Designing Motion: Automotive Designers 1890 to 1990 9783035607840, 9783035609820

Table of contents :
Contents
Design? Automotive Design!
Designing Motor Vehicles
Processes and Training
Phenography of the Automotive Form
Automotive Designers A–Z
Editorial Note
Overview Map
Index of Designers
Index of Models
References
Internet Sources
List of Illustrations

Citation preview

Designing Motion

1

2

Markus Caspers

Designing Motion Automotive Designers 1890–1990

Birkhäuser Basel

3

Concept and layout: Markus Caspers Typesetting: LVD GmbH, Berlin Project management: Silke Martini Translation: Hartwin Busch Copy editing: Julia Dawson Production: Heike Strempel Cover design: Res Eichenberger Design, Zurich Paper: 135 g/m2 Magno volume Printing: BELTZ Bad Langensalza GmbH Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. This publication is also available as an e-book (ISBN PDF 978-3-0356-0784-0; ISBN EPUB 978-3-0356-0773-4) and in a German language edition (ISBN 978-3-03560981-3). © 2016 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF ∞ Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-0356-0982-0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

4

www.birkhauser.com

Contents

Design? Automotive Design!

6

Designing Motor Vehicles

14

Processes and Training

38

Phenography of the Automotive Form

48

Automotive Designers A–Z

62

Editorial Note

190

Overview Map

192

Index of Designers

194

Index of Models

196

References

198

Internet Sources

199

List of Illustrations

199

5

6

Design? Automotive Design! Designer Flaminio Bertoni with a clay model of the Citroën 7CV, around 1934

7

Design? Automotive Design!

Irrespective of which everyday item you can think of, there is always a “design” version. Obviously, every hairdryer has been designed by somebody, a team of professionals has thought about the shape and function of the exterior shell—but in addition, there are the special, usually high-quality and expensive “design” products. While there is a canon of designed objects, some of which have been raised to a status that warrants their inclusion in a museum, it is noteworthy that the word “Design” as used in a German-speaking context primarily refers to furniture, fittings, work tools, household goods, fashion, and much more— but, in most cases, one object is not covered: the automobile. And that, in spite of the fact that this “key technical object of the modern times” as it was called by the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk at the beginning of the 1990s, can be found in front of every house, occupies the streets of towns and cities, is the blessing and curse of the industrial world, still holds the promise of individualization and mobility, and has given people in the twentieth century unimagined freedom of choice. Automotive design developed alongside industrial design, something that is not really surprising considering it is a specialized form of this discipline. In spite of the fact that industrial styling was able to apply itself to the automobile as a mass product much earlier than to many other objects, styling of the automotive mode of transport has not gone beyond the perception of a niche existence. The creators of prototypes or small series of furniture enjoy artist or cult status; they rise to fame, with their names becoming brand names. By comparison, the creators of automobiles produced in their millions remain largely unknown. While it is now expected that people are able to identify “Bauhaus” objects, or “Eames” furniture, nobody talks about a “Buehrig” or an “Opron” that they drive or would like to drive. In common perception, automobiles are differentiated by brands, not by designers. This is also reflected in literature. Works on the subject of automotive design are a rarity worldwide. While in recent decades, in the European—particularly the German-speaking–cultural sphere, a lively A “Buehrig”: Cord 810, 1935. Chief Designer: Gordon Buehrig

8

discussion on design theory and history has erupted, the design of automobiles has largely remained a marginal issue in the more important contributions. In the phase of design theory between 1950 and 1980 which was characterized by ideological and social critique, automotive design was referred to as “Styling” in German, thereby implying a somewhat lower form of product design which was solely focused on improving the product’s exchange value. The Briton Reyner Banham was the first—and for a long time the only—European design theorist who included the automobile in his discourse and the canon. From 1955, he wrote in his essays, such as “Machine Aesthetic” and “Design by Choice,” about the product aesthetic, new at the time, and included the automobile as a matter of course. An exception to the above situation can be found in the USA. Here, the history of automotive design is inseparably linked with the idea of self-realization via automobility. Starting from the 1930s, individual ideas and those of society as a whole made their way into the pattern language of the industrial production of consumer articles. Terms such as “streamline,” “rocket age,” and “hot rodding” served as a blueprint for design that, not least, reflected social status. The styling departments of American automobile manufacturers had enormous influence and advanced to the status of creators of collective projections. Consequently, the attention of industrial designers was never just focused on the professional public, but also reached the front pages of popular magazines and the reporting on socially relevant aesthetics. As early as the end of the 1970s, both professional insiders and scientists began work on the history of automotive design. The University of Michigan project is a case in point in which, under the leadership of David Gartman, researchers carried out interviews with the designers of the “big three,” General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler, and thereby—from the late 1980s—recorded the history of a profession. Following the classic automobile boom of the last twenty years, the interest in automotive design has also grown—be it as a characteristic An “Opron”: the Citroën SM from 1970. Chief Designer: Robert Opron

9

Design? Automotive Design!

of distinction between variants of valuable, small-series models, or as an attempt at a stylistic classification of types, product cycles, and the zeitgeist. In parallel, one can observe a strong trend towards retro and nostalgia, which is focused on the design of mid-century modernism, but combined with objects and furniture items of the 1960s and 1970s. In this lifestyle context, automotive design is also receiving more attention, because the “bread and butter cars” of the respective era are integrated; interest in design (even if only as a criterion for social distinction) does not exclude automotive design. For decades, design has been a vital factor in production and marketing processes, and has been accepted in society’s perception as an aesthetic variable of social differentiation. In the cultural and intellectual debate, the design of industrial products is frequently even elevated to the status of art and is used as an analysis of social sensitivities. But beyond numerous publications on automobile brands and manufacturers, there is hardly any work that focuses on the core of automotive design—its origins, its theoretical development in contrast and in parallel to industrial design, and its social history. With its focus on the people who, for over a hundred years, have dedicated their professional efforts to the design of land-based vehicles, the automobile designers, this book sets out to make a contribution that closes the gap in the publications on automotive design. The book traces the history of an industry, from the beginning of automotive design around 1890 to the point in time, in the 1990s, when a new brand strategy brought about a paradigm shift. Because from that time onwards, designers were asked, even more than before, to focus on the creation of a brand image, a fleet design, a brand identity; this did not lower the quality of the design process or make it less exciting, but it did reduce the opportunities for individual influence in favor of a collective design process. While the main design line is established by a head of design or a Design Director, the departments deal primarily with the adaptation of the main design line to all products in order to make the The AMC design department around 1960– Chief Designer Dick Macadam examining a clay model of the AMC Rambler

10

range of models immediately identifiable as brand products. This probably marks the biggest difference to the previous era between 1960 and 1990. In that period, the designs of many manufacturers, above all the Italian design studios, were virtually random and exchangeable; one could refer to this as the carrozzeria principle, whereby a basic design was sold to a number of manufacturers. Beyond the front grille, with the brand emblem, brand identity as it is known today was rather the exception. The resulting exchangeability and multiplicity in the appearance of automobiles of the same period inspires our fantasy and manifests in memories to this day. Design can be seen as an aesthetic manifestation of ideas generated by a society and relating to its habits and rituals during a certain period; in short: aesthetics as the expression of social imprint. Social variables change, and with them the design. Those who find the forms created in decades gone by “more beautiful” than contemporary design, attach the feeling of a period experienced or dreamt of by them as beautiful to those forms which represent or evoke that period. The ideas we associate with mobility have been reflected in the forms of automobiles since about 1920. The big dream of linking topographic with social mobility has become an everyday occurrence, although in some places it has not yet become reality. Design as “cultural technology” will not show us how we will drive in the future—as a society, we have to develop ideas for a future which will then take shape in ways that reflect our society. The last era able to do this was the 1970s; consequently, design during those years was correspondingly risqué and naive. Today, it is with a sense of nostalgia that we look back on that period, which radiates important stimuli for the design of automobiles, furnishings, clothes, and buildings. While today retro design takes its cue from old forms which, a long time ago, were associated with the future, designers from earlier decades tried to express in a consistent form what was perceived as contemporary and what was anticipated for the future. The history of automotive design is the story of the tenacious

11

Design? Automotive Design!

battle with the old forms of mobility, such as the coach, of the battle with the focus on large forms that have nothing to do with land-based mobility (shipping, aviation, aerospace), and of the attempt to give the automobile its own form which, by and large, still persists today.

Driving in 1980–a vision of 1961: the twowheeled Ford Gyron, designed by Alex Tremulis and Syd Mead

12

14

Designing Motor Vehicles Panhard & Levassor 8 CV from 1899

15

Designing Motor Vehicles A Sociohistorical Account In day-to-day discourse, the word “design” is used in the context of everyday objects. In a more specific sense, the term is employed together with the attribute “industrial,” which refers, in the industrial design process, to the professional design of products and objects for the purpose of serial production. Here, the term “Design” as used in a German-speaking context refers to shaping the exterior appearance of objects, which may be produced in infinite numbers. In the European, non-English-speaking arena, “design” has some special connotations. Often, the word is used as an attribute to characterize the exterior form of goods or products as of particularly high value, and aesthetically important. Until a few years ago, the theory of science held that the term “design” involved a special characteristic relating to the exterior form or shape of an object, which was determined by an equally special historical understanding and ideological implications. Design often referred to items that were not produced in serial production and did not have an everyday purpose, but were prototypes or mini-series of high-quality, and hence expensive, products designed by designer artists. So-called “heroic” European design—during the heyday of the Weimar Bauhaus and the Ulm School of Design (HfG: Hochschule für Gestaltung), roughly between 1920 and 1970—was often far removed from mass production. This was because many of the designed objects, although apparently focused purely on functionality, usefulness, usability, and logical application, were so complex and hence expensive in production that they only became available to a small, affluent section of the public. This applies equally to the first steel tube furniture emerging from the Bauhaus and the sound equipment produced by Braun, part of the design of which was developed at the HfG. Furthermore, it was more common in Europe for designers to be designer artists working on their own, and only in exceptional cases (such as Peter Behrens at AEG) did they work with colleagues in a larger design department. Mercedes Landaulet from 1913—Passenger compartment, driver compartment, and bonnet are separate units.

