User:Leerung2/Gale Halderman

Gale Halderman (1933-2020, was born in Tipp City, Ohio) was an American designer and executive stylist at Ford Motor Company.

Early years
Halderman studied at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio. Halderman graduated from the Dayton Art Institute in 1954, and was hired as a designer in the Lincoln-Mercury studio.

Career
During his 40 years in design at Ford, Halderman was director and executive director of the Advanced Design Studio, Interior Design Studio, Lincoln/Mercury Design Studio and the Ford Design Studio.

Halderman's work on the Mustang project started in 1962, when he was working on future Ford product designs for 1965. It started with an amazingly simple sketch Halderman drew on his porch. Little did he realize that this sketch would create an automotive icon that many Americans and automotive enthusiasts would admire and greatly appreciate for years to come.

He was working alongside top Ford names such as Henry Ford II, Hal Sperlich, and Lee Iacocca. Even Bill Ford Jr. once had Gale as his boss.

After he hired as a Lincoln-Mercury studio designer in 1954, he moved to Ford in 1957. Because Lincoln is premier brand from Ford, the studios are available to move designers other studios. Halderman was promoted to design manager before he was in charge of designing a new Mustang.

In 1958, he was assigned to Elwood Engel’s Corporate Advanced studio as manager. While in the Corporate Advanced studio, he helped design the Levacar, the Mark IX, the X Sixty Five, the Astrion, the ‘61 Continental, and the Gyron.

He was one of the designers of the 1964 Ford Mustang and the primary designer of the original Mustang. In November 1968, Halderman replaced John Najjar as director of the truck studio. Five months later, he was asked by the new Ford President Bunkie Knudsen to design cars, although he remained in the Truck studio.

When Joe Oros became chief designer at Ford of Europe in November 1970, Halderman replaced him as director of the Ford studio. In April 1973, Halderman was transferred to the Advanced studio as director. He also served as director of the Light Car Exterior, Custom Car, Interior, Mid-Sized car Interior, the Small Car and Truck studios. While he was director of the Custom Car studio, Halderman supervised design of the Mark VI and the '80 Continental.

In September 1978, he was reassigned as director in the Small Car studio to supervise design of the proposed 1986 smaller FWD Lincoln Town Car. In June 1985, Halderman was reappointed director in the Luxury Car studio, where he supervised the design of the ‘90 Town Car, the '95 Continental, the Mark VIII, and the revisions to the Mark VIII.

Halderman was a member of the Mustang Hall of Fame for his design. He received the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award for the design of the 1990 Lincoln Town Car.

In January 1994, he retired.

Museum
In 2014, he created the Halderman Barn Museum on his family homestead in Tipp City, which holds a giant collection of drawings, artwork, memorabilia and information about all things Mustang, Ford and Lincoln Mercury. It also houses the first car Halderman bought, a 1965 Mustang convertible.

https://haldermannustang.com/

He passed away on April 29, 2020 at the age of 87 for liver cancer. He was one of the best car designers for years at Ford Motor Company.