HI GUYS! Thank you SOO MUCH for Letting me on board! I am so glad to be on this site.
As you can see I have been banging my head against a wall for many years--and I honestly don't know why... I want to take this opportunity to share with you my story--my dad's story.
I am Holly Clark--a writer, and a Mustang lover. I love racing and I love cars. Seems I come by this stuff on my DNA strands, so to speak.
I was 19 years old when I was renting my Grandmother's home. Up in the attic I found journals, letters from Ford, letters from FORD executives, magazines, artwork with MUSTANG on them and much more. I was amazed. I also discovered horse and running horse drawings--exactly like the Mustang emblem on our cars...with a little more 3-D design (the pre-production design--actually 1 of 10 according to the notes)...and a family tale... that actually I didn't believe was true...
....The story goes: Dad, a 20 year old want to be Famous designer, was trying to get into the BIG 3 --FORD, GM, or CHRYSLER. Chrysler reviewed his drawings, said he had GREAT potential but he should go to ART school if he wanted to make a living out of design...(That letter was also in the attic). Dad listened and entered into THE ART SCHOOL OF DESIGN in California. On his way, he saw the wild horses on the Plains... mother said of Nevada, and that became the logo for this car design... the BODY BY CLARK design.. the CAR that would make him famous.
What no one, but his close realitives knew, was that daddy was very ill, and had been given a few years of life. He wanted to leave his mark behind on the WORLD--so the car would have the Wild Stallion on it, and it would be a BODY BY CLARK... HIS Car--if the companies would accept the Body by Clark line of Cars..would be a Mustang...
While he was in his last year of School, GM came to him and accepted his ideas and his designs... He worked with the best of the best...but something didn't work out..and suddenly...at 27 years old..the designer found himself... car and emblem in hand, with the design team of Gene Bordinat at FORD.
... According to his health records..he couldn't be hired because he couldn't pass the health entrance exam...he must freelance with this group--but they wanted him, no matter what. (He worked on the Mercer Cobra at this time too...and with Harley Earl and many others...we are still working on the legistics of his employment...)
THE MUSTANG was the RESULT of this marriage of PHIL CLARK with FORD... in 1962. The Emblem was his baby too, but the executives, though they loved the Running Horse that jumped off the paper for the M-Bird as Lunn had called daddy's design. (The magazines even show his signature on the MUSTANG COUPE DESIGN..and the Magazines came out in 1963, with the information gathered for the MUSTANG well before the 1963 Date of publication..and YES we have the Magazine with dad's signature MUSTANG and CLARK signed on the paper...for all the world to see well before the 1964 World's Fair Release of the MUSTANG production vehicle.) The Mustang was the 100 day Wonder! The FIRST time in HISTORY a Car had been created from PAPER to actual car THAT Fast..and it would be driven by Dan Gurney on October 7, 1962... It was released at Watkins Glen on October 6, 1962 for dad to proudly see and photograph his creation. He was standing next to HENRY FORD II when it came out for the viewing. He was a proud papa... (co-incidently, his Grandson was born October 6 --25 Years later...)
Phil was moved to the top of the Styling chain. His good looks and charisma and relationships had him on Movies and commercials for the MUSTANG. He could be seen drawing his creation over and over... in about 3 seconds..because he WAS his own copy machine.... and he had been designing this car for years...
...And the Running Horse? He can be seen designing that too--on reel to reel...from the Henry Ford Theater to all the world...
....So where is Phil Clark?
He died in 1968 after being promoted to FORD WORLD Design..then in England...just before the Change over when America and England would join....
....It was February...
..........September... all of his known drawings that belonged to him, were returned to us from FORD... and we still have them...because they are ours...
And that is the story...or at least the beginning of it.
I have spent the past 20 years finding people that knew and worked with daddy to find out what happened and what the mystery is....and WHY he isn't in the MUSTANG HALL OF FAME or many of the History books, when FORD MOTOR COMPANY themselves show these movies of my father in their own advertisements of the Mustang....
........and I don't have the answers....
So I am just spreading PHIL CLARK's Name to one Mustanger at a Time..and telling our story.... Because PHIL CLARK is THE MAN BEHIND THE PONY!
And now you know---THE REST OF THE STORY....
www.ponysite.de/phil_clark.htm
www.speedsceneracing.com May 1 interview with Holly Clark
www.muscularmustangs.com
www.nzmustang.com The Phil Clark Story
Please help me by telling others the story behind your Running Horse... She runs Wild and Free because a Man named PHIL CLARK...longed to leave a legacy behind... and he did.
HOLLY CLARK
Phil Clark--Mustang I Design Artist and RUNNING HORSE EMBLEM DESIGNER
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