16

The economic situation in Europe prior to 1950 favored design efforts that were primarily focused on basic needs, that is, useful items absolutely necessary to daily life; the keyword—sometimes used as a battle cry—of “Existenzminimum” (the bare minimum) was used in the context of the home and mobility. While Europe between the wars concentrated primarily on the creation of acceptable living conditions for the majority, the USA had a much broader layer of blue- and white-collar workers who were able to afford things which in Europe were the preserve of the wealthy, such as electrical appliances, comfortable sanitary installations, and cars. While by and large European design focused on necessities, American design—also referred to as styling—dealt with what was technically and aesthetically possible.

Industrial Design, Automotive Design—the Birth of an Industry When industrial design began to be established in the United States as a new industry, it adopted the organizational patterns that already existed in offices and departments, creating smaller agencies and studios through to the large style departments of the brand manufacturers. Harley Earl and Raymond Loewy, originators of this new field of design almost at the same time, exemplified the type of organizational structures; Earl moved from his native Hollywood to Detroit in 1927 in order to design a new body for the Cadillac marque, LaSalle (part of General Motors). Shortly afterwards, Earl decided to work for GM on a permanent basis, and the corporation initiated the creation of the first automotive design department worldwide—the Art & Colour Section. Right from the start, this was firmly integrated in GM’s processes. Some years later, the Art & Colour Section developed into a network of various studios for the different GM marques and was renamed the Styling Section which, from 1937, with hundreds of employees, was the largest design department worldwide, and has remained so. In 1940, Earl was promoted to Harley Earl at the wheel of the 1927 LaSalle designed by him

17

Designing Motor Vehicles

Vice President in order to emphasize to company-internal critics the importance of design for success in the market, and to enable him to assert design decisions as decisions of the corporation. Raymond Loewy founded the Raymond Loewy Associates (RLA) studio in New York in 1930; it expanded quickly and opened branches in the North American industrial centers, at the locations of his clients. In South Bend (Indiana), the seat of the Studebaker automobile manufacturer, Loewy worked exclusively on automotive design. His organizational model, with studio directors, chief designers and the network of agencies established worldwide after 1945 for the benefit of global brands, can still be found today in consultancy and design companies. Loewy was also one of the founder members of the first American professional association of industrial designers (IDSA), which from 1944 (with precursors from 1934) introduced design in the planning and marketing process. In most cases, design is a team effort; this is especially true of automotive design. There have always been individual designers who, as consultants or independent designers, designed cars on their own, but the serial models made by the big manufacturers have almost all been designed by teams. This makes it confusing and unclear as to who are the originators of certain designs. Sometimes, designs are credited to the heads of departments (Design Director, Head of Styling/Design), sometimes to the chief designer of the studio, and sometimes to individual designers; presumably, all the honor goes to them. In the European cultural arena in particular, the concept of originality and the “artist as a genius” was so dominant that it penetrated through to the areas of what is referred to as applied art. Designers were viewed as creative geniuses whose ideas came from nowhere. The idea of this solitary creative genius, which is an excellent marketing ploy and contributes to the creation of a myth, would only be diluted if the design was assigned to a rather nondescript team environment. But irrespective of the aforementioned, Giovanni Michelotti, the most productive Italian autoRaymond Loewy’s studio in South Bend, Indiana, around 1942: designers and model makers at work on new Studebaker models in a former factory building

18

mobile designer next to Giorgetto Giugiaro, could never have produced his oeuvre, estimated at 1,200 designs, on his own—he too maintained a team of employees, which at times included Pietro Frua, the young Giugiaro, and Paolo Martin. GM introduced the strategy of competing internal designs; in this process, various teams work on the same project and compete to be chosen for the implementation of their design. It is even possible that the design of a team favored in the first round is completely revised in a second and third round by another team. In this way, the creation of just one single model might easily involve twenty designers. For example, the development of the Chevrolet Corvette started at GM in 1951 as a secret project (“Project Opel”) and was then carried on to full production readiness by a number of different teams—since then, at least twodozen designers have claimed to have been involved in the creation of the first American sports car. Ford worked with in-house designers and also, from the late 1930s, with external consultants. It was not until the late 1950s that the Ford design department had the appropriate personnel to enable the company to do without ideas from outside agencies. The shape of the famous first Ford Mustang of 1965 was the result of a competition between all three Ford design departments (Advanced Design, Lincoln-Mercury, and Ford). In the wake of the market success of this model and the fact that today it enjoys cult status, the list of its creators is long, ranging from the then Vice President of Styling, Eugene Bordinat, via the studio director, L. David Ash, through to the designers Gale Halderman, Joe Oros, and John Najjar. For this reason, some of the models will be listed in several places in the register of people in this book—under the chief designer, who has initiated it and given his final approval; the head of the respective design studio, who is responsible for the work of his team or teams; and finally the individual designers, whose contribution to the respective design work is sufficient to allow the design to be called “their” work. The design of the Ford Mustang 1 from 1965 emanated from an intercompany competition

19

Designing Motor Vehicles

Self-Image—Craftsman or Visionary? The discipline of automotive design has its roots partly in shipbuilding and coachbuilding/the wheelwright trade, and partly in graphic design, illustration, and commercial art. Coachbuilding and the wheelwright trade have been respected and flourishing trades in Europe since the seventeenth century. With the beginning of industrialization around 1800, some enterprises in the administrative and industrial centers of Europe and North America specialized in the manufacture of prestigious coaches for general transport and for wealthy customers. The centers of coachbuilding were London, Brussels, Turin, Paris, New York, and Philadelphia. From 1900, some of these enterprises recognized the potential of a new mode of transport, the automobile, and began with the design and manufacture of bodies; examples include Brewster, Farina, Erdmann & Rossi, Kellner, Franay, Gurney Nutting, and Mulliner. At the beginning, most units were one-off models tailored to the needs and ideas of customers. Specialized schools existed for coachbuilders, such as the École DuPont in Paris, at which the method of applying ‘strakes’ (continuous courses of planks or plates on a ship forming, for example, a hull shell or a deck) was taught. From the technical point of view, the problem of freeform surfaces was well known in shipbuilding, and the method of dealing with it was adopted in coachbuilding from the late nineteenth century. The method made it possible to capture irregularly curved surfaces in a drawing using marking points, threads, and curve templates, and to use this drawing at a later date again or transfer it to another object (for example, from a model to a workpiece). From 1920, aircraft construction also needed methods to shape and represent in drawn form the fuselage and wings of aircraft in a manner both suitable for the function of the aircraft, and aerodynamically appropriate. Models in wood or clay, and from 1950 in plasticine, offered the opportunity to scan the surfaces and translate the data into technical drawings using a coordinate measuring device, which in turn made Coachbuilding functioning as a role model for early automobile design engineers: Peugeot Vis-à-Vis, 1892

20

it possible for the engineering department to produce the production drawings. This partly craft-based and partly industrial technology is traditional in automotive design. Many designers of the first generation had learnt coachbuilding and, like their employers, changed over to the automobile in around 1900. Another tradition in automotive design has its roots in illustration and commercial art; both achieved maximum recognition during the period of the Art Nouveau style (1895–1915). The vocations of advertising illustrator and commercial artist became established, and vocational schools taught these subjects. Then, the graphic design of the Art Deco style (1920–1940), with its extreme perspectives, its views from below, and dramatic light effects, provided the necessary aesthetic vocabulary for graphically creating objects which did not yet exist physically. The illusionist presentation of objects in perspective drawings, referred to as rendering, developed at that time. While until 1930 cars were designed as sectional models (longitudinal section, cross-section, view from above), the first development stage for three-dimensional objects started from 1930 with perspective sketches, intended to make the model look particularly dramatic, aggressive, fast, elegant, or mysterious. Again, there is a fundamental difference between Europe and the USA. The European designers at the beginning of the twentieth century often had their roots in the field of architecture, or were trained in its disciplines. The famous Weimar/Dessau “Bauhaus” was so named because its founders saw the highest combination of all aesthetic and craft-based skills in construction, rather than in the design of movable objects, which had to adapt to man. In functionalism, reduction, geometrically succinct surfaces and spaces, the right angle, the cube, and the line, determined the design canon. Curved, bulbous, concave/convex freeforms, which did not respond to a rigid symmetry or other principle of form, were rejected. A good case in point is the design by Bauhaus director Walter Gropius for the Standard 8 Adler sedan dating from 1927/28: the body is formally straightened out using right angles Anton Klotz and Eugen Kienast: advertising poster for BMW, 1937

21

Designing Motor Vehicles

and clean radii. The vertical radiator front and windscreen are counterproductive from an aerodynamic point of view. In essence, the right angle does not sit comfortably with a streamlined design. The European engineers and designers who, from 1930, focused increasingly on streamlining and aerodynamics for land-based vehicles (Rumpler, Jaray, Kamm, von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, Ledwinka, Schlör among others), carried out their design work in research establishments based on technology and natural science, distinctly separate from the avant-garde design schools and circles. At the Bauhaus and De Stijl, people did not think about automobiles, but about immobile and static objects as architecture and interiors. At the HfG Ulm, the design of automobiles was taboo until the middle of the 1960s; any forms that did not agree with the system or were asymmetrical, and did not tie in with the rationality of cybernetics or geometry, were excluded from the design program. A large number of the American designers of the 1920s through to the 1940s had their roots in commercial art, in advertising, in interior decoration, and illustration; some also moved over from coachbuilding. Aesthetically they took their orientation from what, at the time, were the avant-garde technologies: nautics, aeronautics, and astronautics. Their creativity drew inspiration from actual aerodynamic research, but also from the pulp fiction magazines, which showed nuclear-powered flying cars in front of each Californian bungalow. Status thinking and social advancement, as another aspect of mobility, began to influence (not only) automotive design. Alfred P. Sloan had developed a marque architecture for General Motors, presenting a low-priced starter marque with the Chevrolet, and a range of other marques, some leaning towards a sporty image and others towards reliability, with the top model being the luxurious Cadillac. Just as the USA provided the social framework in which everybody could advance socially, so General Motors reflected the opportunities for advancement with its different products within one corporation. From the very beginning, the design incorporated a Adler Standard 8, designed by Walter Gropius in 1928

22

socio-semantic and marketing-driven component, which favored a different design philosophy from that of European functionalism. The streamline design of the 1930s and 1940s was applied to household appliances, furniture and fittings, and automobiles, creating a homogeneous setting. The seemingly functional streamline charged the object with a symbolic potency—faster, further, more modern.

