1949 1950 Ford "There is a Car in Your Future" "Car of Tomorrow" large scale wall decoration

In 1949, with the introduction of the new and revolutionary 1949 Ford, and the beginning of a new era at Ford - there was a new ad campaign. "There is a Ford in your Future" was displayed in magazine advertisements, literature, and dealership showrooms.

Ford went so far as to actually include a depiction of this Car of Tomorrow on door panel garnish molding trim pieces of the 1949 and 1950 Fords! This space ship looking Car of Tomorrow was also in the door panel trim of the Canadian Meteor, and on a clock delete plate for the Meteor. The depiction is about 2 5/8" long and embossed in clear plastic and back painted. The background was silver/gray on the closed cars and black on the open cars.

I think this was a neat feature on the new 1949 Fords, and something really cool for kids to see on their Dad's new Ford. So, I thought about fabricating a large scale version of The Car of Tomorrow. I just completed my version of a very accurate 12:1 scale model of the early and first 1950 all plastic Ford Crest, which is about 4 ft square by 6" deep. The Car of Tomorrow will be abut 25:1 scale, which will have it being 69 inches long and 8 inches high. My plan is to make it out of 1 1/2 inch thick Popular Board, sanded to the 3D shape of the actual trim piece. I will add a silhouette of a man of the early 1950s wearing a fedora hat. The model will either be painted a silver or wrapped in a chrome vinyl. It will have a background similar to that of the actual trim piece, and have the words under it: "There is a FORD in your Future".

Yesterday, I started on laying out the full scale pattern by first using a toy projector of the 1960s to project and enlarge an enlarge picture of the car. This gave me a ruff outline of the car, which I then refined the lines on. Next will be to glue two 3/4" thick boards together and transfer the pattern to the wood so that it can be cut out with a jig saw. From there, I will sand and grind the wood to obtain the final 3D shape. The side window of the car will be made of a light green acrylic with the silhouette of the driver. I am not sure that I will be successful at this point, but I am hopeful. It will make an interesting wall design for my Museum Building.