Hurricane Road - Ford’s wind and weather lab in 1959
This spectacular image from 1959 is of Hurricane Road, Ford’s wind and weather lab in Dearborn, Michigan, where the company replicated the most extreme weather phenomenon and toughest road conditions imaginable in order to put their cars to the ultimate tests.
With the push of a button, engineers could produce winds of 201 km/h, temperatures from - 29° C to more than 70° C, fog, snow, sleet and rain from drizzle to a cloudburst. Huge cylinders beneath test-car wheels could imitate every kind of road condition, from flat and smooth to a rutted mountain trail in less time than it takes to fry an egg.
Today, Ford’s state-of-the-art Environmental Test Centre, the Weather Factory, in Cologne, Germany, was built with an investment of €70 million, and can work on ten different vehicles simultaneously. On an area the size of a football pitch, engineers can simulate heavy snow and altitudes of 5,200 metres, the same elevation as the Mount Everest North Base Camp, cool rooms to - 40° C, and generate 95 per cent humidity.
What car is it on the picture?
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