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1961 Ford Gyron concept scale model sells for $40,000

Wed, 19 Dec 2012

A scale model of the 1961 Ford Gyron concept has sold at auction for $40,000, around four times its estimate.

The space-age concept car – designed by Alex Tremulis, McKinley Thompson, Syd Mead, Bill Dayton, John Najjar, and Elwood Engel – debuted in 1961 at the New York International Auto Show and featured two wheels mounted along the car's centerline, usung a gyroscope for stability.

The full-size model – which relied on stabilizing wheels instead of a gyroscope – also predicted the development of satellite navigation systems, car phones and infrared sensing.

Ford's Advanced Studio created several scale models of the car, one of which came into the possession of Joe Ortos, the designer of the Mustang. This was the auctioned item.

In 1962 a fire destroyed the full-size Gyron and the only other scale model of the car, which belonged to designer Alex Tremulis, disappeared a number of years ago.


By Rufus Thompson