This is the single greatest honor in the motor vehicle industry, intended to honor a career and/or lifetime achievement. To become a "Hall of Famer" the nominee must be either retired or deceased. Recipients must have significantly impacted the development of the automobile or the motor vehicle industry. Typically, four to eight individuals are inducted each year.
At four years old, Jack Telnack saw a 1941 Lincoln Continental convertible. It was a life-changing moment. He suddenly knew that he would grow up to design cars. But not just any cars . . . Ford cars! It was his dream, and for 40 years he lived that dream.
Born, prophetically, at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital, John J. Telnack was the youngest of five children. His parents had lived in a Pennsylvania coal mining town but moved to Detroit in search of a better life. Jack’s father took a job at Ford and spent nearly 40 years working at the giant Ford Rouge factory.
As a young boy, Jack often rode his bicycle to the Ford Rotunda, the company’s iconic exhibition hall, to see the Ford concept cars. During World War II, Ford replaced the concept cars with offices for military personnel. He’d ride his bike there anyway, hoping the concept cars would return.
At 15 years old, Telnack went to the Ford Design Center for a personal visit his father had arranged. “I don’t know how to explain this,” he later said, “but when I entered the studio I felt at home. I knew this was where I was meant to be.”
Telnack graduated from Art Center College in Pasadena in 1958. Of his graduating class of 12, Ford would make only three offers. Telnack was one of the three selected.
During the first years at Ford Design, Telnack was primarily involved with small design details and ornamentation. Telnack found an outlet for his creativity by designing boats in his free time. He developed a portfolio of boat designs and took them to the Trojan Boat Company of Philadelphia. The company wanted to hire him on the spot. Telnack’s heart was at Ford, but agreed to continue designing boats on a freelance basis for a few more years.
But things were going right for Telnack at Ford. He got his first big break as a member of the original Mustang design team, where he distinguished himself. As a junior member of the team, he designed the original wheel cover and the fastback variant. “The wheel covers must have been good,” he once remarked, “because they were regularly stolen.”
Telnack moved up the ranks quickly, becoming a manager in just four years. In 1966, Telnack was named chief designer for Ford of Australia. Ford needed someone to set up a design studio in Australia from the ground up. At the age of 29, Telnack built the studio, hired the designers and established training and control of the entire operation. As chief designer, Telnack led the redesign of the Australian Ford Falcon, impressing not only management in Australia, but Dearborn as well. Returning to Dearborn in 1969, he was placed in charge of the Mustang and Pinto projects.
In the process of creating the 1979 Mustang, Telnack and his team introduced a revolutionary design, the first step in Ford’s aerodynamic revolution.
Perhaps the defining moment in Telnack’s career came in 1980, when then-Ford President Phil Caldwell went to Telnack and said, “We need a new car, one that will give us an advantage. And I want you to push the envelope on this one.” The result was the groundbreaking 1986 Ford Taurus.
Global car design at the time was boxy, with squared off front and rear ends. As Telnack once said, “Designers were simply filling the cube.” The Taurus, with its “aero-look” design, introduced a soft, sculpted shape. Though initially criticized by the press, the public loved it. The Taurus soon became the number one selling automobile in America and would account for 25% of Ford’s North American sales.
Next up for Telnack and his designers was “new-edge” design, evidenced in the ‘97 Ford Ka, the ’99 Mercury Cougar and the very successful 2001 Ford Focus. Telnack retired from Ford on January 1, 1998. The New York Times once called him the most influential designer since Harley Earl. Former Ford Chairman Harold Poling once remarked, “There are great designers and there are charismatic leaders. Jack Telnack is both.”
