Wednesday 19th July 2006

Ford stays cool in the heat

Sculpture melts at the Motor Show

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Also spotted at the motor show: a life-size 6.5-ton sculpture of the new Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet made entirely of ice.

The ice sculpture was crafted over the last two weeks by a team of sculptors in a giant freezer – set at a chilly minus 10 degrees C. The work took a total of 160 hours, but each shift was limited to just 40 minutes because of the severe cold.

Specialist carving tools from Japan and North America, including a highly advanced, computer-driven cutting machine, have been used to create the sculpture.

The Focus Coupe-Cabriolet sculpture, which is made from 120 separate pieces of crafted ice, was dismantled and then reconstructed on the Ford stand – which was specially reinforced to bear the weight – by a team of 12 specialists.

Although it weighs more than five real Focus models – it will gradually melt and the 6,500 litres of recycled water will drain away naturally. For those people who can't see the life-size car at the opening of the show, ice-sculpting continues daily on the Ford stand throughout the event, with two sculptors working on models at the S-MAX ice bar.

And they say the south-east of England is suffering a water shortage....

[NickFRP]

COOL!!!

[hugoagogo]

n-ice

[adycav]

the original article said:

Although it weighs more than five real Focus models

About the same as the Eos then!

[motormonk]

Is this the same Ford that is brandishing their eco-friendly theme? Sure, running a six billion gigawatt freezer for a publicity stunt is nice and eco-friendly.

Go ford.

[zebedee]

maybe there was frozen food in there as well? -10 isn't as cold as a domestic freezer anyway.

And if the water that was frozen wasn't from the south-east, then there is a net gain to the south-east, albeit it will probably go down a drain somewhere.

I hate sensationalism.

[stevebedford1969]

Ford are always complaining that they have no cash. They squeeze their suppliers to the point of bankrpuptcy and they go and do stuff like this.

Does it really make people buy more Ford vehicles and parts? Maybe / Maybe not. It's got us taking about it I suppose. Bah!

[jimmyduk]

Any chance the water will be recycled?

[nighthawk]

jimmyduk said:

Any chance the water will be recycled?

Aye, it'll make it's way back into the drains, get cleaned, drunk......expelled and start the process again IF it doesn't become evaporated and land on your head at the worst possible time

Edited by nighthawk on Wednesday 19th July 21:17