Eugene 'Bob' Gregorie

highbeams

highbeams

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https://www.motorcities.org/story-o...gregorie-his-most-significant-designs-at-ford

Edsel and Edsel's best friend and top designer Eugene 'Bob' Gregorie in Ford's design department, were in a quandary as to what to do regarding the new Ford for '33. Upon a vacation trip to England, Gregorie returned and had the answer.

That is . . . . . We will take the English Ford, stretch it, and clay model it larger and lower all the way around, sleek, cut the typical boxy look of all cars in the era, with an eye-catching grille. Thus the beginning of their new Ford for '33. There was a guard at the door of the design department instructed DO NOT let anyone in that does not work in the design department building, the building structured in a field far enough away from the Ford plant,
no one would attempt to walk over there hoping to get a look inside. Henry had absolutely no idea of what was being created out there.

Workers in the department were sworn to be sure to keep your lips sealed.

(I think that the design building was built by Edsel when he was creating the 1928 Model A.
 
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Bob Gregorie was a design genius. I think he lived out the remainder of his life in St. Augustine, FL. He left Ford in 1943 and went back to designing boats.
 
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That was one of Bob's first jobs at Ford. Bob's book has a lot of photos of the Ford laboratory building and the airport manufacturing building across the way. The lab was where the design department was but there were other things going on there. It had a lunch room and other offices there. When Henry would get secretive, he would pick out of the way places to experiment like his winter place in Florida where he played with engine stuff. Edsel always had to get his fathers approval for things with Lincoln being the exception. Henry bought Lincoln for Edsel to play with but a lot of things came from that play so to speak. They would work on some things over at the airplane hangar at the airport and even more so after production of the trimotor was over.

I purchased this book used and it was worth every penny.
https://www.amazon.com/Edsel-Ford-T-Gregorie/dp/0768004004?tag=atomicindus08-20
 
rotorwrench said:
That was one of Bob's first jobs at Ford. Bob's book has a lot of photos of the Ford laboratory building and the airport manufacturing building across the way. The lab was where the design department was but there were other things going on there. It had a lunch room and other offices there. When Henry would get secretive, he would pick out of the way places to experiment like his winter place in Florida where he played with engine stuff. Edsel always had to get his fathers approval for things with Lincoln being the exception. Henry bought Lincoln for Edsel to play with but a lot of things came from that play so to speak. They would work on some things over at the airplane hangar at the airport and even more so after production of the trimotor was over.

I purchased this book used and it was worth every penny.
https://www.amazon.com/Edsel-Ford-T-Gregorie/dp/0768004004?tag=atomicindus08-20
Click to expand...
51JGxPW5GaL._SY342_.jpg

Edsel Ford and E.T. Gregorie: The Remarkable Design Team and Their Classic Fords of the 1930s and 1940s
 
Yes designed from the English Y model. 32-36. There is also a great little book about the Y model. I actually have a 36 Y model Ford , solid but pretty much dismantled.
 
The Early Ford V8 Museum in Auburn, In has a nice display of a few his original drawings on display!
 
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