John Najjar (; – ) was an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

and executive stylist at

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

. He is credited for having co-designed the first prototype of the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...

known as

Ford Mustang I The Ford Mustang I is a small, mid-engined (4-cylinder), open two-seater concept car with aluminium body work that was built by Ford Motor Company, Ford in 1962. Although it shared few design elements with the final production vehicle, it did len ...

with Philip T. Clark.

Career

Najjar was born to a

Greek Orthodox Christian Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Roma ...

Lebanese family in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. He joined Ford Motor Company's Apprentice School in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

. While working there as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...

, he was approached by

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

during a plant tour who asked him if he enjoyed his work. Najjar's response that he'd "rather be drawing cars" led to an invitation for him to add his talents to Ford's newly created Design Center. He continued working as a designer for Ford for over 40 years. He worked with E. T. Gregorie, George Walker, Elwood Engel, Gene Bordinat, and

Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then reviv ...

. For many years his work was centered on futuristic

show car A show car, sometimes called a dream car, is a custom-made automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four ...

s whose revolutionary features later appeared in many Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. The Advanced Styling Studio developed the 1962

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

- so named because of Najjar's love for its namesake, the

North American P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kin ...

fighter plane. His design contributions span decades and include the M4A3 Sherman tank and

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

bomber in the 1940s, the 1957-58

Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced between 1939 and 2020 by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a per ...

s, the

Mercury XM-800 The Mercury XM-800 is a concept car created by Mercury (automobile), Mercury and first introduced at the 1954 Chicago Auto Show. In newspaper publicity at its 1954 debut, in Chicago and elsewhere, it was presented with its full name, Mercury Mon ...

, the LevaCar concept Najjar also co-designed jointly with fellow Ford Motor Company stylist Bill Schmidt the

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

Lincoln Futura The Lincoln Futura is a concept car promoted by Ford's Lincoln brand, designed by Ford's lead stylists Bill Schmidt and John Najjar, and hand-built by Ghia in Turin, Italy, at a cost of $250,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Displayed on the auto s ...

, a futuristic concept car, which debuted at the 1955

Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. Event History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" ...

. It that served as a base for the

Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional land vehicle driven by the superhero Batman, used both to patrol Gotham City looking for crime and to engage in car chases or vehicular combat with the city's criminal underworld. The Batmobile is one of a suite o ...

for the 1966 TV series

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

, as well as for the first movie adaptation of the Batman comics. Najjar and his wife Virginia retired to

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

, in 1985. Virginia died on March 29, 2005, while Najjar died on January 26, 2011.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Najjar, John Ford designers American automobile designers Artists from Omaha, Nebraska People from Dearborn, Michigan American people of Lebanese descent People from Koura District Members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch 1918 births 2011 deaths Ford people Ford Mustang