6 Of The Most Famous Fords In Pop Culture
Thelma and Louise Thunderbird
Henry Ford grew up in Wayne County, Michigan with a keen interest in machinery and engineering. He built his first gasoline engine in 1893, a one-cylinder motor that he built on the family's kitchen table in Detroit. A decade later, he founded the Ford Motor Company, where he refined the assembly line process in an effort to make the Model T more affordable. That car eventually sold more than 15 million units during its production run from 1908 through 1927, which lands it among best-selling nameplates ever despite being off the market for more than a century.
Ford's other major successes include the Mustang, which sold 1.5 million units in its first three years despite debuting in 1964 with a relatively wimpy inline six cylinder engine. The F-150 pickup has ranked as the best-selling vehicle in the United States for 41 consecutive years, and the F series as a whole has generated $41 billion in sales for Ford.
With millions of Ford vehicles taking the roadways, it's inevitable that they would find their way into popular culture as well. In the 120-plus years the company has been in business, Ford has seen America's dominant media move from newspapers and radio to television and cinema, and now to internet-based streaming video and virtual reality. Due to their eye-catching designs and recognizable forms, Ford's vehicles have been the stars of television shows and films since those two mediums became popular decades ago.
1946 DeLuxe – Grease
Greased Lightning in auto shop
The 1978 hit movie "Grease" starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as love-struck Rydell High School classmates Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson, and the movie's setting in the late '50s also allowed for the inclusion of many beautiful classic cars from the late '40s to complement the greaser aesthetic. The most prominent automotive role went to a battered 1946 Ford DeLuxe that Zuko's fellow T-Bird Kenickie(Jeff Conaway) bought and rolled into the school's auto shop.
The T-Birds put the car through a magical cosmetic and mechanical transformation during the performance of the song "Greased Lightning." Danny then drives the car to victory in a drag race on Thunder Road against the rival Scorpions and their 1949 Mercury Custom. Greased Lightning suffers damage in the race but reappears later in the film, when Danny and Sandy have an argument at the local drive-in movie theater. The car was designed and built by Hollywood car legend George Barris, who also created the original Batmobile, Knight Rider's KITT, and the Munster Koach. Greased Lightning was originally a coupe, but was modified into a convertible for the movie.
After the film wrapped, the fantasy version of Greased Lightning was abandoned by its owner and purchased by the Volo Auto Museum. It was fully restored to its movie condition, including the Plexiglas hood and tailfin-integrated exhaust tips, and is on display at the museum.
1968 Mustang GT – Bullitt
Bullitt 1968 Mustang GT
The most famous movie car of all time from any manufacturer might be the 1968 Mustang driven by San Francisco Detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) in "Bullitt," which was released that same year. McQueen had a well-documented love for racing and competed in real-world endurance races like the 12 Hours of Sebring. He drove the Mustang in much of the movie, including during parts of an epic chase scene through the hilly streets of the picturesque city. The Highland Green fastback coupe from the film was purchased in 1974 with just 19,000 miles on the odometer by Bob Kiernan, who responded to a classified ad in Road and Track.
McQueen actually tried to buy the car back three years later, but the Kiernan family was using it as a daily driver. Bob turned him down, but clutch problems landed the car in his Tennessee garage in 1980. Bob's son Sean was born a year later and grew up with his father's passion for cars. The pair planned to restore the Mustang, but Bob died in 2014 before they got very far.
The following December, Sean -- who was working as an automotive paint salesman -- revealed to his boss, Casey Wallace, that he owned the famous Mustang. They worked to get the car's authenticity verified, and it was sold through Mecum Auctions in 2020 for $3.74 million.
1972 Gran Torino Sport – Gran Torino
Gran Torino Walt's car
The Bullitt Mustang might be the most famous and valuable pop culture Ford in history, but the Gran Torino earned movie title status in 2008. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in that film as Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski, who befriends a Hmong teenager named Thao (Bee Vang) after Thao tries to steal Walt's prized 1972 Gran Torino Sport.
