Ford called it “a luxury lounge on wheels.” Meet the Aurora II, a customized Ford LTD Country Squre for the 1969 car-show circuit.
As its name clearly suggests, the 1969 Aurora II wasn’t based on an original idea. Its predecessor, an all-out 1964 dream car called the Aurora, employed a similar wrap-around seating layout. (See our story on the Aurora here.) There was also a George Barris movie car, a 1965 Mercury wagon seen in a Dean Martin/Matt Helm flick, The Silencers, that featured the same gimmick: a cabin configured like a cocktail lounge, more or less.
On the outside, the Aurora II was a ’69 LTD Country Squire with some dress-up features: special Pearlescent White Gold paint, Engliish Oak vinyl side trim, and a wood-trimmed roof rack with integrated wind deflector. There were body modifications, too. The left rear door has been eliminated, while the right rear door has been reversed on its hinges, creating a door operning six feet wide. Both B-pillars have been removed, transforming the Country Squire into a hardtop wagon.
Inside, the Pearlescent White Gold motif continued, with matching vinyl covering the front bucket seats, door panels, and L-shaped rear seat. The deep-pile carpeting was a contrasting White Gold. The passenger seat could be pivoted 180 degrees to face the rear, perfect for entertaining. You will notice there isn’t a seat belt or shoulder harness in sight, indicating that in the Aurora II, passenger safety simply wasn’t a consideration. At all.
There was a “rear lounge” as well, accessed through the two-way doorgate at the back of the wagon, with similar curved-sofa seating (below). Between 1961 and 1974, the Philco Corporation was owned by the Ford Motor Company, which presented some co-marketing opportunites: The 8-inch television, AM-FM radio, and stereo tape recorder were all Philco products. While there was no production potential in the Aurora II, the customized Country Squire no doubt kept audiences engaged with its “Hey, would you look at that” quality throughout the 1969 car show season. After that, apparently, the cocktail-lounge station wagon was never seen again.
There’s a lot of times when I find the ‘mild custom’ showcase more interesting than the full-blown dream cars that we normally think about. If nothing else, I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall at the meeting(s) when this car was created. I still wonder why the bar wasn’t included.
I see that (even on the stock wagon) they had abandoned the built-in “D” pillar wind deflectors that they had from ’65 to ’68. We had a ’66 Country Squire, and I always thought those air channels were pretty smart. Either they found they weren’t actually that effective or (more likely) they felt it made the D pillar too bulky for the new design.
The first thing I noticed about the top photo was the concrete floor paint matches the flat sides of the 2 open doors. Since those door shut panels are so flat, my initial thought was the doors were filled with concrete, then painted!
I’ve owned 2 other cars that remind me of this concept car’s special equipment. The first was a 1967 Imperial Crown Coupe with the rare Mobile Director Seat option, where the right front seat swiveled 180 degrees, as seen in this car. The other car was my very rare 1961 Facel-Vega Excellence, a 4-door luxury sedan with no center post, the doors locking into horizontal post latches in similar locations.
In this car, it appears Ford simply took the normal post latches and fastened them to the door rocker/sill, and I suspect the doors had the standard lock/unlock latches on the bottoms of the door assembly. I don’t think I would want to be in the passenger seat if the side of the Ford was hit by a F-250 truck with the bumper striking the center of the doors!
In addition to no visible seatbelts, there are no headrests either, and if I recall, all cars sold in the US were required to have headrests and seatbelts for all passengers as of 1/1/68. This car most certainly didn’t survive once it was finished with the show circuit, as it didn’t meet the new DOT safety requirements. Plus It probably didn’t have a VIN or power train either, so like other FoMoCo concept cars, it was probably scrapped in-house.
Indeed. I don’t think the door arrangement as constructed could survice a bumpy road. I’ve never seen any photos with door glasses raised, either. Probably had none. Like so many factory show cars, strictly for show.