(EXPANDED FROM 1/23/2024)
Bill McGuire’s (2021b) story about the Mercury El Gato got me thinking about Ford’s conflicted design direction in the early-70s. The concept car hinted at what the 1969-70 Cougar might have looked like if had followed in the footsteps of the Ford Thunderbird.
In a 1970 reskinning, the T-Bird temporarily dropped its traditional broughamtastic notchback in favor of a semi-fastback that was vaguely similar to a second-generation Buick Riviera, which came out in 1966.
Over the next few years Riviera output grew by 17 percent while the T-Bird’s fell by 38 percent. In 1969 the Buick’s personal coupe even surpassed Ford’s for the first time. That was likely too late to influence the T-Bird’s redesign in 1970, but it may have bolstered the case that a new approach was needed.
The great irony was that Ford would make the 1970 Thunderbird look more like a General Motors car. After all, this nameplate had previously epitomized Ford’s courage to pioneer new market niches with one of the most distinctive — and iconic — designs of the 1960s.
Was the El Gato partly inspired by the Buick Riviera?
This brings us to the El Gato. The concept car borrowed a fastback roofline from the 1969-70 Mustang, albeit chopped.
The design had a decidedly Riviera vibe, particularly with its V-shaped rear end. In addition, the sweepspear side sculpting — which was drawn from the standard Cougar — looked more like a Buick than the Riviera did.
Although the El Gato’s sweapspear is obscured by a side stripe, it arguably works better with a fastback than with the notchback roofline used on production models.
Did Bunkie Knudsen influence the El Gato’s styling?
McGuire suggested that the El Gato’s snout was influenced by Ford President Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, who reportedly pushed for the Thunderbird’s pointed beak (go here for further discussion).
I wonder if the former GM executive also advocated for the fastback on both the T-Bird and El Gato. And was the return of the notchback T-Bird in 1971 an outcome of Knudsen’s firing from Ford on Sept. 11, 1969 (Wikipedia, 2021)?
This raises a timing question about the El Gato. McGuire says the concept car was unveiled in February 1970. That was presumably well after the 1971 Cougar’s redesign had been approved. What’s curious is why the El Gato deviated so sharply from the new styling direction of the forthcoming production models.
Other Ford concepts deviated from forthcoming cars
The El Gato was not the only Ford concept car of that time period which did not reflect very well the styling of next-generation products.
As a case in point, the 1970 Mustang Milano adopted a much less massive fastback shape than the 1971 redesign. Perhaps just as importantly, the concept car included a hatchback that would have greatly improved the Mustang’s versatility (McGuire, 2018b).
With some justification Mustang Illustrated Editor Bob McClurg argued that the Milano was the “car Ford should have built” (Kohrn, 2005). However, it should be remembered that this was only a two-seater that “would have never been sports car enough to compete with the Corvette,” noted Wallace Wyss (2021).
A year earlier, the Ford Ranchero Scrambler displayed a cleaner and more angular look than the reskinned 1970 models (McGuire, 2018a). The same could even be said for the over-amped 1969 Ford Super Cobra shown below (McGuire, 2021a).
Knudsen brings a GM designer with him to Ford
Part of why the Milano, Scrambler and Super Cobra did not more strongly reflect future production models may have been because these concept cars were designed by Larry Shinoda, who was brought over from GM by Knudsen (auto editors of Consumer Guide, 2009).
In a videotaped interview late in his life (see below), Shinoda talked about how his designs were informed by his belief that form should follow function (Gage, 2021). While his Ford concept cars hardly come off as the automotive equivalent of a Swiss Army knife, they were relatively trim and clean for that era. Perhaps this didn’t go over well with management that was drawn to bigger and glitzier designs.
Also see ‘David Halberstam: Why Bunkie Knudsen ‘never had a chance at Ford’’
Shinoda was fired after Knudsen was given the boot. One report stated that the designer was shown the door only one day after Knudsen (Rothenberg, 1998). However, Shinoda said that it happened a few weeks later (Gage, 2021).
A more prosaic explanation for the concept cars being stylistic dead ends was that they were based on existing hardware rather than the larger, new-generation Mustang and Torino bodies. However, that still raises the question: Who was responsible for doubling down on bloat? Was it Knudsen or his successor as Ford President, Lee Iacocca?
Of course, Shinoda didn’t design the El Gato, which was larger and more baroque than the Milano. Yet even the concept Cougar ended up looking positively lithe next to the ungainly 1971 models. We assess the damage here.
NOTES:
This story was first posted on Sept. 8, 2021 and expanded on Jan. 23, 2024 and Feb. 18, 2026. Dimensions are from the Classic Car Database (2021) and production figures from Flory (2004) and Gunnell (2002).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RESOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2009. “Larry Shinoda, Designer of the Ford Mustang Boss 302.” Dean’s Garage. Posted Nov. 24.
- Classic Car Database; 2021. “Search for specifications.” Accessed Sept. 7.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2004. American Cars, 1960-1972. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- Gage, Dennis; 2021. “Corvette Sting Ray History | Greatest Car Designers – Larry Shinoda | Full Interview.” MyClassicCarTV. com. Posted May 11.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Kohrn, Wolfgang; 2005. “Mustang Concept Cars, The Milano — 1970.” Ponysite.de. Posted Aug. 23.
- McGuire, Bill; 2018a. “Ford’s Saucy Show Truck: The Ranchero Scrambler.” Mac’s Motor City Garage. Posted Feb. 13.
- ——; 2018b. “Purple People-Eater: The 1970 Mustang Milano.” Mac’s Motor City Garage. Posted Nov. 15.
- ——; 2021a. “Going Thing: The 1969 Ford Super Cobra Concept.” Mac’s Motor City Garage. Posted Feb. 24.
- ——; 2021b. “El Gato! A 1970 Mercury Concept Car.” Mac’s Motor City Garage. Posted Sept. 7.
- Rothenberg, Al; 1998. “Design Debate: Who’s the Father of the Jeep Grand Cherokee?” WardsAuto. Posted March 1.
- Wikipedia; 2021. “Semon Knudsen.” Page last edited Aug. 7.
- Wyss, Wallace; 2021. “Concepts: 1970 Ford Mustang Milano.” Mycarquest.com. Posted Feb. 6.
BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick Riviera (1968); Ford Thunderbird (1971)
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- fordheritagevault.com: Ford Mustang (1969, 1971); Ford Mustang Milano (1970); Ford Super Cobra (1969); Ford Torino (1970); Mercury Cougar (1970, 1971); Mercury El Gato (1970)
The problem with Ford 1970’s styling until the down-sizing of 1977-1979, especially the Thunderbirds and the Lincolns, were that the platforms were basically the same, but the front-overhangs kept getting longer and longer. The styling WAS NOT inspired by the Packards or Bugattis of old. The Thunderbirds had stuck with variations in the 1967 restyle, and the 1970-71 Thunderbird, front-end aside, was basically a 1967 T-Bird with a Pontiac-style beak, in my opinion. My uncle and aunt bought a black vinyl roofed, Wimbledon white four-door Landau (I think), but the interior was very much like their 1968 T-Bird Landau. In my humble opinion, the “Bunkie-Beak” was a quick fix that was another styling dead-end. For 1970, it was time for a complete rethink for what had been “The World’s Most Desirable Car”, but Ford’s management was in a civil war between Knudsen and Iacocca.
James, you make some good points. David Halberstam argued that Knudsen was pushed out of Ford for political reasons (go here), but he also made some obviously bad product decisions, e.g., as you point out his beak fetish was indeed a dead end.