Thao and his sister Sue (Ahney Her) gradually endear themselves to Walt throughout the film, and Walt protects Thao from local gang members who challenged him to steal Walt's car as part of an initiation. Walt dies at the end of the movie, and leaves his dog Daisy and car to Thao, on the condition that he not modify the car with spoilers or the like. In one of the film's final scenes, Thao drives the Gran Torino along the Jefferson Avenue riverfront in Detroit with Daisy in the passenger seat.
Don Ripple, the film's mechanic, bought the car in Utah prior to filming and also procured the white Ford pickup Walt drove throughout the film. Eastwood bought the Gran Torino after the film wrapped and added it to his sizable car collection.
1973 Falcon GT Interceptor – Mad Max
Mad Max on roadside
The 1979 action flick "Mad Max" was centered on blacktop battles between police and gangs of bandits, so naturally cars would be at the center of the story. The film was set and shot in Australia, where Ford has a substantial market presence. Several specially outfitted early '70s Ford Falcons were used as police interceptors throughout the film, and the titular Max (Mel Gibson) uses a '73 Falcon GT 351 with a monstrous supercharger poking through the hood in the movie's later sequences. "Mad Max" also starred a fleet of motorcycles, including a sidecar-equipped Honda CB750.
Other Ford-made vehicles that have smaller parts in "Mad Max" include a 1973 Lincoln Continental, a 1977 F-100 ambulance, and a 1934 Ford V8. The black Falcon GT was customized for the film by Ray Beckerley of Graf-X International with help from Ford designer Peter Arcadipane.
When filming was completed, the car was given to set mechanic Murray Smith, who was owed money by the film's then-broke producers. "Mad Max" became an unexpected hit, and they bought the car back for use in the 1981 sequel, "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior." The car is destroyed in that film, but the producers burned a stunt double instead of the original Falcon. The original interceptor was then passed around a bit before landing in the Miami Auto Museum in 2012. It went up for sale in 2020, and its whereabouts are currently a mystery.
1973 Gran Torino - The Big Lebowski
Big Lebowski Dude's Car
The 1998 Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski" is undeniably a comedy, but it has a few tragic elements of varying degrees of severity. Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is assaulted on multiple occasions, has a prized rug stained by human urine, and loses his bowling buddy Donny (Steve Buscemi) to a heart attack. The Dude's car is subject to repeated abuse, including at least two collisions, one theft, and a parking lot arson that triggers Donny's fatal heart attack. Lebowski's unlucky sedan is a 1973 Gran Torino, which is not nearly as well-kept but almost as beloved as Walt Kowalski's '72 model.
Bridges reportedly developed a fondness for the car during production, but declined an offer to take it home when the film wrapped. A Burbank car collector named Bruce Orlando supposedly acquired it temporarily, but the Dudemobile's current whereabouts are unknown. 1973 Gran Torinos with similar patina appeared in the 1999 Martin Lawrence film "Blue Streak" and on a Season 6 episode of "The X Files," but it's doubtful that either of these were the same car used in "The Big Lebowski."
1966 Thunderbird – Thelma And Louise
Thelma and Louise Grand Canyon
The 1991 road trip movie "Thelma & Louise" showcased Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as the titular pair of Arkansas friends who embark on an epic cross-country crime spree in Louise's turquoise 1966 Thunderbird convertible.
Davis and Sarandon were both nominated for Oscars as Best Lead Actress, and Callie Khouri won for Best Original Screenplay. The movie also starred Harvey Keitel as Arkansas police investigator Hal Slocumb and Michael Madsen as Louise's absentee boyfriend Jimmy. A young Brad Pitt appeared in his first significant film role as J.D., a drifter who steals Thelma's heart and the road-going pair's money. In one of the most famous closing scenes in movie history, Thelma and Louise drive off a cliff in the Grand Canyon with law enforcement closing in.
The film's producers cut the tops from three Thunderbird coupes and strengthened the frames to use for the cliff jump scene. An intact car used in filming was auctioned off by Barrett-Jackson in 2008, and sold for $71,500.
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