Joe Oros

Joseph E. Oros Jr. (; June 15, 1916, in Cleveland, Ohio – August 2, 2012 ) was an automobile stylist for Ford Motor Company over a period of 21 years — known as the Chief Designer of the team at Ford that styled the original Mustang, and for his contributions to the 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Oros was also an artist, sculptor, painter and industrial designer, having designed appliances and other products. He lived in Santa Barbara, California until her death in 2001. His house was full of his own artwork, including paintings and sculptures. Oros was working on a 3D model of the Earth depicting all the original settlers. In 2009, it was about one-quarter complete.

Education and career Oros graduated at the top of his class from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1939 — having studied under Viktor Schreckengost — and later became a student at General Motors' School of Automotive Design, where he worked under Harley Earl's guidance, including a period of time with Cadillac. a design Oros described as inspired by an airplane. — as well as an IDI Bronze Medal in 1964 — while Iacocca championed the project as Ford Division general manager. The Mustang prototype had been a two-seat, mid-mounted engine roadster, later remodeled as a four-seat car styled under the direction of Project Design Chief Joe Oros and his team of L. David Ash, Gale Halderman, and John Foster in Ford's Lincoln–Mercury Division design studios, which produced the winning design in an intramural design contest instigated by Iacocca. Ash's styling exercise, originally internally named the Cougar, was the winning styling exercise. Oros said:

I told the team that I wanted the car to appeal to women, but I wanted men to desire it, too," he said. "I wanted a Ferrari-like front end, the motif centered on the front — something heavy-looking like a Maserati, but, please, not a Trident — and I wanted air intakes on the side to cool the rear brakes. I said it should be as sporty as possible and look like it was related to European design. "Ours was quite unique and it took the whole ball game" said Oros. "It was a unanimous decision to accept the car we had prepared. They approved everything on our car — no criticisms." Henry II was totally sold on the Oros team design, and Iacocca was just happy he was finally going to have a car. "I was not in the courtyard at the approval moment, nor was any other chief of a studio there," noted Oros. Henry Ford II walked over later and told Oros, "Joe, you know we’ve approved your car but you’re $15 over the hill on it." Oros said he understood and would find a way to get the money back out of it. The product planners had an established budget and sales band on each car. So the Mustang estimated production cost had to be met or it wouldn't be profitable. Henry II then wandered over to the seating buck, a mockup of the Mustang interior, and tried out the rear seat. "He was a big man sitting in the rear seat," said Oros. "He said, ‘Joe, I believe that we need a little more headroom.’ He swung back and hit his head. "I said, ‘Yes, sir, we can do that.’ And he said, ‘Can you do that without losing the design?’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir, we’ll do that,’ and that was it. It worked." You didn't want to say no to the guy with his name on the building, according to Oros.

In 2009, at the celebration of the Mustang's 45th anniversary of, Oros, then 92, said:

Retirement Upon his retirement in 1975, Joe Oros and his wife, Betty Oros, moved to Santa Barbara, California, became very active in the Romanian-American community in Southern California, serving for a few years (1988–1991) as the chairman of the New Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church and Cultural center in Los Angeles.