McKinley Thompson Jr

The Pioneering Automobile Designer

McKinley Thompson Jr at his drafting table.

McKinley Thompson, Jr. broke ground by becoming the first black American hired by the Ford Motor Company to develop concept vehicles and design production automobiles. To compete with the popular Jeep CJ-5—an off-road market leader—Ford tapped Thompson and other designers to produce conceptual sketches for a new vehicle in 1963. The result was the first-generation Bronco, which carried many of Thompson’s design touches over the decades. Thompson also contributed to the Mustang coupe, early 1960s Thunderbird models, and a Ford GT40 racing car.

McKinley William Thompson Jr. was born in Queens, New York, on November 8, 1922. His parents were McKinley William Thompson Sr. and Evelyne M. (Trent) Thompson. McKinley Thompson Jr. became interested in cars as a child. But at age 12, on a bright afternoon in 1934, something remarkable caught his attention while he walked home from school. A new DeSoto Airflow, painted in brilliant silver, drove by. As sunlight glinted off the car, accentuating its contours, Thompson was awestruck. In a 2001 interview, Thompson recalled the moment, saying: 

I was never so impressed with anything in all my life. I knew that’s what I wanted to do—I wanted to be an automobile designer.”

Thompson attended Murray Hill High School in the borough of Manhattan, where he studied commercial art. After graduating in 1940, Thompson took drafting courses to learn project planning, which enabled him to convey his ideas through concept art. He honed those skills with the National Youth Administration, where he worked as a draftsman. Thompson joined the Army Signal Corps in 1941 and served as an engineering design layout draftsman, but when the United States fully engaged in the Second World War, he was drafted into the Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, Thompson returned to the Army Signal Corps, where he worked until 1953.

In that momentous year, Thompson came across an Automotive and Industrial Design contest sponsored by Motor Trend magazine. He decided to enter for a chance to win a four-year scholarship to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. The competition was dubbed “From Dream to Drawing Board to …?” It was intended to discover promising young talent and boasted one of five full scholarships to the prestigious industrial design school. The contest required entrants to submit several proposed sketches, drawings, photographs, or automotive models with an essay describing trends likely to shape automotive design by the 1960s.

McKinley Thompson’s winning entry for the Motor Trend magazine design contest.

McKinley Thompson’s entry featured a gas turbine automobile that included reinforced plastic. His view was that future vehicles would be less about form and more about function and comfort while being reduced in size. Thompson won first place and made history as the first black American to attend ArtCenter College of Design. He excelled in his studies and, in 1956, earned a degree in transportation design. Ford Motor Company took notice, and its chief of advanced styling, Alex Tremulis—a fellow ArtCenter alumnus—hired Thompson that year. McKinley Thompson was the first black American designer to work at a major auto manufacturer. He joined the Advanced Styling Studio, fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming an automobile designer.

The Ford studio allowed designers broad creative freedom, which perfectly suited Thompson. Early on, he had been interested in futuristic design. That interest blossomed during his 28 years at Ford—Thompson retired from the company in 1984. In addition to the Ford Mustang and Bronco, Thompson created designs for concept cars like the Allegro and the controversial Gyron. Ford unveiled the Gyron in 1961 at the Detroit Auto Show. Jerome Cavanaugh, the mayor of Detroit, presented Thompson with the Citizen of the Year award in 1962.

Consistent with his forward-looking efforts, Thompson conceived of a new automobile in 1965: an all-terrain vehicle he proposed to Ford Motor Company. Thompson envisioned his new car—dubbed the Warrior—as the first of many, all meant to serve Third World countries, beginning with developing African nations. Thompson saw the Warrior as a way to improve African economies by providing jobs through mass production, as the vehicle would be cost-efficient. It would also improve transportation in those countries. 

Thompson believed that the Warrior could repeat the success of Ford’s Model T in the Third World, but when executives feared that the car would fail to sell enough units to be profitable, they refused to put it into production. In 1969, Thompson fashioned a prototype based on a Renault R10 chassis with the help of Wallace Triplett, the first black American draftee to play for the National Football League. Thompson ultimately abandoned the project ten years later. 

Throughout his career at Ford, Thompson worked in several design studios, beginning with Advanced Styling under Alex Tremulis. He later moved to Truck Pre-Production, where he worked on the Light Cab Forward, a truck that inspired the Econoline.

The first-generation Ford Bronco McKinley Thompson Jr helped design.

On July 24, 1963, Thompson submitted a drawing titled: “Package Proposal #5 for Bronco,” which established the look of the Ford sport-utility vehicle (SUV). It was a 4x4 off-road-capable SUV with an open-air concept. The vehicle sat high on large tires that were pushed close to the corners of the body. It also had few front and rear overhangs, giving it a boxy truck-like aesthetic. The vehicle exuded power and aggression. Thompson established that look with his design language. 

Ford also assigned Thompson to the Thunderbird and Falcon studios in later years. Thompson achieved a managerial position in the Appearance Development studio. His final project was a concept car in the Lincoln division, for which he was in charge of supplying electronics. Mckinley Thompson Jr. retired from the company in 1984 and moved to Arizona. He died from Parkinson’s disease on March 8, 2006.

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