Jack Telnack thrust us into a new generation of world class sporty Mustangs when he was Vice President of Ford Design from 1980-97.
Who could ever forget Jack Telnack - a Ford global vice president and head of Ford Design from 1980-97 who brought us the contemporary aero classic Fox-body Mustangs, Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, and a host of others including Taurus and GT90. He joined Ford in 1958 after graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Southern California. He became head stylist of the Lincoln-Mercury design studio in 1965.
A year later, he was moved down under to Australia as chief stylist. In 1974, he was transferred to Ford Europe where he left a lasting impression in a short amount of time. Shortly thereafter, he came to Ford North America to design a generation of fresh faced Fords for the 1980s - exciting, well-built aero cars for a new generation of car buyers. Telnack's biggest contribution probably isn't the Mustang or Thunderbird, but instead the Taurus, which needs little introduction anywhere. Taurus has been one of Ford's best selling cars ever, beating out Toyota and Honda on several occasions in the past. What hurt Taurus sales was super slippery Telnack redesign in 1996, perhaps a little too radical for the conservative front wheel drive four-sedan marketplace. It just didn't sell like the 1986-95 jelly bean sedan. Because you love Mustangs, we're going to focus on Telnack's contribution to Ford pony car history.
Telnack made the Mustang a slippery aerodynamic ride while working closely with engineering people to make it the best quality Mustang had ever seen. As styling evolved into the 1990s, Telnack brought us the slippery SN-95 1994-04 Mustang. In 1999, Mustang went to more radical New Edge styling.
When Telnack retired in 1997, styling was handed over to the very capable J. Mays. Jack Telnack, wherever you are, we salute your many contributions to Mustang styling and history.