Episode 2
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The Designer

The first name on the plaque belongs to an actor. And what did Ford really have to do with it?

The rear deck lid drawing from United States design patent D606,920
The deck lid, from design patent D606,920. One of 6 patents that never name the car. United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Between the air vents of every one of these cars there is a small black plate with 3 names on it. Ford is not one of them. The name that comes first belongs to Michael Leone, and most people who read it have never heard of him. Some of the people who have written about this car got his name wrong, or gave his design to somebody else.

This chapter is who he was, how a man who was not a car designer came to draw this one, and what Ford actually did: the car they started from, the parts, the warranty, a letter from Bill Ford, and 6 patents that name no car at all.

New here? Start at the beginning.

The series playlist The trailer, 90 seconds