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 ORD
Motor Company had many good reasons to believe that 1953
was going to be a banner year. The war in Korea that had
been so costly to business was all but over. The future was
looking bright. And it had just launched the biggest
celebration in its history to mark the fiftieth anniversary
since its founding by Henry Ford in 1903.
And what a party! Two
years in the making, the jubilee was on a grand scale like
nothing seen in the auto industry before or since!
Among the commemorative
souvenirs designed for the event were the cars themselves.
As they rolled into the dealers' showrooms specially
decorated for the gala introductions, each had some kind of
anniversary emblem to make them unique. The, beautifully-styled
new Fords had a gold, red and blue medallion on the steering
wheel; the sleek new Mercurys had a special gold crest dash
emblem, and the elegant Lincolns had a gold dash medallion,
plus a gold- plated hood ornament and body side moldings.
Even the Ford trucks and tractors had emblems to designate
them as anniversary models.
The mementos poured into the Ford
showrooms to be handed out to anyone who came in to take a look at the new
cars: two and a half million anniversary calendars, featuring a series of Ford
history illustrations by famed American artist Norman Rockwell; countless
commemorative coins struck from one of Rockwell's illustrations, a portrait of
the profiles of Henry Ford, Edsel, and Henry II; toy models of this year's
Indianapolis "500" Pace Car, a '53 Ford Sunliner Convertible.
..The list went on. ..
In Dearborn, The American Road, a
major auto industry film narrated by Raymond Massey, was produced to tell the
Ford story; the Ford Archives were dedicated at Fair lane, Henry and Clara's
old home; a half-million copies of a complimentary picture book was published,
Ford at Fifty, in two versions, one for employees and one for
customers.
Ford's founding date was June 16th. On
national television the night of June 14, 1953, Ed Sullivan and his Lincoln -
sponsored TV variety show gave Ford a big salute; the next night Ford made
history by sponsoring the first two-hour variety show ever seen on American
TV. A celebration of Ford's anniversary seen by millions, it was an
extravagant Leland Hayward production the New York Times called,
"epochal" and "breathtaking". Narrated by Edward R. Murrow
and featuring songs and skits from such musical hits as "South
Pacific", the show starred Mary Martin and Ethel Merman, with such guests
as Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Marian Anderson.
On the Company's
birthday the new Engineering and Research center in Dearborn
was dedicated, followed the next day by the reopening of the
Ford Rotunda visitor's center across from |
