Ford Looks to Conquer the Empire State Building, Again

50 years ago, Ford went King Kong on the Empire State Building, doing what critics said would be impossible. To draw attention to its new pony car, the Mustang, the automaker transported one to the observation deck at the top of the towering building. Since no mobile crane could reach observation deck and the service elevators were not nearly big enough to accommodate the car, Ford engineers came up with a brilliant solution to hoist the car up the 102 stories. The car was cut up into several pieces, brought up in elevators, and then reassembled on the observation deck, making the rest of the story history.

Ford is looking to repeat the occasion for the Mustang’s 50th anniversary by putting another convertible model on the Empire State Building observation deck. Instead of turning to new fancy methods of getting the car to its destination, the automaker is once again chopping up the car and assembling it again on the observation deck. This time, engineers are not only measuring all of the doorways the car’s parts will have to pass through, they are also using computer programs to calculate the best way to chop up the car so it can be easily transported and easily put back together.

Why would anyone do such a thing? The answer is probably similar to why anyone climbs Mount Everest, because the Empire State Building is there and it is tall. That, and it makes for a great way to focus media attention on the Mustang’s 50th anniversary.