1958 Ford X2000 Concept

In the 1950s, magazines were filled with drawings of cars of the future and visions of space-age vehicles that would be available by the end of the century. Major manufacturers built these “dream cars” to tantalize the public and display them at auto shows. Often, they simply remained unrealized concepts. One such car was Ford’s X2000, designed by Bill Balla and Alex Tremulis, who was famous for the styling of the legendary Tucker. It made the journey from sketch to scale model but no further.

So it was until Andy Saunders spotted an image of the X2000 in a book titled Dreamcars. It sparked his memory of a Vauxhall advertisement car that seemed to closely resemble the Ford concept. He tracked it down, only to discover that while the front end had been copied from the X2000, the rest of the Vauxhall bore no resemblance whatsoever. Undaunted, he set out to re-create the Ford himself. Starting with that nose clip, Saunders found a 1962 Mercury Monterey which was used as the base for the car, donating its frame, suspension and running gear. The project was quite challenging as there was only one front overhead ¾-view of the original X2000 design from which he could work. Saunders calls his X2000 a “look-alike” rather than a replica, as he had to rely on his imagination for details such as the rear end and interior.

One of the most distinctive features, that nose, was not particularly modern, nor plausible, even back in 1958: The grille and bonnet (hood) are clearly related to those of the 1957 Ford Edsel, the car that lost Ford serious amounts of money. In that context the vertical oval motif was variously called the “egg on end”, “sucking lemons”, “horse collar”, “impact ring” and other names that are more anatomical and even rude.

The passenger compartment is very Jetson’s Sci-Fi, but the rear end is fairly typical 1950’s yank tank apart from the bolt-on rocket booster tail-lights.

Don’t be too hard on the 1958 designers, Alex Tremulis and Bill Balla; it is very difficult indeed to predict the future. What will we all be driving in 2040? What odds will you give on the Moller Skycar?

This amazing creation is the Ford X2000, a styling fantasy from 1958, what the Ford design department thought we might just possibly be driving in the year 2000.