Donald Nelson Frey passed away on 29 March. He was involved in the development of the Ford Mustang. Frey secretly met up with engineers to continue work after Henry Ford II had rejected the concept four times.
In 2004 he recalled: "I remember sitting around the dining table and my kids saying, 'Dad, your cars stink. They're terrible. There's no pizzazz'. That started the whole thing."
Frey worked on the Merlin-type V-1650 engine at Packard during WW2 before joining Ford in 1950, where he was also involved in the '66 Country Squire, a four-door T-bird and the Bronco. He also had a pivotal role in the Blue Oval's motorsport programme, pushing for disc brakes and radials, leading Time to call him in '67 'Detroit's sharpest ideas man'.