Do you remember early 1990s design? It was an odd, interesting time. In hindsight, it felt a lot like all of a sudden we were gifted with a whole host (I wanted to type whole whost or at least hole host but whatever) of new technologies and tools that allowed for making all kinds of forms and shapes with far more ease than ever before. And we went kind of nuts with it. Remember computer interfaces like the ones used on Kai’s Power Tools? Those were unhinged explorations into biomorphic shapes and all kinds of fractal madness. Some of that spilled over into the world of cars, and I think Ford’s 1993 Ghia Focus concept was one of the most blatant examples.
Oh and the taillights on this thing! To this day I’ve never really seen another set of taillights like these! I think they may be worth another look, so, lighting designers, stick around.
The 1980s were a pretty rectilinear and geometric time for a lot of automotive and industrial design, and progressions in computer technologies and manufacturing allowed for the pendulum to swing back the other way, hard and wetly, as design began to explore much more curvy and biological sorts of forms, playing with shapes that almost looked more at home on some kind of previously unknown marine life than machines.
Ford’s Ghia design studios Focus concept definitely has that discovered-in-the-Marianas Trench sort of feel:
I kind of love it, but it’s definitely a peculiar look. Those strange asymmetrical twin nostrils on the hood – maybe blowholes – the fin-like front lower spoiler strakes, that oddly large wiper with the curvy arm, the way the windshield sort of grows out of the line of the hood, everything.
And that strange, curvy rail around the sides, introducing a secondary design motif of those thin, curving tree limb-like bars, also seen in the bracket of the side mirror – at the time, nothing else looked like this. I remember seeing pictures of this car at the time and being really amazed.
Check out the rear:
So much going on here! Those complicated curving fenders, with extra bends and creases where you wouldn’t expect them, and I kind of love the odd, almost lingerie-like soft top, with those two, um, garters that support the rear of the top to the trunk lid. I also like how the twig-like side bars form a sort of bumper and cross the rear wheelarches there.
But what really gets me are these taillights:
Look at that! These light units feel like a spattering of freckles or mottled markings on the skin of an animal, or, less charitably, a rash. Maybe like a pattern of water droplets on a leaf? Definitely something biomorphic.
The red and amber lights are mixed together (the reverse lamps are more conventional and bracket the ovoid license plate housing below), with circular lenses of varying sizes punched out of the bodywork with no extra ornamentation.
These lights fit the look of this car perfectly, and you can see the design motif repeated in how vents and air intakes are handled on the upper hood and in the interior:
Also note the novel asymmetrical steering wheel with more tree limb-like elements, and the complete lack of a straight line, anywhere. This all feels like a car that was birthed from some large, mildly disgusting artificial womb instead of coming from a factory.
Under the hood is pretty incredible as well: there’s actually a turbocharged, 16-valve Cosworth engine there, making 227 hp, and this was all built on an Escort RS Cosworth platform. Of course, you can hardly see the engine under all of that strangely bilogical/HR Geiger-looking plastic. This feels like you’ve cut open the abdomen of some kind of space whale more than you’ve opened a car hood.
I’m not sure how I feel about how this concept aged; some of these design concepts and motifs did make it to market in some form, such as in the very biomorphic-looking mid-to-late-’90s Ford Taurus, especially the wagon. I think some of the detailing here is worth revisiting, like those spatter-effect taillights and the strange twig-bumper things, too.
It’s still a striking car! I like how it makes me a little uneasy.
looks like an alien 356
I had no idea the Mitsuoka Orochi had a little sibling…
Ghia made a pair of similar concept vehicles around the same time, and one was a van!
I present to you the Zig and Zag
https://www.evshift.com/299131/1990-ford-zig-and-zag-by-ghia-the-concepts-were-based-on-the-ford-b-platform/
I love the wheels on that van.
Holy crap. But then, just you watch, this is late 2030’s design. Everything is recycled, nothing is lost.
I really dig the fabric top on this though.
Tail lights look like a poison ivy / oak reaction. The amber dots are still full of pus, and the red ones you scratched to the point of bleeding.
Those tail lights are an important safety innovation: they naturally repel tailgaters by triggering their innate sense of trypophobic revulsion.
Clearly designed by someone who did not have trypophobia. Yuck.
WANT
My first thought was “StreetKa with body kit” but now I’m thinking “certified organic cruelty free Jaguar”
I did love how the SteetKa headlamps were the standard units, but the poly arches covered the edges to make them a different shape.
For all those who vehemently hate this design and cannot get image unstuck from their mind,
simply take a generous gander at a 2024 Tesla CyberTruck to completely clear your prefrontal palate
Right side of brain: love the shape, the color, the warmth and seeming ability to crawl up the beach by itself like something I found on a remote walk.
Left side of brain: hate the overt anti-symmetry of body and interior, wonder how functional those tiny “1000 points of light” taillights would really work, thinking of how crazy it would be to source parts for this beast, wonder what the per unit build cost would be selling dozens of these primordial babies to the masses.
I remember being both disturbed and intrigued by this. As a concept trying out new things, it was an interesting exploration, but purely as an aesthetic, I found it kind of gross and I really disliked that vine sprouting from its sides like an emerging parasitic worm or a feeding lamprey.
I never even heard about this. Thanks Jason! 🙂
No one’s going to mention that the driver’s cockpit looks like its surrounded by labia?
Glad that this one died on the vine.
Also, looks like this might not be the ol’ Ford to take your date for a ride in. Road head (which grey aliens also participate in) would be almost impossible.
+1
Me too. I think it looks terrible and has not aged well.
I feel like this is what the 2G Ford Probe should have looked like. This would have been better.
YOU TAKE THAT BACK
GirchyGirchy’s comment should be COTD. Given the context and all.
The taillights are really cool but those seats look amazing! Also the quarter-sawn or carved wood floorwells fit the theme of the car so perfectly.