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.
Can Aquaman tell this thing to go jump in a lake?
Makes me think of the BMW GINA, which had a similar aesthetic, took the concept to 11 with a fabric covered body that could move. The headlights were concealed, behind a closed eyelid. And then the “eye” opened to reveal the light.
The hood opened like a, uh, hmmm. What’s this car called again?
It was creepy and cool at the same time.
If you swap the back and front, it’s almost the Batmobile! I like those taillights much better than boring LEDs.
Absolutely disgusting looking. The 90s were the worst for design.
Always loved this concept but sadly very little of it or very few of the designs it inspired made it into production. I remember there was an Aprilia scooter back in the 90’s which had a very similar asymmetric air-intake (Aprilia Gulliver) – clearly inspired by the Focus.
Birthed from a Matrix squid. Hit it with the EMP blast!
I blame Need for Speed II but my two favorite Ford Concepts are The Gt90 and the Indigo
I’d love it if Our Goth Uncle would chime in on this design.
Captain Nemo’s car. It has a bumper sticker that says “My Other Car is a Submarine”
This thing is totally wild looking! The taillights remind me of the eyes of some alien insect. I don’t know if I like it, but I think I do? The weird nostrils, that bizarre rail running around it, I’m just not sure…
But what I really came to say was that clicking on that Kai’s Power Tools image sent me down a painful waterslide of nostalgia. Did it really look like that? Holy crap.
Love concept cars, where designers are allowed to let their unfiltered artistic creativity run amok to push the limits in stunning or disturbing ways. This strikes me as the latter.
Holy cow. Toss this in a science fiction movie and I would have zero issues with it. It looks amazingly futuristic.
I see a lot of the Mustang Mach 3 concept in that
I completely forgot about the Mach 3 concept until you mentioned it. I even had a model of it that I built back in the day. Looking at that car again after some years, my word is that thing blobby and sort of ungainly looking
Definitely, but fits that design language of the time (Contour, Taurus)…jelly bean
I have a machbox model of it, that used to be my favorite toy car when I was about four years old 😉
It’s design language is somewhat similiar but not extravagant in its biomorphicness.
Ah, the 90’s, where everything looked like it’d been left in water for a while. Either that or translucent. There has to have been a translucent car concept.
This looks like someone hit the Zima too hard and then saw a catfish or something.
I wouldn’t buy it, but admire and respect the effort. It’s deliberately asymmetrical and organically-inspired, but it’s not ugly, just alien I guess. Contrast with, say, current gm, Subaru, Tesla to a point (literally), and some others who are making deliberately-ugly/awkward vehicles, this looks downright tasteful and restrained.
I can definitely see some inspiration in the ovoid 1996+ Taurus design, for better or for worse. I also like seeing amber in the taillamps, as all vehicles should have.
Ford’s 1990s and 2000s concept vehicles are unabashedly some of my very favorites. GT90, Indigo, 2002 Continental, Super Chief, 021c, Shelby GR Cobra, 24.7, Interceptor, 427, EX, Explorer Sportsman, Model U, Lincoln MKR, Lincoln Sentinel, Mercury Messenger, Cougar S, etc.
Now THAT’S a concept car. Damn.
It’s certainly fascinating, if not beautiful.
The number of cool Ford concept cars can be counted on one hand.
This ain’t one of them.
I’ve never seen this before and I love it.
This slouched toward Bethlehem so the Mitsuoka Orochi could be born.
COTD right here
This kinda reminds me of a used bar of soap, but in a good way.
Fo9rd’s own design studios could be a little adventurous in those days. Torch mentions the Taurus wagon, which carried the Ovoid Theme beyond its normal limits, but I most remember the Euro Ford Ka. Its designers brought exuberant use of their French curves to the masses. The same approach was taken for the original Puma.
It was actually considered for U.S. sale at one point (how seriously, I don’t know), and I managed to get one for a week’s driving. Despite its small engine, it was fairly zippy, and the chassis was developed beautifully. I loved hooning it around.
Of all the test cars I brought home, it got more attention from the public than any other. I wanted to keep it.
First time I ever saw one (in the UK of course) I was amazed to see a Ford oval on such an avant guard – to U.S. eyes – design. It seemed such a truly European Ford. I immedidately loved it, esp. the base model with the unpainted bumpers.
“Mine” was a base model with gray bumpers, too. Which was maybe a good thing, as the body was a weird plum (maybe aubergine?) hue.
Some designer was looking back at the Alfa Romeo BAT concepts from the 50s!
How do the doors open with those cables?
I do love those tail lights.
It was a show car! Who cares how — or if — the doors opened?
I was wondering the same thing. Rear-hinged I guess.
There supports for the bars/cables on either side of the door seam. I’m guessing there is a seam in the bar/cable at the door seam that isn’t discernible in these photos.
Yes, there appears to be a seam in the “cable” that allows the doors to open
https://www.motor1.com/news/729723/ford-focus-concept-1992-story/
https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/L3kpGL/s1/ford-ghia-focus-concept-1992.jpg
Those tail lights are science fiction. Hell the whole car is and it is fantastic. I’ve never seen it before and Omg Cosworth innards? What could have been versus what is, is depressing
I’d like to see bodyside protective rails/bumperettes make a comeback.
Hell – I’d like to see actual bumpers (not that this has them) make a comeback.
I keep being drawn into the spark arrestor. In this era, it was common to have formless, ovoid exhaust tips, and they would have been right at home on this design, but they chose the one type of muffler that has to have a specific, perfectly-geometric outlet, with exposed screws evenly distributed. It’s like a little bit of machine peeking out of the organic body, and I really like it.
Isn’t that a Supertrap? The tunable muffler? Not sure what a spark arrestor is? In any event, I agree that part looks great. The rest, well….
This kind of muffler usually contains a spark arrestor, which is a device that stops flames and sparks from shooting out. Spark arrestors are required for some ORV trails in areas where exhaust sparks could start wildfires. Since that’s the simplest, lightest form factor of muffler that contains a spark arrestor, I usually hear folks in the VW community refer to them colloquially as “spark arrestors” since that’s usually why they’re installed on bugs/rails, with the lightweight muffler as an added bonus.
Supertrapp appears to be one of the brands that sell this type of muffler, both with and without spark arrestors.
I agree that looks like a Supertrap muffler. They took it off one of the employee’s motorcycles when the cool custom pipe was delayed in shipping.
I personally never cared for the center exhaust on anything. Single pipe should be asymmetrical.
One of my professors at UC Davis was Dr. Paul Moller who invented the SuperTrapp muffler. That was the source of some of the funding for his decades long development of flying cars. I worked on the Discojet version while at UCD doing wind-tunnel testing. We basically found that a round flying saucer needs a horizontal stabilizer to fly properly. Fun times.
His flying car was awesome too…