The News Wheel
No Comments

Ford Design Process Wrapped Up in Tape

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

Language of TapeYou might not realize it yet, but the tape that’s sitting on your desk or in your junk door at home has a higher calling that hanging your teenager’s posters (and we’re not even talking about the ability to make pretty awesome Duck® Tape wallets)—at least it does at Ford.

The Ford design process can be a long, intensive practice beginning with sketches, moving up to full-size clay vehicles, and eventually ending with a production vehicle that wows car enthusiasts the world over. In order to make this arduous process a bit easier, Ford designers use tape to show the modelers the lines they want to see on the car.

“Tape gives us a defined line that is like a carpenter laying a level line on a building,” said Larry Pelowski, Ford master modeler, exterior design. “So when the designers put tape on the model, there is no question what their intent is.”

Because it is so flexible, tape is capable of fitting each car’s unique curves, while also providing the modelers and designers the opportunity to re-tape the line over and over again without affecting the vehicle and setting the process back. This makes it the perfect medium for car design and allows us to get the final results we come to know and love much faster than normal. Who knew such an ordinary item could have such extraordinary results!

Next time you check out your car, make sure you look at its lines and just imagine—Ford uses almost 155 miles of tape each year to form them! To read more on the Ford design process and their use of tape, hop on over to Ford’s news room to get the full story.

In the meantime, let us know: what is the coolest thing you’ve ever done with tape (not including any high school locker room pranks you may have pulled in your wilder days)?