Ford Town U.S.A.

Ryan

Ryan

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On September 24, 1960, Lee Iacocca saw his dream become a reality. That was the day that Flora, Illinois became ?Ford Town USA.? It was a huge promotional stunt that Lee orga...
 
Wow... I can't believe they pulled that off. Great story Ryan-

Those pics are amazing...
 
I remember reading about that many years ago ! Must have been really nice to live in that small town and be able to drive that nice new Ford !
That was one of Ford's best promotions they ever did !

Jim
 
I live near Flora Il. and have heard of the promotion. From what I understand, Ford picked Flora because at that time Flora was center of population for the USA.
Flora is a town of 5000 and they have no New Auto Dealers at this time. A friend told me he knows of one of the cars that was sold that week.
I was glad to see this post and if I can get time, I plan to research some locally.
Ryan, I was wondering where you found your information about this promotion. Nice pictures!
Fordrelic
 
From what I can find, the promotion may have been for the 1961 full size Fords and Falcons. That would explain maybe why all the T Birds in the photo are 1960 models.
 
Galaxiedriver said:
From what I can find, the promotion may have been for the 1961 full size Fords and Falcons. That would explain maybe why all the T Birds in the photo are 1960 models.
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I was thinking along those lines too. But I'm also wondering if it might've been that the '61 'Birds - since they were the new Space Age models - might've had a later or separate unveiling, in order to capitilize on the new design?

I don't know. Great article.
 
raceron1120 said:
I was thinking along those lines too. But I'm also wondering if it might've been that the '61 'Birds - since they were the new Space Age models - might've had a later or separate unveiling, in order to capitilize on the new design?

I don't know. Great article.
Click to expand...

That's the reason. The 61 birds were not introduced until November 10, 1960. Production started October October 3. http://automotivemileposts.com/prod1961tbird.html
 
Fun Story ... would love to have something new and fun to drive for a week!

on a personal note ... Merlin ... Love Top Gear so i appreciate the picture that you chose as your Avatar!
 
I did extensive research after this was posted on the Hamb last year and was going to do a follow up article, but never really found much information. Lots of "hearsay" and a few unsubstantiated stories, but nothing solid from the Flora area. The local newspaper didn't keep good records and the actual papers on file were in such terrible shape that I couldn't go through them without damaging them.
I did find quite a bit of memorabilia and one of the original cars shown below....The plates are from the promotion also. If you notice they are not dealers plates, but manufacturer's plates.
The January 1961 issue of Ford Times has a 4 page article titled "The Biggest Test-Drive in History" if any of you want to check it out.
 

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rustyfords said:
I'm with you Ryan.

I'm afraid that Thunderbird would be leaking oil, missing really bad and have a distinct lean to one side, after a week of me driving it.
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i second that rustyfords. nice post ryan! i am looking forward in reading more of your post in here! fun to read! those stories should really be treasured! worth my time!

Yeah that is already common on thunderbirds. just replace it with oem replacement parts so you wont have much trouble.
 
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I was born and raised in Flora Illinois and had turned 17 4 days before Ford Week began. My dad let me go pick up our new Ford. I only had it for 3 or 4 days before the hood blew off and flew over the top of the car. Another white Ford coming down the road ran over it. For some reason the hood would not fit into my trunk, but would fit into the car that had ran over it. I drove back to the Ford garage minus hood. Cops were going crazy as I drove by. There were other instances of problems with some of the cars. A friend of mine was driving his without the air cleaner and slid off into a ditch where the car caught fire. Heard of another funny instance about a transmission almost burning up.
 
I suppose a lot of people just bought the car if they liked it. I see a couple Starliners, I wonder if they turned anyones loose with a 3 deuce 406
 
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