Chief Designer of the 2005 Mustang Leaves Ford

This week it was announced that Larry Erickson, the chief designer of the 2005 Ford Mustang, has left the company to head up Detroit's College for Creative Studies transportation design department. If you've driven, owned, or seen a fifth generation Mustang, you already know a little bit about Larry. His vision, and the vision of the Mustang Production Studio, brought us this retro-styled Ford pony car.

Erickson joined Ford in 1999. He worked on a variety of Focus-based programs and, in 2001, took the lead on the new Mustang program. His custom work on hot rods is what brought him to the company. Ford was impressed with Erickson after J Mays, group vice president of Design at the company, saw his work on ZZ Top’s "Cadzzilla". And the rest, they say, is history.

In other news Ford laid off 300 workers at the Romeo Engine Plant near Detroit this week due to a cut back in V-8 engine production. As Dylan once expressed, "The times they are a-changin'."

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Photo Courtesy of Ford Motor Company