Models, Models, Models

In a mowed, 15-acre wheatfield 1 1/2 miles north of Flora, Ill. stood 1,374 glistening new white Fords, Falcons and Thunderbirds, 115 new trucks and one bright red-and-white fire engine. At exactly 10:23 one morning last week Flora residents sprinted across the stubble in a Midwestern version of the Le Mans start, hopped into the new cars, and amid a swirl of dust drove them to their homes.

For one week the fire department and nearly every family in Flora (pop. 5,338), including the Chevrolet dealer, was lent a new Ford to drive. It was Ford Motor's new and novel way of introducing its 1961 Fords and Falcons.

In less flamboyant fashion, other U.S. automakers were showing off their new cars. With the endlessly burgeoning number of models, they were having increasing trouble making the cars look different. The new Fords have a rear-end grill decoration reminiscent of the 1960 Cadillacs. Some of the cars in the General Motors family have a front-fender line and a rear-window slope that resembles this year's Fords. Dodge's new compact, the Lancer, borrowed the 1960 Pontiac grill; the rest of the car is almost identical with the Chrysler Valiant.

Buick introduced its new compact, the Special. It and the Oldsmobile F85 (TIME, Aug. 8) both use the first aluminum V-8 engines ever mass-produced in the U.S. The engines develop 155 h.p., yet weigh only 318 Ibs. The Special has a 112-in. wheelbase (v. 123 in. for standard Buicks), weighs 1,600 Ibs. less. Factory list price for the four-door Special sedan is $2,175. The standard Buicks are more rakish than ever, feature "missile-shaped front fenders," but are 4.7 in. shorter and 2 in. narrower than last year. Prices on the big Buicks, along with Cadillacs, are unchanged.

Ford has returned to crisper, more conventional styling similar to the lines of its 1959 cars. Like Buick, the standard Fords are shorter and narrower. The compact Falcon is basically unchanged, has an optional engine that produces 101 h.p. (v. the standard 85-h.p. engine). Ford's successful Comet is also little changed, has a more powerful optional engine. New to Ford's line (TIME, Sept. 19) is a compact truck similar to the snub-nosed Volkswagen Micro-Bus.

Both the Dodge Dart and the medium-priced Dodge have been sharply restyled, have a sleeker silhouette and a recessed grill.

To make sure dealers have enough new cars, automakers pushed production last week to near-record rates. General Motors' output was up 100% over the previous week; Ford was up 34.7%; Chrysler was up 18.7%. Auto production this month is 60% above last year--second only to the record rate achieved in 1955.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.