THE 1963 THUNDERBIRD ITALIEN


Chapter 4 - NEW YORK WORLDS FAIR
1964

Copyright © Thomas Maruska 2008
All Rights Reserved


After a very successful tour in Fords first of three "Custom Car Caravan" Car shows in 1963,
 in conjunction with the "ISCA"(International Show Car Association),
The 1964 New York Worlds Fair was getting underway.

Ford Motor Company had one of the most unique Pavilions in the fair.
It was designed with the help of Walt Disney and was the Largest Pavilion
in the fir covering the area or over 3 football fields.

Here Walt Disney and Henry Ford II view a scale model of the Ford Pavilion


The Ford Rotunda, a building several blocks long featured a number of exhibits
which emphasized automobiles. Fairgoers, seated in 1964 Ford convertibles and riding the "Magic Skyway",
were first taken for a ride through plastic tunnels around the outside of the rotunda
for a sweeping view of the grounds, then onto the exhibit building and the fantasy land within.
Guests toured the earth's past from the dawn of time, through the age of dinosaurs (munching on vegetation),
 to the world of the caveman. The dinosaur portion of the "Magic Skyway" would later be moved to Disneyland.
(Enough steel went into the construction of the Ford Rotunda to erect a 22 story high skyscraper!)

"This is Walt Disney speaking. Our Space City is a distant dream.
But all such dreams must begin in the minds of men.
Men like the scientists, engineers and automotive designers of Ford Motor Company.
I hope you enjoyed our show and your ride on The Magic Skyway
in a new Ford product as much as I've enjoyed the Fords I have driven through the years.
Now step out and see a world where tomorrow is being created today."

 

This distinctive Pavilion, fronted by a rotunda with white pylons reaching skyward,
will represent Ford Motor Company at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair,
which opens April 22. Feature attraction of the exhibit,
one of the largest at the Fair, will be a "Magic Skyway" ride, created by Walt Disney.
On the "Magic Skyway," visitors will travel in Company built convertibles from the
prehistoric world of the cave man to the world of tomorrow in just 12 minutes.


We all know that it was here at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair that the Mustang was first introduced.



Concept cars that were displayed inside the Ford Pavilion

Cougar II


The Allegro

Here is a ticket to get you inside the Cavalcade of Custom Cars Pavilion
where Ford Motor Company's Custom Car Caravan was being displayed


And now, the STAR of the SHOW



There was very bad news looming for The Italien....




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