Concepts from Future Past: 1961 Ford Unitron

In the 1960s, Ford had its sights set on designing a new kind of recreational vehicle that could transform from a pickup truck to a sort of station wagon. The 1961 Ford Unitron had a low-riding body with a cab-forward design and an extended rear section that could serve different purposes depending on the packaging. While the original concept was more like an El Camino, the fiberglass prototype they built ended up being more like a low minivan.

The vehicle was just 56 inches tall – about the same height as a modern Toyota Camry. This design gave it a sleek and futuristic look for its time but also limited its practicality. Designer Dean Beck had hoped it could be used as a camper or even an office on wheels, and one of his concept sketches showed a roof module that increased its height. I think that outfitting its rear section with a mattress and installing a roof rack could have made it more useful for camping, too. That said, its lack of ground clearance limited its practicality off the tarmac.

Ford never took the Unitron beyond the concept styling phase, so it never got outfitted with a drivetrain, but the plan was to put the engine somewhere in the rear. While Ford gave up on the design in 1961, Dodge would go on to create the Deora concept in 1965, which had a similar shape but did away with the rear shell and used that area as a pickup bed.

I can’t find any information on what happened to the Unitron prototype after the project was shelved, but I always wish these sorts of concepts ended up in a museum rather than a scrap heap.