FORD MUSTANG DESIGN TEAM MEMBER GALE HALDERMAN DIES
It was Ford designer Gene Halderman’s sketch, rendered in clay, that Lee Iacocca selected over the others submitted in a 1962 design exercise, laying the foundation of what would become the first Ford Mustang. On April 29, Halderman, age 87, lost his battle with liver cancer.
At first, Halderman rejected the new sporty car assignment, having too much on his plate already as a design manager in the Ford studio. When his boss, studio manager Joe Oros, insisted, Halderman relented, working at home on sketches for what would eventually become the Mustang. Of the five sketches Halderman completed, three featured variations of the quarter panel air scoop, now a hallmark of Mustang design.
The clay model submitted by Oros blended Halderman’s styling…