The Development of Product Design from 1910—the Automobile as Luxury Item and One-Off Creation In terms of a historic/scientific category and economic importance, industrial design can be documented from the 1920s. Up until then, the integrated technical/aesthetic design process and technical objects with an enclosing envelope were rather the exception. It could be said that early automobiles were rough driving machines, with hardly any surfaces that could be designed in any meaningful way. Between 1890 and 1915, automobiles consisted of several clearly separated areas which, for decades, were not conceived of as an integrated whole: the engine, passenger compartment, wheels, mudguards, and luggage compartment were all conceived of as separate technical components and therefore—if at all—designed separately. The enclosed, rigid passenger compartment behind the engine took its formal cues from the coach and the railway compartment. Until the introduction of conveyor production at Ford (Model T, 1914), serial production did not really exist; most models were modified in numerous ways, particularly with respect to the construction and design of the bodywork, even though the undercarriage and drive technology were largely produced in series. In the initial years, the automobile represented an avant-garde product which was expensive to buy and costly to maintain—the chauffeur as driver and mechanic often was not the owner of the vehicle, but a lowly employee of the rather well-to-do owner. Design in the modern industrial sense did not come about until manufacturers In 1936, the Lincoln Zephyr was the first streamline auto body in large series production.

23

Designing Motor Vehicles

started to consider production of the chassis and body combined, until metal sheets replaced timber frames for the construction bodies, and until conveyor belt production was established as standard. At that time, the form of the automobile as phenotype and the design of individual surfaces and shapes were essentially determined by the technical layout and the engineers; designers in the sense of the aesthetic design were considered unnecessary. Around 1905, the transition from the bonnet to the passenger compartment presented the first design challenge, because at this point, the hitherto strictly separate functional areas of the automobile were visually joined into one unit. Subsequently, the engine compartment and boot increasingly merged with the passenger compartment into one whole form, which was drawn like an upturned hull of a boat and was called a “boat tail” and even likened to a torpedo. As early as 1899, the Belgian racing driver Camille Jenatzy had already caused a stir and managed to increase the speed record to 100 km/h with a car that had a torpedo-shaped aluminum monocoque, ran on balloon tires and was driven by electric motors. But his technical layout was too far ahead of its time. Various authors have commented that the wrestling for an automobile form was finally decided in favor of a concept that, even in those days, was already antiquated. The electric drive lost out to the combustion engine; the technical layout of the automobile followed the concept of the steam locomotive rather than the cab-over-engine concept of the electric tramway. What was left over as car surface offered little opportunity for designers.

Parallel Developments in Industrial Design and Automotive Design Around 1928—Harley Earl and Raymond Loewy With its Model T, Ford had shown how to carry out mass production and how it was possible to reduce the purchase price within a few years. The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Boattail Tourer, 1932

24

symbolic price that purchasers paid for Ford’s car was “indistinguishability.” For a certain period the Model T was only available in one color, in black, because it dried faster. During its nineteen years of production the car was only modified very slightly in design and equipment. The Model T was a product that promised very high use value, but the symbolic value was approaching zero by the middle of the 1920s; when a lot of people own a car, the importance lies in the difference rather than in the fact of owning one. From 1925, many products in the USA were sucked into the trend of differentiation—telephones, refrigerators, kitchen appliances, typewriters, calculation machines, lamps, and so on. Market saturation went hand-in-hand with an obviously good quality product. While the big car manufacturers tried to figure out how to transfer the aesthetics of the luxury cars to conveyor belt production, the producers of consumer goods wondered how—if at all possible— the product could be made better and more attractive. Until then, both “better” and “more attractive” had been thought of exclusively in terms of function and build; that it was possible to make something really better—even possibly reduce production costs—through the design of the product, the way it could be operated, the legibility of scales, and so on, hardly occurred to anybody at the time. In 1925, Harley J. Earl, then consulting engineer for Cadillac, was commissioned to design the new LaSalle. The GM marque, LaSalle, was positioned between the Cadillac premium product and the next lower product, the Pontiac. Earl had a good relationship with the Fisher family, which was among the largest shareholders of GM. Earl’s method to not only draw his designs, but to shape them three-dimensionally in clay, convinced his employers right from the beginning. The 1927 LaSalle was a success, and established benchmarks in terms of design. Earl moved from Los Angeles to Detroit and—now as industrial designer—established the Art & Colour Section, the first design department at a large corporation worldwide. The change of designation from consulting engineer to industrial designer indicates the importance that, Ford Model T, 1926. Black paint and reliability lose their appeal.

25

Designing Motor Vehicles

Raymond Loewy’s redesign of the Gestetner stencil duplicator, 1929

26

from then on, was attached to design for the GM range of products. With the backing of the Fishers, Earl introduced the “advanced design” concept; he carried out studies on future vehicle generations. Following the establishment of design as part of the planning process, the focus was not only on existing products; as the process involved an analysis of, and the application of aesthetics to, future value systems, design acquired a socioeconomic aspect. Change of place—1928, New York. Since his emigration from France in 1919, Raymond Loewy had acquired a reputation as an advertising designer, fashion illustrator, and sales-room designer. He had the benefit of a portfolio of large companies, for which he worked. Westinghouse, the manufacturer of electrical goods, had engaged him as a consultant to revise the company image. Loewy made the acquaintance of the English entrepreneur David Gestetner, whose copying machine needed remodeling. Loewy encased the existing machine, adding a wooden base and a housing made of metal/Bakelite. The mechanical part of the unit, which previously had been open, was now concealed, and operation was simplified. Loewy had also produced a 1:1 model in clay in order to be able to show his customer the result in three-dimensional form. Industrial design was born. When, the following year, Loewy became consultant to the automobile manufacturer, Hupp, the profession of design consultant or industrial designer was finally accepted. Among the products that, owing to their technical complexity, initially experienced teething problems but then became million sellers in the USA, was the automobile. Henry Ford did not build the first serial model but his Model T became the most successful of its time. In 1917 the Model T had a market share of 42 percent, which by 1924 had risen to an incredible 52 percent. But then two things happened—with the saturation of the market, the innovation potential of the Model T also evaporated. The fact that it was only available in one color and there were hardly any modifications to the body made it a trusted but increasingly old-fashioned vehicle. The second factor was a change in personnel; in

1923 Alfred P. Sloan (1875–1966) became President at General Motors and, in this position, one of the spin doctors of American marketing. In 1926, GM challenged its competitor, Ford, with a new model of its Chevrolet marque, the body of which imitated the styling of the luxury class and which was available in numerous attractive colors. Ford found itself forced to extend its color range by two additional shades. Nevertheless, in 1927 the market share of the Model T had tumbled to 15 percent, while GM had by then managed to achieve 45 percent. Sloan had intuitively understood that design is the aesthetic manifestation of sociocultural ideas; values such as contemporariness, modernity, advancement, speed, assertiveness, and so on could be portrayed and evoked by design. Harley Earl, who had dreamt of seeing his extravagant car bodies not only as one-off productions for wealthy customers but in series for all of America on the road, was on the same wavelength as Sloan.

Design Theory and Industrial Practice in Europe— “Styling” vs. the “Good Form” In Europe, from 1880, design was driven forward not only in practice, but also in theory. Starting with Ruskin and Morris, who understood the design of the living environment as an aesthetic fulfillment of a social environment, via the vehement cultural criticism of Adolf Loos, and the “less is more” maxim of functionalism, European design theory focused primarily on reduction, on the necessary as opposed to the superfluous. Associated with this approach was an underlying ideology of aesthetics as a formative instrument of modern, emancipated man, often combined with a criticism of capitalism—the impression that is evoked by the form tempts the buyer; however, that impression is deceptive because it has only been generated to increase the exchange value, and only serves the producer and agent rather than the consumer. According to this theory, the exchange value was identified as being immoral, since Chevrolet Capitol Sedan, 1927. A whiff of luxury aesthetics in a middle-class car

27

Designing Motor Vehicles

“Die gute Form” chair by Max Bill designed for Horgen, 1949

28

it was the use value, that is, the long-term benefit to the consumer, which it should all be about. An additional onerous development for automotive design was the fact that the tendency towards reduction and rationality in the European design of the 1920s resulted in rectangular, cubist forms—heralding the death-knell for streamlined forms of objects that move fast through a medium. This meant that automotive design slipped out of the focus of design theory. From then on, the practice of market-conforming industrial shaping of products was referred to as styling. People who carried out styling were considered by many—in particular, German-speaking design theorists—to no longer be designers in the original or heroic sense of the word. Until the later 1970s, the official job description of designers of the automotive sector in Europe and the USA was “stylist.” One of the reasons why the designers of the external shape of automobiles in the USA were not called “designers” but “stylists” was the fact that the term “design” in English is also used in the context of engineering, where it refers to the creation of a plan for the construction or invention of an object. In view of the fact that the companies employed many engineers who developed technical designs, there was a desire to create a differentiation. Furthermore, the term “style” conveyed a sociocultural meaning—as an aesthetic manifestation of social strata and ideas. But it was exactly this implication that was suspect to European designers. The idea was that the function, and later the structure, should define the form, disregarding all contemporary and design accoutrements that were decried as purely pandering to fashion. From 1950, the schism between design and styling took on an almost vehement dimension in the discussion. In the late 1930s, the American designer Brooks Stevens had defined the activity of design as “instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary.” This motto, as the doctrine of “planned obsolescence” through continuous aesthetic innovation, was celebrated by the world of marketing but condemned by de-

sign theorists. After 1950, there was an attempt in Europe, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries, to counter this practice with what was referred to as “Die gute Form” (the good form)—a functional and reliable creation of objects, using genuine materials and representing value for money, with “honest forms that are never used in the context of sales propaganda,” and would not have that reprehensible “rapidly changing, fashionable appearance” as the Swiss designer, Max Bill, wrote about it in 1952. “Die gute Form” was sensible, functional, ergonomically optimized, hygienically impeccable, efficient; it was not oriented towards the consumer and his pleasure in using it, which always also includes a symbolic component. Therefore, design following this principle could not be used for social differentiation—it was even opposed to it. But contrary to what was planned, it was not devoid of a social function, because the pricey electrical equipment by Braun could and would only be afforded by a small elite who understood the simplicity of the form as an aesthetic characteristic of its superior taste compared with the “common” people. The simple, tidy, ornament-free became an aesthetic symbol of the expensive, long-lasting, intellectual. In view of the fact that automobiles were styled and therefore did not comply with the design ethos of the “Die gute Form,” most European designers did not bother with car design. They drove cars nevertheless. In the 1950s the founders of the HfG and design greats Max Bill, Otl Aicher, and Hans Gugelot made their way to the university building in a Bentley, Alfa Romeo and Porsche. Max Bill and his Bentley—there was more status and prestige involved than the Swiss proponent of design ethics would admit. The HfG championed modular product designs for industry and less so for the everyday needs of consumers. The automobile was not part of the curriculum. Michael Conrad and Piero Manzoni, both students in Ulm, had to develop their prototype Autonova GT (1964) and Autonova Fam (1965) outside the influence of the university, because car design was deemed to be unethical.

