Halderman’s design became the basis for a car that would eventually sell more than 8 million units, span six design generations, and be one of a handful of models continuously built for 50-plus years.
Once they had the side view, clay modelers were told to start making the model of the car, and one night Halderman ran into one of the modelers.
“One night I left about 11 and went across the hall to check on the progress and there’s no rear end on the car,” Halderman recalled. “So I grabbed the clay modeler and I said we’re going to put a rear end on this car. I designed the back-end of the Mustang in one night. I worked on the roof and the rear end that night.”
During this part of the design process, the car was called the Cougar, and later, near final design approval, it became the Mustang.
Halderman’s design skills were born at the school at the Dayton Art Institute, where he studied under Read Viemeister. Viemeister had a hand in designing the Tucker automobile, but fell in love with a woman from Dayton and returned here to teach.
“I was studying industrial design, and Viemeister encouraged us to explore the auto industry. After I got my degree, I just packed up and moved to Detroit, and got a job at Ford,” Halderman said. “I guess it worked out OK; I stayed there for 40 years, the last 27 years as director of design. “
Halderman served as director of design for both Ford and Lincoln Mercury and under his leadership, the Mustang was twice named Motor Trend Car of the Year, as was the 1990 Lincoln Town Car.
“Viemeister also said you can’t be creative when you’re sitting, so I stood at my drawing board,” Halderman added. “And he also said to create flow and sweeping lines, you should draw with a grease pencil, which I did. When I started at Ford, they thought I was crazy.”
Halderman retired from Ford in 1994, and in 2014, he created the Halderman Museum Barn, which holds a giant collection of drawings, artwork, memorabilia and information about all things Mustang, Ford and Lincoln Mercury. It also houses the first car Halderman bought, a 1965 Mustang convertible.
“I never owned a Mustang; fact is, I never owned a car until I bought this one five years ago. It’s from the first model year, and it has a 6-cylinder engine,” Halderman said.
The museum barn is open by appointment and hosts car clubs and tours.
“We’ve had many Mustang clubs from all across the country come here,” he said.
In addition to a couple of Mustangs, there is a Thunderbird, a Model T and a Model A in the museum, which is built from the old family barn on the homestead where Halderman grew up.
In addition to the cars, Halderman’s daughter Karen also has one room that houses her camera collection. She has gathered cameras of all sizes and formats, and over 500 are on display, each properly indentified and dated.
To learn more at the Halderman Barn Museum, go online to www.facebook.com/Haldermanbarn/.
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