Joseph E. Oros (born 1917 in Cleveland, OH)[1] was an automobile stylist for Ford Motor Company over a period of 21 years[2] — known as the Chief Designer of the team at Ford that styled the original Mustang,[3] and for his contributions to the 1955 Ford Thunderbird.[4]
Oros was born to non-English speaking Romanian parents. He was moved up a grade from 3rd to 5th because of his fantastic art work even though his math and science skills were questionable.
Oros is now 93 and lives in Santa Barbara, California[3] where he lived with his wife Betty Thatcher Oros, until her passing in 2001. His house full of his own artwork, including paintings and sculptures. Oros currently works on a 3D was model of the earth depicting all the original settlers. He is about 1/4 of his way through it and hopes to finish before he dies. Oros is an artist, sculptor, painter and industrial designer, having designed appliances and other products.[3]
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Oros graduated at the top of his class[5] from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1939 — having studied under Viktor Schreckengost[6] — and later became a student at General Motors's School of Automotive Design, where he worked under Harley Earl's guidance, including a period of time with Cadillac.[3] At GM, he met fellow classmates Elwood Engel, later design chief at Chrysler Corporation and George W. Walker, later vice president of design at Ford Motor Company. After serving in World War II, Oros went to work for Walker's industrial design firm. He also recommended hiring there of his close friend Engel. Walker and Oros worked on designing Nash automobiles until 1947, when Walker's firm won a contract with Ford. Together, they worked on the designed of the 1949 For,[7] a design Oros described as inspired by an airplane.[7] When Walker later became head of Ford design in 1955, Oros joined Walker and Engel there. Oros worked primarily on the designs for Ford's cars and trucks, while Engel worked on Lincoln and Mercury.
Oros received a Medallion Award from the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI) (now the Industrial Designers Society of America) along with George W. Walker, Eugene Bordinat, Herbert Tod, Rulo N. Conrad, John Najjar, and Elwood P. Engel, for the 1956 Lincoln Premier hard-top[8] — as well as an IDI Bronze Medal in 1964[8] along with Eugene Bordinat, L. David Ash, G. L. Halderman, Charles H. Phaneuf, D.C. Woods, J. Najjar, and J.B. Foster for their contributions to the Mustang.
Oros rose to director of exterior design and had oversight for many Ford vehicle projects. In 1958, Oros did the primary design work on the new, four-seat Ford Thunderbird that was to debut in the 1958 model year. It beat out a competing design by Engel (which later became the iconic 1961 Lincoln Continental). Although delays caused the revised Thunderbird to arrive in dealerships three months late, it was a huge sales success. The 1958 Thunderbird outsold the old two-seat model 2-to-1, and was named Motor Trend's Car of the Year. The body style was continued through 1960.
As Lee Iacocca's assistant general manager and chief engineer, Donald N. Frey, was the head engineer for the Mustang project — supervising the development of the Mustang in a record 18 months[9][10] — while Iacocca himself 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[11] — 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.[11]
Having set the design standards for the Mustang,[12] 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 Maseratti, 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.[12] | ” |
Retelling the story of designing the car, Oros said:
| “ | I then called a meeting with all the Ford studio designers. We talked about the sporty car for most of that afternoon, setting parameters for what it should look like -- and what it should not look like -- by making lists on a large pad, a technique I adapted from the management seminar. We taped the lists up all around the studio to keep ourselves on track. We also had photographs of all the previous sporty cars that had been done in the Corporate Advanced studio as a guide to themes or ideas that were tired or not acceptable to management.
Within a week we had hammered out a new design. We cut templates and fitted them to the clay model that had been started. We cut right into it, adding or deleting clay to accommodate our new theme, so it wasn't like starting all over. But we knew Lincoln-Mercury would have two models. And Advanced would have five, some they had previously shown and modified, plus a couple extras. But we would only have one model because Ford studio had a production schedule for a good many facelifts and other projects. We couldn't afford the manpower, but we made up for lost time by working around the clock so our model would be ready for the management review.[11] |
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In 2009, at the celebration of the Mustang's 45th anniversary of, Oros, then 92, said:
| “ | We were told to design a car that the ladies would love that the men would love just as much, and that’s exactly what we did." Adding, "It makes me feel proud every time I see one. After all of these years, Mustang has never lost its luster. | ” |
Upon his retirement in 1975, Joe Oros and his devoted wife, the late 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.[13][14]
Born Elizabeth Anna Thatcher, April 18, 1917 in Elyria, Ohio,[15] Betty Thatcher Oros graduated from Elyria High School in 1935. She attended the Cleveland School of Arts, today’s Cleveland Institute of Art.[15] Majored in Industrial Design, graduating with honors. Hudson Motor Company, wanting a woman to contribute a female point of view to automotive design, hired Oros as the first female American automotive designer[3][15][16] in 1939.
Oros contributions for the 1941 Hudson included exterior trim with side lighting, interior instrument panel, interiors and interior trim fabrics.[15]
Oros designed for Hudson Motor Co. from 1939 into 1941, when she and Joe Oros were married.[15] As Joe Oros was working in the Cadillac Studio at GM, to avoid a conflict, Betty resigned from Hudson. Together the Oros' had five children, Joe III, Christina, Janet, Mary and John. Having also served on the Santa Barbara Museum Board and Symphony League Board, Betty Thatcher Oros died on 19 August 2001.