The “good design” chair by Charles and Ray Eames designed for Knoll, 1949

29

Designing Motor Vehicles

In 1950, the American “Good Design Award” was awarded for the first time, an accolade that had been conceived of by several designers and architects (including Ray and Charles Eames, and Eero Saarinen) to highlight particularly accomplished products. Compared with other American products, the “good design” honored by the award featured an almost European simplicity and concentration on the essential; however, compared with the European “gute Form,” it was somewhat more playful and colorful. In 1961, the design of the Lincoln Continental was awarded a prize by the Industrial Designers Institute. With its elegant, uncluttered design, the team around Elwood Engel had officially heralded the end of rear fins. After two decades of chrome baroque, the time was ripe for a somewhat sober, trapezoid-inspired design. However, that was not just the merit of the “gute Form” concept; rather, the new era of social departure from the stuffy, post-war Eisenhower years also intended to distance itself aesthetically.

Priority of Construction over Form in Europe American automobiles had always been designed technically and aesthetically for the requirements of the market, in other words, they were aimed at satisfying the buyers’ wishes. The American way of life was full of contrast: on the one hand, the enormous distances between the cities, which were linked by long, straight highways and, on the other hand, hectic and dense transport within the cities. Once General Motors entered the market, the principle of convenience became a priority; cars were meant to be comfortable and agreeable for their passengers. In contrast to their European colleagues, American engineers preferred simple, tough, long-lasting solutions—engines with many cylinders and large cubic capacities that were smooth-running at low revolutions and a high torque; a long wheel base for good straight running, soft suspension; in addition, an automatic gearbox, power-assisted steering, and air conditioning. Europe was focused on the ideal of the “small car for all”; The 1961 Lincoln Continental. The team around Elwood Engel had developed a sleek European design, albeit to an American scale.

30

small engines with low consumption and hardly any torque that required frequent manual gear changes. A number of different drive concepts competed. The large number of manufacturers led to competition in terms of technical ideas and to many innovations; this in particular made the high degree of standardization achieved in the USA impossible. In Europe too, there was a market for luxury automobiles, which were created by specialist designers who, from 1930, were particularly focused on streamlining as a design ideal. At the annual Paris Motor Show, it was the European designs in particular that had a significant influence on the American automotive design of the 1930s; during his entire career at GM (with the exception of the war years), Harley Earl traveled to Paris and gained an overview of the European pattern language; straight after the end of the war, his colleague Virgil Exner, Head of Design at Chrysler, looked for Italian styling studios as cooperation partners. However, in addition to the pejorative connotation associated with automotive styling, it was also the European market with its completely different structure compared with the USA that seriously hampered the rise of the automobile designer. Until the late 1950s, most European manufacturers did not have their own design department. The body development departments had specialists who were also responsible for the appearance and external shape. For large projects and new developments, external studios and designers were called in, whose ideas were checked for feasibility and production requirements by the engineers, and modified accordingly. Following the end of World War Two, the German branches of the American manufacturers, Ford and GM/Opel, adopted the planning structure of the parent corporations, in which design was integrated as a matter of course; from 1960, the domestic styling departments were headed up by experienced designers from Dearborn and Detroit. While, from the 1930s, many German auto body construction companies focused on production, the French, and especially the Italian coachbuilders, also specialized in the design as an independent serGM “Motorama,” 1955. The American way of life in automotive form: big, comfortable, climatized

31

Designing Motor Vehicles

vice. In the 1950s, this led to the outstanding position of the Italian carrozzerie and to design studios which, in cooperation with and in competition against the American styling departments, were to shape the form of automobiles for more than three decades. In Germany especially, the automobile form retained a negative connotation until the 1970s; the American “road cruisers” and “sleds” were something for show-offs and parvenus. For Germans, a good car mostly meant a well-constructed, reliable car. This explains the continuous success of a car that, at the beginning of its production in 1948, was already ten years old—the VW Beetle—which was not replaced until 1973. A comparable focus on construction and reliability was only to be found at Volvo and Saab, the Scandinavian manufacturers. In northern Europe, the inherent values of the car (drivetrain, chassis, safety) were emphasized with an almost anxious concern, these matters being viewed with a kind of pseudo-functionalist approach. Exciting design was left to the Italian studios.

The Rise and Fall of the External Studios For as long as there were well-off clients who wanted individually designed auto bodies, and there were manufacturers that supplied only chassis for the body to be added by an auto body shop, there seemed to be enough work for the many European carrozzerie and the remaining American coachbuilders. However, in the late 1930s, tailor-made auto bodies had become a rarity in the USA; all manufacturers tried to satisfy customer requirements with factory-made body and trim versions, and thereby to deprive external auto body construction companies and designers of their work. If you really wanted something extravagant, you had to order your car from Europe. After 1940, the market for one-off productions collapsed there too. What was now wanted were small series of sports and luxury cars, but for that, the auto body builders had no capacity. In consequence, a process of consolidation started “The line of reason”: the Ford P3 17M by Wes Dahlberg and Uwe Bahnsen, 1961

32

from 1950, which many traditional companies did not survive; either they shut down (for example, Erdmann & Rossi, Graber, Franay, Saoutchik) or were integrated into the auto body development departments of manufacturers (for example, Gurney Nutting and Park Ward at Bentley / Rolls-Royce, LeBaron at Briggs / Chrysler). Those coachbuilders that, already before the war, had opted for expansion, were now at an advantage—these were primarily the Italian carrozzerie such as Bertone, Pininfarina, Ghia and Touring, who were able to win contracts from almost all European and even some American manufacturers. In parallel, the Italian studios developed their own design culture. The clear, uncluttered, sporty forms produced by Italian designers from 1955 were considered to lay the blueprint for the entire industry. The Scuola Italiana became its own brand. “Styling by ...” or “Disegno di ...” could be a genuine competitive advantage, or at least it was a design statement pointing towards modernity and the avant-garde; pre-war designs were passé, the automobile had finally found its own form. The absence of dedicated design departments at most European manufacturers combined with increased competition in the market after 1955 favored the role of the Italian studios and designers as consultants and service providers for the well-worked, and hence commercially successful, treatment of the visual appearance of the automobile. The largest of them—Ghia, Bertone and Pininfarina—not only presented show cars every year based on existing large series production cars, they also independently developed new ergonomic and interior concepts, automobile types, and aerodynamic studies. American producers such as Nash and Chrysler cooperated closely with large studios; English and German companies preferred individual designers such as Michelotti and Frua. Between 1960 and 1970, nearly every European large series production car was either newly designed, or was revised, by an Italian studio; exceptions were the three European subsidiaries of the “big American three” (GM, Ford, Chrysler), as well as Renault and Mercedes-Benz, who maintained their own styling studios. Chrysler d’Elegance from 1953, designed in cooperation with Carrozzeria Ghia and built in Turin

33

Designing Motor Vehicles

This situation had serious disadvantages for all involved, for both the studios and their clients. Every studio cultivated its own style, which made it distinct from its competitors—that studio style, however, was focused on its own development of the Scuola Italiana, rather than on the client’s brand image. Thus it was not unusual for a basic design to be used for a number of models of different brands, which meant that the respective car would look like a design by Bertone, Michelotti, or Frua, but did not reflect the brand it had been designed for. Only Pininfarina cultivated different teams, some of which worked for a certain brand for decades and thereby created something like a brand design (for example at Peugeot); however, even here it is possible to detect similar characteristics in other brands, from Lancia, via Austin and Peugeot, to Ferrari. Even though it sounds like a paradox, the worldwide success in the 1970s and 1980s of Giorgio Giugiaro’s studio, Italdesign, finally heralded the end of the dominance of external designers. The restriction to a few basic automobile forms distinguished only by brand emblems attached to the radiator grille not only resulted in the boredom of consumers, but also rang alarm bells among those responsible in the companies. It now seemed imperative to have a first-class design department if one wanted to establish a brand-specific design. Between 1970 and 1975, the German, French, British, and Japanese manufacturers, who until then had heavily relied on the support of Italian studios, formed their own design departments, which were now involved in the planning process from the very beginning and were given extensive responsibility similar to the American model.

Cost Pressure and Brand Identity Sometimes the portfolio of services of the external studios was very diverse; it could stretch from the design, via the construction of models and prototypes, through to the manufacture of small series. Until the early 1960s, the (predominantly Italian) studios were in a strong Austin/Morris/MG 1100 from 1963, design by Pininfarina

34

position since they had expertise in all the above fields and were also able to provide cost advantages. With increasing equalization across Europe, this factor disappeared—and increased demands on the part of the industry required significant investment that could not be afforded by all studios. One reason for the second big wave in the decline of the studios after 1965 was the absence of orders for small series productions, which were largely based on manual labor, with a simultaneous absence of capacity and competence in serial production on a really industrial scale. This meant that the more old-fashioned coachbuilding companies, such as Fantuzzi or Boneschi, disappeared; but big names too, such as Touring, were unable to withstand the pressure— this long-established company folded in 1966. Ghia became part of the Ford design department in 1970. Although Michelotti and Frua were active until the 1970s, their influence waned. Smaller carrozzerie such as Fissore, Vignale, Boano, and Chapron also had to close down in the 1960s. The first “real” design department along American lines was established by the GM subsidiary Opel in Germany. From 1962, the designer Clare MacKichan built up the Opel Styling studio, which independently developed models from 1964. In addition to the studios for production models, there was the Advanced Studio for avant-garde concepts. Opel was the first European brand that developed concept cars. Opel Styling quickly developed an influence beyond Germany, and for two decades functioned as a talent and cadre seedbed for the entire industry. From 1970, the former Mercedes-Benz designer, Paul Bracq, established a design department at BMW—also along American lines—which was no longer under the influence of Michelotti, and created a graded model range with its own brand image. With the “Turbo” Study, BMW too adopted the American strategy of advanced design and concept cars. As part of the restructuring of British Leyland in 1975, David Bache became Design Director of the conglomerate of brands, which previously had also often relied on Michelotti. Fiat’s Centro Stile established Lancia Flaminia GT by Carrozzeria Touring (design by Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni) from 1958

35

Designing Motor Vehicles

its independence from 1973; the influence of Bertone waned. The US corporations had already terminated their cooperation with the Italian designers in the mid 1960s. Only Giugiaro’s Italdesign celebrated various spectacular successes—at the cost of cars in Scandinavia, France, Japan, Germany, and Italy looking almost identical from 1980. The hour of brand design had arrived.

