[ihc] Ford's Concept "Scout"

["Pete Shubin" <pshubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My daily driver is a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac.  When I bought it in
November 2003 Ford gave me a little card that asked if I would be willing to
participate in market research.  It explicitly said that the research would
not include any sales and it sounded interesting so I returned the card and
told them I would be willing.  I occasionally get e-mails with on-line
surveys that mostly ask about preferences about specific characteristics of
cars and I also get an occasional invitation to one focus group or another.
It's pretty interesting and painless so I usually respond.

 

This evening I went to a focus group meeting (the kind where everyone sits
in a room with a one way mirror and they show you things and observe your
response) regarding concept vehicles.  All us mice in the experiment were
Sport Trac owners so all the concepts were midsized "sport utility trucks".
They did a couple of exorcizes where they got everyone's feedback on the
SUTs available today then they did the same experiment with twenty or so
concepts.  All had four full sized doors and short pickup beds on the back.
One of them so closely resembled a Scout II it was scary.  I stopped the
presentation and asked when they were going to start selling it because I
wanted to buy one.

 

Why did it resemble a Scout II?  It had round headlights on a grille that
was rectangular and had horizontal slots that made it closely resemble a '71
or '72 Scout II grille or even a '70s IH truck grille.  The body was very
squared off and rectangular.  They only showed a view of the concept looking
at it from the front off set to the driver side but it had unmistakable
Scout II lines.  The concept nearly the same side grille surround (upper at
least), top of fender line that extends the entire length of the vehicle to
the rear, a nearly flat hood, what could have been a flat windshield, and
doors with squared off window corners than dropped straight down to squared
off corners just above the rockers.  The cab above the top of the doors and
hood was also stepped in slightly just like a Scout II.  The concept was
different from the Bronco concept that appeared in magazines a while back.
The lower grille on this concept was very similar to the one on that concept
and looked like it had a place for a winch fair lead roller.  The conductor
and I even discussed why it was more Scout II than early Bronco.

 

It seemed everyone in the audience thought of their Sport Tracs as tough and
rugged but when asked liked the concepts that were described by the group as
sleek and refined and said Ford should move in that direction.  Only one guy
and I suggested they work more with the rugged and utilitarian concepts.
Near the end of the evening the conductor of the meeting stepped out to
check with big brother behind the glass.  One of the questions he asked when
he returned was why I liked the look of the concept (other than it looked
like my Scout) so someone was thinking about it.

 

Yes it was a Ford meeting but I can't help but think that the guy that
designed that concept didn't own and love a Scout in his youth.

 

Pete