John Najjar started his career at Ford Motor Company in the Apprentice School in 1936 and in 1937, he was moved to the Design Department as a trainee. After working on war work during WWII, he moved on to head instrument panel and steering wheel design and in 1947, was named supervisor of the Mercury studio. From 1950-1955, he was the Lincoln-Mercury advanced styling supervisor and in 1955 was named chief stylist of the Lincoln studio. Najjar was then put in charge of Advance Body Development in 1957, and in 1958-1961 worked as the executive stylist for Advanced Tractors, International and Canadian Products. In 1961, he was made executive stylist of the Preproduction and Advanced studio. From 1963-1967 he was the design executive for the Truck studio, then in 1967 he was named design executive for Advanced Products and Graphics which led to his being named Director of the newly formed Industrial Design office in 1969, a position he held until 1974. The office was cut back drastically due to economic conditions, and he was named assistant director for the Truck and Tractor studio in 1974, the position he retired from in 1979. In his long and detailed oral history, Najjar discusses the many roles he held within Ford Motor Company from the very early days of the Design Department, through the economic crisis of the 1970s. Najjar begins by discussing the beginnings of the Design Department, the environment, how it was run, and the key players, as well as some of the projects he worked on such as the plastic car. He discusses the group of women designers that were brought in at the tail end of WWII, as well as the influx of General Motors designers and their impact on the department. Najjar describes his time in the Lincoln Mercury advanced design studio, working on the X-100 and various show cars. He goes on to discuss the 1950s era design philosophy and the tense relationship between Ford designers and George Walker and his group. He describes working with Andy Kucher and the Scientific Research Laboratory working on the Gyron and Levacar in the late 1950s, as well as his work on the Hustler truck and Mustang 1 in the early 1960s. He talks about his work on the interiors for the 1964 Thunderbird and the production Mustang. He discusses in great detail his work in the Industrial Design office, working on the Ford Guest Center and various projects for Henry Ford Museum. He describes the influence on design and the company as a whole by William Clay Ford and Henry Ford II. He wraps up discussing his work in the Truck and Tractor studio working on the Louisville series and Ranger and then gives a short history of the Design Department and some of the designers he worked with over the years.

Collection contains 5 .25" tapes, 5 cassettes, 5 WAV files, 5 MP3 files, 2 diskettes, 2 loose transcripts, 3 bound transcripts, and 1 PDF transcript uploaded November 26, 2025.