Design as a Strategic Variable (Since 1980) Looking back, it can be said that the period of consolidation in the automotive industry between 1970 and 1990 could only be survived by those brands which, by the middle of the 1970s at the latest, were able to offer vertical progression, in other words, a progressive range of models with a suitable brand face, or a design line that could be applied to all models. At the beginning of the 1970s, this necessity had been recognized by most manufacturers, but some brands were unable to implement it for a number of reasons. What was the doctrine of corporate identity and corporate design for companies in general, applied from the 1980s onwards also to automotive design in particular. During the 1960s and 1970s, American car models were reduced to a European size, a development that was like a precursor of what the design departments were now asked to do—to produce recognizable style characteristics for the entire range of products, in other words a “face” that ranged from the small car through to the upper medium-size, or a combination of beading and ribbing in the side panels that were to be used from the entry model through to the full sports car. That can lead to a consistent appearance and brand image, but can also result in boredom or make social distinction harder when the consumer doesn’t know whether he is driving a vehicle of the lower upper class or the upper lower class—although the brand impression becomes stronger, the hierarchy of models is blurred. With the continuation of tradition and a return to the historic core of the brand, with the construction of virtual A stylist working on the Opel Manta at the Opel Styling Center in Rüsselsheim, around 1969

36

and real brand worlds that can be experienced, manufacturers have, since then, been building brand identity in which the exterior design of the automobile is an important component, but no longer the critical aesthetic factor. Today, automotive design has become part of a system of design services that includes the creation of a product world for promotion, the brand world, the history, and the newly created world of experience.

Audi City London, a virtual showroom conveying brand identity

37

38

Processes and Training Strother MacMinn teaching at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design, around 1960

39

Processes and Training

Processes Around the turn of the century, proponents of the industry in the USA, as in Europe, recognized that it needed designers that would create the external shape of products or at least provide a decorative finish. From 1887, universities such as the Pratt Institute in New York trained commercial artists who were soon referred to as “designers.” The term “industrial designer” was registered at the US patent office as early as 1913; in 1927, graphic designers and craftsmen founded the first professional association. With the formation of the American Designers Institute in 1938, and its successor, the Society of Industrial Designers in 1944 (today, the IDSA), the profession and the industry were recognized. The path leading there, however, had not been a straight one. Since pure design is based on the division of labor, the vocation of stylist/ design draftsman/designer could not come about until the product planning and production processes had been subdivided into various stages, and each department staffed with specialists. That happened in the first pioneering phase around 1880. That was also the time of the foundation of the first vocational schools and institutes for design training in the widest sense. The textile and domestic equipment industries needed pattern designers, but they also needed graphic designers who would show the products in an advertising context. From this double function, the job profile of automobile designer emerged in the era from 1920 to 1960—many came from graphic design and illustration and transferred to the field of car design (for example, Loewy, Bel Geddes, Brovarone, and Charbonneaux). However, during this early phase, their influence on the product remained small. Designers were only exceptionally given more authority to influence the planning and production processes; this happened in particular when more than a single designer was involved, that is, the whole department had responsibility for the product design. One of the The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, a cradle of industrial design training

40

first companies to adopt new methods regarding design was Germany’s AEG. This new approach to design not only fulfilled aesthetic requirements; it was primarily intended to order the range of products, which had become confusing, to reduce costs by using identical parts, and to give the brand a uniform design to achieve clear positioning. The Art Nouveau designer, Peter Behrens, established one of the world’s first design departments in 1907. This was responsible for the product design through to the catalog design and corporate architecture. General Motors President, Alfred Sloan, proceeded in a similar vein when he expanded the organizational system of management levels to the design department and, in 1927, made Harley Earl the first Head of Design. This organizational and hierarchical principle was the pattern for nearly all design departments that were subsequently formed; a head of design (director of design, vice president, president) developed, monitored, and was responsible for the “main design line,” in other words, the face of the brand. One or several heads of design were heading up a number of design departments (studios) that took care of individual corporate marques, product lines, and/or visions for the future (advanced), interior and exterior design. The studios were staffed by people who had entered the profession (juniors) and designers with several years of professional experience (seniors), who were in charge of teams within the studios. External, non-corporate studios employed the same working principle when they reached a size that was similar to that of a corporate styling department; smaller studios consisted of a head of design (often the founder or person after whom the studio was named) and employed designers and model makers. At the beginning, the large production studios experimented with having model making part of the department or separate. In the USA, the integration of model makers was made more difficult owing to various professional associations/trade unions, the regulations of which, for example, forbade designers to make any changes to clay models—that was the prerogative of the model makers. In a simplified way it is possiFord styling, 1956: model makers working on the 1:1 mock-up

41

Processes and Training

ble to say that there were two approaches—that of the pure design room and that of the combined design and modelling studio.

New Members of the Profession and Training Establishing industrial designers in the production process represented a first important step; the next task was attracting and training new blood. Around 1925, most American designers came to the profession from commercial art; just a few had studied architecture—as was common in Europe. With the rise of the automotive industry to become a key industry, the introduction of the conveyor belt, and the all-steel auto body, there was an increased demand for professional designers who had been specially trained for the industry. The generation of designers who had come from coachbuilding—and who were therefore primarily craft-based—was replaced by the second generation, which was influenced by illustration and commercial graphic design. Europe and the USA had some design schools, but automotive design was not a recognized vocation taught by the academic staff who were frequently architects and fine artists. For the special requirements it was necessary to create new training avenues, both inside companies as a professional development program and externally as a course of study. At this stage, the automotive industry proceeded in a similar way as that, a few decades earlier, of the national company associations of coachbuilders who, in 1870, founded schools for their trade—it sponsored or founded its own training establishments. GM built its own institute in 1938, the Detroit Institute of Automobile Styling (DIAS)—an assessment center for budding GM designers. The first regular colleges in America where students could study design were the Pasadena Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles (from 1931) and the Pratt School of Design in New York from 1935. Under the management of the institute’s Dean, James Boudreau, the industrial designers AlexanAdvertisement for the home course “Automobile Styling” of the Detroit Institute of Automobile Styling from 1947

42

der Kostellow, Rowena Reed, and Donald Dohner established a course for industrial design at the Pratt Institute. In 1939, the curriculum was revised to include many elements of the legendary “Vorkurs” (foundation course) from the Bauhaus. A large proportion of American automobile designers had studied at one of these two schools—both GM and Chrysler, as well as the smaller manufacturers, recruited their young design staff from there. Harley Earl selected the first women-only design team, the “Damsels of Design,” primarily from the Pratt Institute. It was not until the 1950s that several art and design universities in the USA and Europe began to focus on industrial design in general and automotive design in particular. For this reason, many European designers who started their career between 1955 and 1970 did not have the benefit of design training as it is understood today, but joined the design departments as draftsmen or illustrators; that was as true for Pininfarina as it was for Mercedes-Benz, Opel and Auto Union. One of the most influential persons involved in teaching skills relating to automotive design at an early stage was Andrew F. Johnson. From 1892 to 1926 he was Head of the New York Technical School for Carriage and Automobile Body Designers and Draftsmen, and after its closure he established a private, distance-learning school for automotive design, which he ran until his death in 1943. His students included the three sons of the auto body builder and press works owner, Lawrence Fisher (Fisher Body), who, in 1930, founded the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild. Back in 1919, General Motors had already acquired a majority holding in the auto body company (pressworks), Fisher Body, and, in 1929, made the company its main supplier of auto bodies. At that time, it was recognized that it was necessary to attract enough young people to the design profession and to train them. To this end, advertisements in the USA promoted the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild, a talent competition initially for model building and, from 1937, also for design. In a multi-stage process, prizewinners of the competition from different Federal States were invited to compete against each other in Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild, 1960s

43

Processes and Training

a final, countrywide stage. In addition to arousing enormous interest in the media for the car as a product, GM, and of course the design profession as such, was able to win talent for its own design department on an annual basis. The changes occurring in the 1960s relating to ethnic and gender-specific stereotypes in society would, sooner or later, have led to the participation of female and non-white young people in the craftsmanship competition. New research suggests that the GM Chief of Design at the time, Bill Mitchell, was the driving force behind the decision in 1968 to discontinue the competition—before African American and Hispanic boys and girls were able to take part in the competition, it was preferred to close it down completely. It must be said, however, that access to the design profession in general, and the automotive design profession in particular, was now channeled via institutes and universities rather than the talent competition.

