Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Flora, IL - 898 miles
Ford Flora fiasco
Easily remembered is Ford division's choice of the nation's population center*, Flora, IL to introduce the 1961 model cars and trucks. Flora, a southern Illinois farm community with a dirt-road main street, was the spot of unveiling. Its 6,000 citizens were privileged to drive a fleet of 1,374 cars and 200 trucks - all of them white - for a week.
Most of the media flew the new super jets into St. Louis and were transported the 100 miles to Flora in Ford vintage 1925 TriMotor planes. A half-dozen tents were erected in Flora's Charley Brown Park for seminars. A young executive talking on trucks drew seven newsmen. The exec? Lee Iacocca.
Special temporary 1960 license plates were issued by the state for those loaners. Some cars never did return, and several rang up 10,000 miles in a week. To cap the activities, the nearest Ford dealer closed his dealership a few weeks after the Flora show. Walked - five miles today on the trail. Looking forward to the 900 mile mark in the next couple of days. *Note - Mean Population Center of the United States in 2000: 37°41'49" North, 91°48'34" West - 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs, Phelps County, Missouri.
Easily remembered is Ford division's choice of the nation's population center*, Flora, IL to introduce the 1961 model cars and trucks. Flora, a southern Illinois farm community with a dirt-road main street, was the spot of unveiling. Its 6,000 citizens were privileged to drive a fleet of 1,374 cars and 200 trucks - all of them white - for a week.
Most of the media flew the new super jets into St. Louis and were transported the 100 miles to Flora in Ford vintage 1925 TriMotor planes. A half-dozen tents were erected in Flora's Charley Brown Park for seminars. A young executive talking on trucks drew seven newsmen. The exec? Lee Iacocca.
Special temporary 1960 license plates were issued by the state for those loaners. Some cars never did return, and several rang up 10,000 miles in a week. To cap the activities, the nearest Ford dealer closed his dealership a few weeks after the Flora show. Walked - five miles today on the trail. Looking forward to the 900 mile mark in the next couple of days. *Note - Mean Population Center of the United States in 2000: 37°41'49" North, 91°48'34" West - 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs, Phelps County, Missouri.
