John Middlestead joined Ford Motor Company in 1949, working in the Advanced studio under Gil Spear. He moved between exteriors and interiors for the better part of his career, working on the Atmos dream car, Thunderbird, Mustang, and safety features for interiors. In 1965, he headed Pre-Production Interiors, then moved tp executive designer for Lincoln-Mercury midsize cars. In 1974, he was put in charge of Color and Trim and then headed mid-size exteriors and interiors before retiring in 1980. In his oral history, Middlestead discusses his education at Cranbrook and Meinzingers before being hired at FMC in 1949. He talks about his early work on instrument panels, describing the design department environment in the 1950s and techniques used such as creating templates and renderings, and the focus on safety features for interiors. He discusses his time in the Ford exterior studio working on three-year cycles and also his work designing the Atmos dream car. He describes various exteriors he worked on, including the Fairlane, Thunderbird, and Mustang. He discusses his time in Pre-Production Interiors from 1965-1966, working on concepts for airconditioned seats, a station wagon camper, the gas-turbine truck interior, computerized maps for vehicles, keyless entry, and rearview cameras. In 1968, he was moved to work as a design executive for mid-size Lincoln-Mercury vehicles and describes working under the Knudsen upheaval and his work with Art Center students on a world car program. He goes on to discuss his time in color and trim, outlining the color and fabric selection and testing process, custom interiors for Ford family members, and working on the designer series Marks. He wrapped up his career in exteriors and then interiors and discusses the new focus on aerodynamics and ergonomics.

Collection contains 3 cassettes, 3 WAV files, 3 MP3 files, 1 diskette, 2 loose transcripts, 1 bound transcript, and 1 PDF transcript. Uploaded July 26, 2021.