PHOTO: CHICAGO AUTO SHOW

An affable automaton made out of automotive parts such as hubcaps, oil pans, and shock absorbers, Ford Motor Co.'s Freddie Ford towered 8.5 feet tall and weighed a morbidly obese 500 pounds. Appearing at exhibitions such as the 1966 Chicago Auto Show depicted here, Freddy was programmed to endlessly repeat, "People love Mustangs. Mustangs love people. Make a date with a Mustang. Put romance in your life." By the late 1970s, however, the public preferred more diminutive mechanical men such as "Star Wars'" C-3PO and R2-D2. Freddie, his intimating size now a liability, was retired by Ford.