Ford Seattle-ite XXI
Car of the Day #261: 1962 Ford Seattle-ite XXI – Quick Change Car
In the 1960s, it could take styling and marketing teams months to create a forward-thinking scale mockup concept car for major events such as the World’s Fair in Seattle.
Now, leading Chinese automakers will go from nothing to production in 18 months. How’s that for the future of cars?
I write about fantastic styling concepts from time to time, because I find them interesting. As good a reason as any, I say.
In 1962, Ford designers created the perfect 3/8 mockup of a concept for wowing crowds at the event next to the now-iconic Space Needle tower.
These days, its features would read like an April Fool’s post on Instagram.
Well, even ‘styling mockup’ is generous, as Ford’s model was constructed at a smaller 3/8 scale. Given it was meant to use nuclear propulsion and had quick change propulsion units, this is probably a good thing.
These days, if you could figure out how to reliably switch out the front end of a vehicle, the idea of changing the capabilities of a car based on the type of driving it's about to do is a sound one.
Install up a sensor-laden, electric module for an autonomous city driving mode. Or a twin front axle, hybrid V6-powered version for crushing hundreds of kilometres in a single sitting.
All this, ideally, by driving into the side of a NIO battery swap-sized building and letting a switching device-thingy do all the work on the underside of your car.
Another similar Ford concept of the time, the Atmos, was also done in miniature scale — with rudimentary remote control operation, as seen above in period footage.
The more daring Seattle-ite XXI had to be forward-looking, of course: it was designed to be one of the centrepieces of the “An Adventure In Space” exhibit at the Century 21 Exposition.
1962 Ford Seattle-ite XXI concept car 3/8 model • via Ford
I can sit here and assume it was difficult for people at the time to comprehend the technologies Ford was suggesting (and I'm plenty sure Ford itself was happier to be stamping out body-on-frame, chrome-laden boats instead of researching suburbia-sized nuclear propulsion units) — however, by the end of 1969, Americans had put astronauts on the moon.
Maybe the technology was there, if Ford had wanted it badly enough.
The Seattle-ite XXI is a distraction, not a solution: “Someday things will be better, but until then, golly — the 1962 Ford’s sure are nice!”
A fuel cell powerplant, computer navigation system, disc brakes, "fingertip controls" and other wild features make me wonder if lead designer Alex Tremulis wasn't just throwing ideas out and hoping they'd someday stick.
Or, uh, the opium joke.
My question is this: in your fantasy garage (or fantasy lawn ornament collection), would you rather the Seattle-ite XXI or Simca Fulgar?
READ NEXT: Ford Seattle-ite XXI brochure scan (Ford Media, .pdf); a feature-focused story about the car, by Matt Hardigree at The Autopian.
michael banovsky
