In 1954, in a moment of absolute frankness, the president of Gifford Motors described his company’s latest luxury automobile: “Designed to appeal to the snob in everyone. Designed to convert your bank account into our dividends.”
Perhaps you’re wondering why you never heard of such an honest car executive. That’s because he existed only in Hollywood. The lines come from the opening scene of the 1954 drama Woman’s World, in which three businessmen—with a generous assist from their wives—vie to become the next general manager of the fictitious Gifford Motors.
What Was the Ford X-100 Concept Car?
Onscreen shenanigans aside, the luxury car featured in the film was the real deal: the Ford X-100 concept car. An early version debuted at the Chicago Auto Show in early 1952. The two-door convertible on display had no engine, gears, or gadgets, but its exterior, likely made of plaster and fiberglass, resembled a rocket ship, which was the intention of designer Joe Oros.
The Ford X-100’s V-8 engine featured a three-speed automatic transmission.The Henry Ford
Over the next year and a half, Ford engineers, led by Hiram Pacific, spent at least US $2 million (about $24 million today) turning the display model into a fully functional car. Paul Adams was chief electrical engineer and in charge of most of the gadgets; Paul Wagner was the electrical engineer tasked with making the electrical system work. By the time they were done, the car contained 302 kilograms of electrical equipment, including a 12-volt ignition system, an extra-large generator, 24 electrical motors, 44 vacuum tubes, 50 lightbulbs, 92 control switches, 29 solenoids, 53 relays, 23 circuit breakers, and 10 fuses, all connected by 16 kilometers of wiring. That’s a lot of electronics, but then again, a lot of gizmos were jammed into the car. Touted as a “laboratory on wheels,” the futuristic auto included more than 50 innovations.
One of the most visible features was the clear, nonglare, heatproof plastic sliding roof panel. At the flick of a lever, the windows rolled down and the top retracted. When an electrical moisture sensor detected a hint of rain, it would automatically seal the car. Alas, the X-100 did not have air conditioning. I’m a South Carolinian, and the thought of an uncooled drive on a sunny, hot August day is, let’s say, unappealing. I suspect the designers, being in Detroit, hadn’t thought through summer in the Deep South.
In this 1953 photo, the Ford X-100’s roof panel is retracted and the windows are down. The Henry Ford
The designers did consider certain types of weather because the windshield wipers could spray hot or cold fluid depending on the outside temperature, and the rear window had a defroster. Another feature that I’m sure wowed people in colder climates were the car’s heated leather seats. The front seats were also electrically adjustable in six positions, with presets for two different drivers.
The car had a 10-tube, signal-seeking radio with separate controls and speakers for front and rear passengers. The radio itself was tucked out of sight below the dashboard, but a prismatic mirror could be lowered to show the dial.
The Ford X-100 had a radiophone [top], built-in electric shaver [middle], and multifunction steering wheel with a clock and variable-volume horn [bottom].The Henry Ford
Bluetooth pairing obviously wasn’t available in 1953, but the Ford X-100 did have a radiophone mounted in the center console, through which you could place calls via the Bell System’s Mobile Telephone Service. It also had a dictaphone to record all those great ideas you’d have while driving around with the wind in your hair. One innovation that didn’t stand the test of time was the electric shaver and pop-up mirror stowed away in the glove compartment.
Each wheel had a built-in hydraulic jack attached to the chassis to easily lift the car when you had to change a tire. (Tubeless tires weren’t yet commonplace, so changing flats was something every driver had to do.) A clock was mounted in the center of the steering wheel, where you’d expect the horn to be. The horn, meanwhile, could be activated by a thin circle surrounding the clock or from buttons on the arms of the steering wheel. It had two different volume settings, softer for city traffic and louder for country roads.
The transmission had an electrically operated gear selector, which most cars didn’t have at the time. In addition to power steering, there was power braking that included an electric power-assisted hand brake. Electric switches on the instrument panel opened, closed, locked, and unlocked the hood and trunk. Unfortunately, though, there were no mechanical releases to open the hood and trunk if the car lost power.
The X-100 had a built-in battery charger that could be plugged into an electrical outlet to allow the various gizmos to work even if the car wasn’t running. But not every feature was electrical: Housed in a black leather pouch in front of the center console was a brass pump-style fire extinguisher. Just in case of emergency.
The Ford X-100 Was Big in Paris
The concept car had its second debut in the summer of 1953 during Ford’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. The anniversary presented a golden opportunity for Henry Ford II to redefine the company, as Douglas Brinkley writes in Wheels for the World, a sweeping history of Ford published by Penguin in 2003 to celebrate the company’s centennial. For its 50th, Ford produced the film The American Road; an illustrated company history, Ford at Fifty: An American Story; a two-hour television special hosted by Edward R. Murrow and featuring Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, and Bing Crosby; and a calendar illustrated by Norman Rockwell.
As part of this celebration, the Ford X-100 made the European circuit of auto shows. It racked up nearly 10,000 km crisscrossing the continent, driving from Paris to London to Bonn to Cologne and averaging 12 miles per gallon (about 5 km per liter) of gasoline. Despite its gas gauge indicator lights, the X-100 ran out of gas in the middle of the night on its final trip to the French port of Le Havre.
The Ford X-100, shown here in Paris, racked up nearly 30,000 kilometers driving to auto shows, fairs, and dealerships. Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
The car also toured the United States, stopping at fairs and dealerships and adding another 12,000 miles (19,300 km) to the odometer. A Ford engineer always accompanied the car to demonstrate the various features and answer any questions.
The X-100 wasn’t exactly the star of Woman’s World, but the movie industry estimated that 80 million people saw its features demonstrated on screen. Four other Ford concept cars also appeared, including the XL-500, the XM-800, and the Ventura, as did a Detroit auto plant.
Between the movie and the auto shows, Ford estimated that more people saw the X-100 than any other concept car. The company eventually donated the X-100 to The Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, Mich., where it went into storage. In 1987, the X-100 went back on public display as part of the Automobile in American Life exhibit. Although the car isn’t currently on exhibit, it still turns up occasionally at auto shows.
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The purpose of a concept car is to excite the public with dreams of a possible future. The Ford X-100 did more than that: It not only embodied aspiration and hope, it actually delivered on many of its promises. Car-connected phones, heated seats, and electric windows may seem commonplace now, but they first had to be imagined. With the exception of that electric shaver, kudos to the Ford engineers of the 1950s for making those dreams a reality.
Part of a continuing series looking at historical artifacts that embrace the boundless potential of technology.
An abridged version of this article appears in the November 2025 print issue as “Ford and the Road Mostly Taken.”
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