Influence on the Design Design as a team effort is frequently—and in the past almost exclusively—anonymous work. The top heads of the departments appear in public, but the many individual designers, men as well as women, remain unnamed. In many compendiums on the subject of design, and even more extremely so on the subject of automotive design, female designers only appear occasionally, if at all, in spite of the fact that, between 1920 and 1950, the USA played an avant-garde role in co-educational arts and design training. Women were not admitted to technical training establishments and study courses until the beginning of the twentieth century; in addition, the fields of construction, engineering, and design were so predominantly occupied by men in the collective awareness that only few women applied to study in these areas. In Europe too, a larger contingent of female students could not be found until the 1920s (for example, at the Dessau Bauhaus); while the proportion of women at US colleges appears to be higher, the opportunities for Chuck Jordan, who later became a GM designer, as proud winner of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild, 1947

44

female designers to make it into the automotive industry were limited. However, in the 1940s, some manufacturers (GM, Nash, Packard) recognized that the considerable influence women have on the purchase of a car should lead to them being involved in the design process. This led to a division of the design spheres, similar to that in architecture— men for the exterior, women for the interior. While the exterior design continued to be the almost exclusive domain of men, the interior design became the field of female designers such as Helene Rother, Betty Thatcher, Mary Ellen Green, who, as highly paid specialists in the years between 1935 and 1955, were also used by some manufacturers to promote their products in advertisements. In 1954, GM Head of Design Harley Earl put together a six-member female design team to take care of the interior design, and color and trim versions, for GM models. However, Earl’s successor Bill Mitchell dissolved the team as early as 1961 because Mitchell was of the opinion that automobiles should be designed by men. For this book, an attempt is made to find out about at least a few female designers whose output, or contribution to certain models or manufacturers, was important. Even though, in Europe, automotive design was almost absent from scientific theory and from the curricula, the design training at a university for applied art or at an art academy formed the basis for a career in the industry. At the beginning of the 1970s, the first European institutes introduced automotive design/car design as a subject in their curricula. The focus was frequently on commercial and public transportation vehicles but, since 1980, specialized courses and courses of study were offered in response to the industry’s need. This meant that the time of career changers from other disciplines and from classic industrial design to automotive design, and vice versa, was over. In this context, it is worth noting that one of the design universities with the best reputation, the HfG in Ulm (1955–1969), specifically excluded the subject of automotive design. Although the curriculum at the HfG included the design of commercial vehicles and public transportation vehicles, automobiles Suzanne Vanderbilt, one of the few female designers at GM and one of the first worldwide. Photograph dated 1958

45

Processes and Training

were taboo. The Autonova GT and Autonova Fam prototypes are often referred to as “HfG designs,” but—according to contemporary reporting and the statements of the designers involved—were actually the result of a private project. Nowadays, transportation or automotive design is offered as a bachelor, master or postgraduate study program by about twenty universities and institutes all over the world. In addition to the “cradle” of the subject—the Pasadena Art Center College in California—the Royal College of Art in London, Pforzheim University with its Transportation Design course, and the IED in Turin/Milan, are considered to be the key training institutions. However, the career paths of contemporary designers show that studies at a great many other universities in Europe and the USA, which are not specialized in automotive design, can lead to a successful career in the industry.

BMW designer Juliane Blasi is working on the clay model of the BMW Z4.

46

48

Phenography of the Automotive Form Tatra 602 from 1956—post-war streamline design from the former Czechoslovakia

49

Phenography of the Automotive Form

Influences of Large-Scale Technologies—Nautics and Aeronautics (1890–1920) Its provenence from the (horse-drawn) coach was an aesthetic problem for the automobile right from the beginning. By around 1900, the coach had become an “old technology”; by contrast, the large-scale technologies needed for ships and aircraft were new and forward-looking. Even the bicycle with its socketed steel tubes and balloon tires represented a more trendy means of transport at the time of the Art Nouveau style; it was lightweight, fast, agile, and had acquired erotic connotations due to advertising campaigns. Faster, bigger, further—the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, the largest cruisers, the most luxurious steamers—these all inspired people’s fantasy at the time. Aircraft at this time were still clunky, scarcely clad skeletons, but they soon replaced ships as the icons of technology. This also affected automotive design. From the point of view of formal aesthetics and material technology, the motor car initially took its cues from the boat, because people could not conceive of it having its own form; however, the shape was inverted—the pointed bow of the boat became the boat tail, that is, the pointed rear end of the auto body. The mighty, upright radiators at the front of automobiles resisted cladding or a change of form until Mercedes-Benz had the idea, in 1913, to kink the radiator/its housing and thereby place it dynamically more beneficially to face the airflow. For almost half a century, the automobile’s underlying technology concept relied on “borrowed identities.” Ships and aircraft were technically constructed objects too, but the necessity to travel through water/ air with the least dynamic resistance forced designers to adopt different shapes right from the beginning. The ship especially was considered the archetype of a flowing and, at the same time, enclosing form. From 1870, the industrial nations used shipping fleets as large-scale technical means of asserting imperial and colonial interests as part of military and Peugeot Type 4 from 1892: a vehicle with elements of a horse-drawn coach, a pram, and a gondola. The model is called the Visà-Vis and has passengers sitting opposite each other.

50

trade policies. The shape of ships was investigated scientifically; laboratory-based research into fluid mechanics started. But it took quite some time until contemporaries recognized that a car too has to overcome air resistance, and that the function of the body shell is not just to protect the passengers and luggage against the effects of the weather, as was the case with the horse-drawn coach. The first fully enclosed cars were created between 1910 and 1925 and were manufactured as prototypes for record or sports events—the Blitzen-Benz and Castagna Alfa Romeo, but also Edmund Rumpler’s Tropfenwagen. The shape was referred to as a “torpedo,” borrowing the term from the underwater missiles used by large destroyers. The torpedo shape, which had already been used by Camille Jenatzy in 1899 with “La Jamais Contente,” until 1920 appeared to auto body builders to be the optimum shape in terms of fluid dynamics.

Tendency Towards the (Streamlined) Enclosed Form (1920–1950) As the speed of automobiles increased and, in parallel, more research was done into fluid mechanics, people started to gain a better understanding of the not inconsiderable factor of air resistance; this changed the shape of the automobile. The torpedo shape was based on the assumption that the car body only consisted of the underbody and any components projecting from it, the engine/drive, the seats, and possibly a space for luggage. The wheels and suspension were initially left out of the equation; they were even ignored. It was not until 1920 that it was understood that an enclosed auto body also enveloped the wheels—the Ley T6 by Paul Jaray (1922) was the first completely enclosed automobile in the modern sense. Fluid dynamics taught designers that the spindle shape is the ideal flow form when a body moves through a medium, that is to say, with the medium being all around. It took a while until engineers understood “La Jamais Contente” of racing driver Camille Jenatzy from 1899. Speed: 100 km/h; electric drive, pneumatic tires, torpedo shape. The driver’s body projects far above the auto body.

51

Phenography of the Automotive Form

that the automobile as a land vehicle behaves differently to a U-boat, a ship, or an aircraft. The beginnings of the streamline shape are characterized by cars that looked like cigars on wheels. The turbulence caused by the exposed wheels and the uplift beneath the front of the car had a detrimental effect on its drivability and fluid dynamics (one cause of the catastrophic drivability of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car). Around 1935, the principle of the half-spindle or the aircraft wing profile became established. Shortly afterwards, the windscreens were also placed at an angle and the fenders were largely integrated into the auto body. In 1937, Wunibald Kamm discovered the cut rear—from an aerodynamic point of view, the rear that suddenly “cuts” the airflow is equally as effective as a long, drawn-out current tail, which is inefficient from the point of view of construction and everyday use. Then, in 1940, the compact, fully enclosed ponton body would have been ready for production. However, the compact shape was too avant-garde—the omission of many details that had characterized the automobile as an object in its own right seemed to counteract its marketability. At the end of the 1930s, Walter Dorwin Teague and Norman Bel Geddes in the USA also designed streamlined cars, which looked very similar to the European models; however, the number of serial production cars was just as low as that of the European prototypes that Paul Jaray had designed for Maybach and Jean Andreau for Peugeot. What was launched in the market as “streamline design,” beyond actually efficient aerodynamics, was a revised version of the auto body concept of the late 1920s—the fenders became integrated parts of the body even though they still protruded more or less freely; the front of the vehicles became enclosed by integrating the headlights in the fenders or in the space between radiator grille and fenders, that is, they became part of the body line. The same applied to the tail. Once the all-steel body was established around 1937, it had become a technical and commercial imperative to reduce the number The K4, also called the second Kamm Coupe, by Kamm and von KoenigFachsenfeld, on a BMW chassis, 1940. The car features a ponton body, two-box design, cut-off rear (also referred to as the Kammback).

52

of independent shapes. Now it was possible to distinguish between a modern, streamline design that followed aerodynamic principles (Chrysler Airflow, Tatra) and a symbolic streamline design that enclosed the existing volume and, by contemporary standards, was considered to be “streamlined.” These included primarily European luxury cars and also a large proportion of the US production—the “classic” volumes (fenders, bonnet, passenger compartment, boot) remained in place, but were “modernized” by soft transitions and front surfaces placed at an angle (radiator and windscreen). Interestingly, the (aerodynamically frequently ineffective) symbolic streamline designs survived through to the 1950s, although more often with small cars rather than luxury ones. That was also a result of the long years of war, during which any new development of civil automobiles had to be discontinued. And in the post-war years, European car makers frequently did not resort to the designs of the early 1940s (that had already been planned for the post-war era), but instead continued where the pre-war forms had left off—between 1947 and 1952, cars appeared that looked like time had stood still since 1939, such as the VW, the Fiat Topolino, the DKW 3=6, the Citroën 2CV and Traction Avant 8CV, through to the BMW 501, Mercedes 190, and Ford Taunus.

The Ponton (1940–1950) Two factors made the simplification of the automobile form necessary and possible—the introduction of the all-steel body and the associated new construction of cars in large series on the one hand, and the new symbolic and aesthetic alignment of the car with aircraft on the other. In the 1930s, the design with a separate ladder chassis and auto body placed thereon was abandoned in favor of the unitized body. At this stage, the press factories were able to produce large body parts with complex shapes, which were reinforced and welded in order to cre-

53

Phenography of the Automotive Form

ate a “basic cell” to which only the fenders, roof, and bonnet had to be attached. This challenge in terms of construction also implied an economic challenge, and this, in turn, an aesthetic one—competition demanded a certain standardization in production, but also aesthetic diversity. GM had introduced the principle of identical parts, which made it possible to fit various models of different GM marques with largely identical technical components. This rationalization also involved a more “rational” design of the production process. The wide fenders next to the narrow engine compartment and the lateral sills and running boards were expensive and impractical to produce. At the same time, inspired by the Art Deco style and/or the streamline design, a new trend started towards a completely enclosed, smooth, and no longer opulently decorated form. This trend also affected automotive design. Harley Earl and Raymond Loewy had established advanced design as a method of anticipating the future and of inventing shapes of auto bodies, which were intended to stimulate consumers’ imagination and, at the same time, test their readiness for new aesthetic developments. However, Loewy’s consultancy contract for Hupmobile ended in 1935 when the company hit irreversible market problems; as a result he was not able to implement his visions of the future, at least not straightaway. In contrast, Earl launched the first concept car, the Buick Y-Job, in 1938. The Y-Job was full of technical gadgets such as electrically operated windows, but it also tested the taste of the public beyond streamline design and racing car aesthetics. The horizontal speed lines fitted to the sides of the car still reflected the Art Deco character of the design; nevertheless, the Y-Job represented an enormous step towards the emancipation of the automobile form. Two years later, Chrysler went even further than Earl with its Thunderbolt, designed under the leadership of Alex Tremulis. The Thunderbolt was radical in its omission of fenders—it was the first genuine ponton form worldwide. By contrast, the Italian carrozzerie, with their streamlined Le Mans and Mille Miglia coupes, were still clearly committed to Alexander Tremulis’ Chrysler Thunderbolt from 1941. The show car had pontonshaped body, integrated headlights and almost-invisible air inlets, similar to those used later on for the Citroën DS.

