Disneyland Autopia
Of all the attractions in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, perhaps none generates the real-world excitement for those too young to drive as Autopia. Here, young guests get the opportunity to hop into the front seat of a real car and drive with the top down on a Disneyland freeway.
Anything which moves guests at Disneyland, including the Monorail, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the Doombuggies of the Haunted Mansion, was designed by Disney Legend Bob Gurr, and shortly after being hired in 1954, Bob was charged with designing and building Disneyland’s new Autopia cars. Utilizing his design and engineering skills developed while working at the Ford Motor Company, Bob first designed the cars on paper, and then, with the assistance of students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, progressed to creating a full-sized model of a car out of clay, which is called a “clay buck.” From the clay buck, a mold is then made, which in turn is used to create the final vehicle.
The clay buck was built in the North Hollywood garage of Joe Thompson, one of the teachers at the Art Center College of Design, and after it was finished, Bob needed Walt to approve the design. However, being new to the company, he figured a big, important studio head would never come over to someone's garage, so he asked Walt if he could bring the clay model over to the studio for approval, to which Walt replied, "You're going to bring that big heavy thing over here just so I can look at it? Nonsense. We can all drive there in a few minutes." So Roger Broggie, Dick Irvine, Bill Cottrell, Bob and Walt all piled into a car and headed over to the garage. Once there, Walt sat down in the clay buck. Unfortunately, the clay was still sticky, so Walt ended up with it all over his jacket, but he liked Bob’s design and approved the car for production.
In the words of Bob Gurr..."I never saw Walt act like a big-shot. He had high standards of excellence, but he was never demanding. He never wanted people to go out of their way just to serve him. Fact is, he would go out of his way to save time for us, and that made everything go more smoothly."
