theme was penned by Sean Tant, Mustang Exterior Design Manager. He worked under the tutelage of Doug Gaffka, Living Legends Studio Chief Designer. After the theme was approved, Larry Erickson became the Mustang Design Chief and finished off the feasibility which is no small task. J Mays provided oversight over the total design process. He provided high level design direction and edited the design. HTT was the Chief Engineer. He was responsible for taking the clay and turning it into sheetmetal and a running vehicle. This is obviously a very complex task and he had lots of help from hundreds of talented people.

Bottom line is that designing, engineering, and manufacturing a car is a hugely complex task. It requires the dedicated effort of hundreds of people. The old saying is "success has many fathers and failure is an ophan..." So many people will take credit for the 05 Mustang. Try to find out who is responsible for designing the Ford 500 or the Mustang II!

Rampant

I talked to a guy who is friends with a 3D designer inside Ford (so take this with a grain of salt). But he said they started with a 3D rendering of a 3 series coupe and started to make it more like a Mustang.

Incredible as it seems, the proportions and profile are strikingly similar -- and that is part of the beauty of the car.

In short, don't believe that any one person designed the car. There are TONS of people working on sketches, 3D models, clay models, other desigers (like Foose) having converstaions, etc. etc. etc.

And, for me, the bottom line is..... who cares anyway? It looks great. It performs great. And it is selling great.