54

the spindle shape. It was only Carrozzeria Touring that presented a design for the Alfa Romeo 6C 2600 in 1939 which came surprisingly close to the Thunderbolt concept car with its smooth side panels.

From Fighter Bomber to Rocket (1940–1960) World War Two had stopped automobile development; even in the USA, the automotive industry switched over to military operations when the nation joined the war. Many designers and construction companies now worked in aircraft development. Following the end of the war, this was to have an aesthetic effect on automotive design. While in Europe the single- or double-seater fighter plane, with its succinct, aerodynamic shape, left behind certain influences on the design of the side profiles of sports cars, in the USA it was the tail unit design of large bombers and reconnaissance planes that had an impact on auto body design. The initially very small fins of the 1948 Cadillac had been inspired by a military aircraft, the Lockheed Lightning. This shows the strange fascination many automobile designers had for a leading technology, which in essence was really destruction technology—but, until the beginning of space travel, aviation remained without any doubt the most highly developed technology in transportation. Giovanni Savonuzzi’s design for the Cisitalia 202 sports car dated 1950 (built by Pininfarina) was considered to be the first European ponton shape; while the side line was inspired by the front of a fighter plane with its flat, backward-slanting cockpit, the rear part did not have any additional aircraft features. On both sides of the Atlantic, the lateral outlet openings for the exhaust pipes used in fighter planes were adopted in the design of the sides (for example, the Buick). With the beginning of the 1950s, as a result of competition between the Western and Eastern Blocs, space travel advanced to become the new leading technology. Science-fiction fantasies about jet-powered The GM Firebird III from 1958, with glassfiber body and turbine-powered. The car was meant to be able to drive itself. The design was produced by Harley Earl and Norman J. James.

55

Phenography of the Automotive Form

airplanes, which would one day be able to fly into space, inspired American design in particular. Not only were tailfins added to the rear of cars, but the front bumpers were shaped in the form of the conical heads of rockets and GM tried to develop a hybrid of the automobile and the jet plane with its Firebird studies. Chrysler’s designer and its Italian partner Ghia designed spacecraft like cars, as did Ford under its chief designer, George Walker.

Moving On From the Old Design Icons (1960–1970) While the American manufacturers initially stuck with their strategy of dream and concept cars, which were exhibited at exhibitions all over the country, the European brands tried to develop a mixture of American and European elements to create their own contemporary form language. The main focus was on a change from the baroque, and by then deemed old-fashioned, shapes. With the widened radiator line designed by Paul Bracq and Friedrich Geiger, from 1963 Mercedes bid farewell to the tailfin and the wraparound windshield. In the USA in 1961, the Lincoln Continental by Elwood Engel set new standards with its smooth surfaces and integrated bumpers. In the same year, Ford Cologne launched the “line of reason” in the form of the Taunus 12M by Wes Dahlberg and Uwe Bahnsen. The last models with streamline design and pre-war bodies that were not yet ponton designs were taken out of production around 1960 (the Austin/Morris Minor, DKW 3=6, BMW 501, Fiat 500), or at least supplemented with newly developed models.

Pseudo-Rationalization—Trapeze, Wedge (1960–1980) Around 1960, car designs became more functional; this was achieved to a lesser degree by the replacement of soft, rounded shapes with Alex Tremulis’ Ford Seattle-ite XXI from 1962

56

angular, trapezoid surfaces and to a larger degree with the omission of chrome ornaments, beading, and ribbing. More important than the excessive ornamentation and flowing transition between different parts of the body was now the continuous body line; examples are the styling lines at hip level introduced by the much copied Chevrolet Corvair or the Ford Mustang sports coupe. The European designers emphasized the trapeze and diamond lines, particularly with the sedans in three-box design; the front was leaning forwards and the rear either backwards (trapeze) or parallel to the front, at an angle (diamond). The same principle applied to the window and roof part, sometimes referred to as the “greenhouse.” Between 1960 and 1967, some automobile models, such as the British Triumph and those of BMW (both designed by Michelotti), some French cars by Peugeot (Pininfarina), and the Italian sedans by Fiat (the Centro Stile Fiat, Felice Mario Boano) and Lancia, incorporated the typical, ideal trapeze line. From 1963, the side and shoulder lines were very gradually modified from the horizontal to a slight incline from front to rear, and not only with the coupes; Pietro Frua’s design of the Maserati Quattroporte started it off and Claus Luthe’s revolutionary NSU Ro 80 from 1967 already incorporated the wedge shape, although combined with concave/convex surfaces. In terms of everyday aesthetics, geometric shapes associated with the straight line, and angles, were called “rational” or “functionalistic,” because the architects’ design methods, with which these elements were associated, were considered more functional than those of the stylists. With the departure from the opulent, swelling forms of the American chrome baroque of the late 1950s, a certain sobriety and clarity returned to automotive design. Trapezoid, angular forms marked the 1961/62 model year in both the USA and in Europe. The Scuola Italiana defined the three-box sedan as the ideal form; at Mercedes-Benz, Béla Barényi and Paul Bracq developed a type of car and design which looked identical from the front and rear which meant that, seen from the BMW 1500 “Neue Klasse” from 1962. The trapeze shape had been introduced at BMW by Giovanni Michelotti.

57

Phenography of the Automotive Form

side, it had a symmetrical appearance. Whether diamond in the “Forward Look” or trapeze—the new “angularity” resonated with the zeitgeist of renewal, the release from the 1950s with their perceived restrictiveness. The wedge shape was first established with sports cars; in the course of the 1960s, the previously bulbous, rounded fronts were replaced by wedge-shaped, pointed or sharply cut fronts, and the radiator grille was moved to below the sight edge. Initially, there were still softly curved lines on the sides but, from the middle of the decade, styling moved to the pure wedge form as stipulated by Marcello Gandini and Giorgio Giugiaro as the ideal form. Examples were the Lancia Stratos, the Lotus Elan, and the numerous prototypes presented to the public by Bertone and Italdesign between 1968 and 1973. By contrast, Pininfarina’s Sedan Study of 1975 produced a really efficient aerodynamic design with a drag coefficient (cw-value) of 0.17, which had not been achieved before. The wedge form was seemingly rational, at least by the simple rationale that curves were associated with “emotionality.” Its success had several causes. The forms, which could be understood by everybody, could be marketed as both reasonable and efficient (efficiency in the sense of better aerodynamics compared with the trapezoid three-box design). With increasing globalization of the markets and production systems, the wedge form became the brand mark of a global, contemporary form language from California to Europe and Japan. The term “no-frills car” is apt for the era. The moderate wedge shape, which could now be found in the small car through to the medium class and sporty two-seater, resulted in a win-win situation in terms of production efficiency. The “Euro car,” which involved technical components being developed and/or installed by several manufacturers, finally marked the standstill of automotive design in the late 1980s. To put it simplistically, either Giugiaro was responsible for the design himself, or the in-house designers tried to imitate Giugiaro.

The wedge shape in large production series and sports cars—the Golf 1 and Lotus Esprit from 1973 were both designed by Giorgio Giugiaro/Italdesign.

58

Biomorphism and Retro (1980–2000) Cultural and aesthetic developments may occur at different times in every shape and form. Even though the symbolic rationalism of the wedge shape was a conspicuous symbol of the time, there were nevertheless also competing ideas. The Pininfarina automobiles always differentiated themselves from their competitor Bertone’s with flowing, soft forms. Towards the end of the century, the Japanese designers rediscovered the curvy designs of the 1950s. The relatively unemotional, angular contemporary design in the USA and Europe promoted a trend towards nostalgia, which manifested in the rediscovery of “cult” cars. No longer were the rare and expensive Bugattis and Hispano-Suizas the only models found in museums and elitist motor shows; there was a new assessment of the everyday cars of the 1950s and early 1960s, with typical examples being the Beetle, the Mini, the Isetta, the Fiat 500, among many others. This promoted the idea of recreating these cars. This development went along with a strategy of concentration on the brand core, in accordance with the brand image. Every manufacturer searched for iconic models that, as a whole or in part, carried the values and image of the brand in a seemingly timeless fashion—classic characteristics, that were now picked up on in the design. With the search for the original cars of each brand, the nostalgia trend was reinforced and retro-design became official. The new Beetle, new Mini, new 500, the Fiat Barchetta, the Nissan Figaro, the Mazda MX-5, and the Lancia Thesis—these are all re-issues or reminiscences of models that once existed or could have existed. The term “simulacrum” coined by the philosopher Jean Baudrillard for phenomena which are copies of an original that never existed, applies above all to the Japanese and American models. This development, which started in the early 1990s, continued into the early 2000s; during these decades, almost all brands launched models that related formally The retro look from 2004—the VW New Beetle by Jay Mays and Freeman Thomas

59

Phenography of the Automotive Form

to one or several models of the 1950s and 1960s. These models included the Jaguar MK 2, the Mercedes 300 SL, the Ford Mustang and the GT 40, the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Challenger, and the Citroën C5.

Hypersemantics, Superimposed Drawing (From 2000) It is possible to consider the principles of hypersemantics and superimposed drawing as reinforcement and development of this retro-design. In this process, existing designs from past decades were checked for conspicuous characteristics and special details, and these details were then used as originals for superimposed drawings to give the brand a contour. Wheel rims, radiator grilles, beading, side lines, tail lights—design elements that once were significant for a brand now form the core of the new. In addition to the surface design, an aspect of the overall appearance gains in importance—the exaggeration of proportions. The size of wheels, the distance of the wheels to the wheel arches, the height of the waist line and, correspondingly, the height of the greenhouse, lead to deliberate distortions which often come across as enlargements of toy models. The look of shortened, “chopped” greenhouses on top of very hefty car bodies especially gives the impression of an individualistic driving machine that is enclosed to the outside and often, with its headlight design, evokes notions of a beast of prey. The car is no longer an open component of public space, but a reinforced capsule in an inhospitable urban environment that has become hostile. While this phenography is primarily typical of SUVs and sports cars as well as, increasingly, mid-range models, there is a parallel tendency towards colorful, friendly cars that attempt to convey fun and urbanity using a combination of colors and materials. Here too, the guiding images seem to stem from the self-assembly toy cars of childhood. It is striking that until this current year of 2016, with very few exceptions Between the “evil eye” from animated movies and a life size toy car—Chevrolet Camaro new edition from 2006

60

and tentative attempts, electromobility has not yet created its own design, and most electric vehicles drive along on the coattails of a petrol car. Giving up the internal combustion engine will bring about a divorce from the traditional image of the motor car; that is anticipated by most people. But to follow through with this process, and thereby give up the idea of the autonomous steering vehicle that has been with us for over one hundred years, is bound to take quite a while.

61

62

Automotive Designers A–Z The Borgward styling department, around 1953

63

A Hermann Ahrens 1904–1995 Horch Mercedes-Benz MB 540 Autobahnkurier MB 500 K MB 300 “Adenauer” MB 190 SL (1955) MB LKW “Neue Generation”

Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni 1916–2003 Touring Alfa Romeo Maserati 3500 GT Aston Martin DB 4 Lamborghini 350 GT

Ahrens was working in auto body design at Horch when, in 1932, he was poached by Daimler-Benz in order to give the brand a more modern, more elegant appearance. Its rear-engine type 130 from 1934 was not yet convincing but, with the streamline sedan types 320/540 K Special Roadster from 1937 and the MB 500 K, Ahrens produced formative designs. After the war, he designed the MB 300 Adenauer (1954–1960) and the 190 SL (1955) together with Friedrich Geiger. From the middle of the 1950s he was responsible for the design of com-

mercial vehicles at Mercedes-Benz, initially the forward-control truck LKW LP 315, also referred as cab-over-engine truck, the O 321 omnibus and the type L/O 319 minibus. This meant that in the 1950s, Daimler-Benz was one of the first manufacturers to use design criteria for commercial vehicles too to support a brand image. The fronts of the trucks and buses featured clear references to the 300 SL and 190 SL sports models. From 1973, Ahrens also contributed to the design of the “new generation” trucks.

MB 540 Autobahnkurier, 1937

Prototype of a “small Mercedes,” 1957

After completing his studies at the Milan Polytechnic, in 1940 Anderloni joined Carrozzeria Touring, which had been founded by his father. His first designs included the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS coupe and the Villa d’Este Coupe. Following the death of his father in 1949, Anderloni became responsible for both design and auto body development at Touring. His most important designs, which

contributed to the image of modern Italian automotive design, were created between 1950 and 1965—the Ferrari 166 S, the Lancia Flaminia GT, the Maserati 3500, the Hudson Italia, the Aston Martin DB4 and DB5, the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint, and the 2000 Touring Spider and Lamborghini 350 GTV. Following the closure of Touring in 1966, Anderloni worked as a design consultant for Alfa Romeo.

Lancia Flaminia Cabriolet, 1959

64

A Anderson had been designer in the Oldsmobile Studio at GM since 1936 until, in 1950, he was headhunted by George W. Mason, the president of Nash Motors, and asked to build up a design department at Nash. Prior to that date, the company had worked exclusively with external designers. Anderson retained this practice. He won Battista Pininfarina for some projects, even though the Pininfarina designs produced were, in the main, by Anderson himself. Between 1950 and 1955 he retained Helene Rother, who was considered a specialist in interior design. The famous Nash Metropolitan was the work of William Flajole, the Hudsons of 1956–57 that of Richard Arbib. Following the merger of Nash and Hudson to form American Motors in 1954, the respective studios were amalgamated after a short period. AMC suffered from a chronic shortage

of cash, which is why all designs were governed by the principle of minimal tooling costs. Until his departure in 1961, Anderson was deemed to be responsible for the much praised Rambler American line.

Jean Andreau was a French constructor who had been experimenting with streamline designs since the late 1920s and who, in the 1930s, became well known for his designs for Peugeot (the 402), Delage, and

Hispano-Suiza. He also designed the shape of the Thunderbolt record vehicle by George Eyston in 1938. During and after World War Two he worked on the small front-driven Mathis 333 and 666 cars.

Edmund A. Anderson 1906–1989 GM Nash AMC Rambler American

Nash Rambler, 1953

AMC American, 1961

Jean Andreau 1890–1953 Own studio Peugeot Delage Hispano-Suiza Mathis Peugeot 402 Mathis 333

Peugeot 402, 1937

Mathis 333, 1951

65

A Richard Arbib 1917–1995 GM Packard Hudson Own studio Packard Pan American 1952 Hudson V-Line 1955 Astra Gnome Ford FX Atmos

L. David Ash 1921–1991 Ford Lincoln Mercury Ford Victoria Skyliner 1955 Lincoln Continental Mark II Ford Taunus 1961 Ford Mustang 1965 Lincoln Continental Mark III

Arbib studied at the Pratt Institute in New York City. In 1939 he started as a designer at GM. After the war, he went to Henney Motor Company, a manufacturer of special bodywork and the auto body supplier to Packard. Between 1951 and 1954, Arbib designed commercial Packard vehicles. In 1952, he received the contract for the Pan American show car by Packard, which was exhibited at the International Motor Sports Show in New York City. The Pan American won the prize for best design. Arbib became self-employed and worked as a freelance designer for GM, International Nickel,

Republic Aviation, Simca, Swank Jewelry, Tidewater Oil, Union Pacific and US Rubber. In 1955, American Motors commissioned him with the design for the senior Hudson line, which became known as the Hudson “V-Line.” In 1956, he designed a space-mobile called Astra-Gnome, which made the cover of Newsweek magazine. He had already collaborated on the Ford FX Atmos. Arbib was an all-round designer who, in the late 1950s, was very successful with the design of watches and also with designs for the Century Boat Company.

Hudson V-Line, 1955

Ford FX Atmos, 1954

Ash began at Ford and was one of the most versatile designers for the corporation on both sides of the Atlantic. He worked in almost every studio of the Ford styling division, in the 1950s on the Edsel, the Ford Thunderbird and on various Lincolns (Continental Mark II–Mark V). In 1959/60, he moved to Ford of Europe in Co-

logne and designed the dashboard of the Ford Taunus, at the time an innovative model. Back in Dearborn he designed the Lincoln Presidential Limousine and, with John Najjar and Joe Oros, worked on the Ford Mustang project. One of his last designs was the Lincoln Continental Mark III of the 1970s.

Lincoln Continental Mark II, 1956

66

A From 1953, Axe underwent training to become a technical draftsman at Rootes. He started as a stylist with the company in 1957 and, in 1967, became Head of Design. After Chrysler acquired the company in 1967, Axe became Design Director for Chrysler Europe in 1970. In the mid-1970s he worked for Chrysler at Detroit. In 1982, Axe became Head of Design at British

Leyland, succeeding David Bache. In 1991, he started his own company, Design Research Associates (DRA), which in 1999 was acquired by Arup. Axe’s well-known designs include the Sunbeam Rapier, the Hillman Avenger, the Simca/Chrysler 1307, the Chrysler 180, and the Horizon for British Leyland, and the Austin Montego and Rover 800.

Roy Axe 1937–2010 Rootes Chrysler British Leyland Hillman Avenger Sunbeam Rapier Chrysler 1307 Rover 800

Sunbeam Rapier, 1969

Bache started in auto body development at Austin in 1948, before changing over to Rover’s styling department in 1954. The first car for which he had a major impact on the design was the Rover P5 launched in 1958. In 1962 the P5 was given a facelift, resulting in the four-door coupe version, which today is seen as the classic Rover. Bache completed his best-known designs in the 1960s and 1970s. The Rover P6, launched in 1964, became the first “Car of the Year.” In addition to various Land Rover auto body revamps, Bache, together with Charles Spencer “Spen” King, started—from

1968—on the design of a four-wheel drive “Road Rover.” This became the Range Rover and, as the predecessor of the SUV, developed from a functional two-door version to a city cruiser and luxuriously appointed vehicle of the well-to-do. Inspired by Pininfarina’s “BMC 1600 Aerodinamica” Study and the lines of the Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona, Bache designed the successor of the P5 and P6, the Rover SD1, in the early 1970s. In 1977, the SD1 also became “Car of the Year.” In 1975, as a consequence of the merger of almost all British makes to become the British Leyland Motor

David Bache 1925–1994 Rover British Leyland DBA Rover P5 Rover P6 Land Rover S 2 + 3 Range Rover Rover SD1/3500 Austin Metro

Rover P6 2000, 1964

67

B David Bache Continued Rover British Leyland DBA

Corporation, Bache was appointed Director of Design. He created a large Rover (the P8) and a sports car with middle-sized engine (P6 BS), neither of which made it into production because of Jaguar’s resistance. At the end of the 1970s, the successor of the

Mini was created, the Austin Metro, and various small car models of which Bache oversaw the design process. In 1981, when Leyland’s demise could no longer be prevented, David Bache formed the David Bache Associates design practice (DBA).

Rover P5 Rover P6 Land Rover S 2 + 3 Range Rover Rover SD1/3500 Austin Metro

Range Rover 1, 1969

Uwe Bahnsen 1930–2013 Ford Ford Taunus P3 Ford Capri 1–3 Ford Escort 1–3 Ford Taunus “Knudsen” Ford Scorpio

After an apprenticeship in window dressing and a subsequent fine arts course at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts, Bahnsen worked as a set designer and illustrator in the film and advertising industries before he joined Ford Cologne in 1958. He left his first traces as a designer on the Taunus P3/17M from 1961, the “Line of Reason.” This design is often credited to Bahnsen alone, although it was created when Wes Dahlberg was still in charge before he moved to Lincoln

Ford Capri 1, 1969

68

in Detroit. After that, Bahnsen worked as Head of Design on the Capri 1, which was a British/German design, and managed the design for the Taunus TC Knudsen (1970), the Capri II and III, the Escort MK3 (1980), the Sierra (1982), through to the Scorpio I (1985). In 1986, Bahnsen moved from Cologne to near Vevey in Switzerland, where he was appointed Director of the Art Center College of Design, the European branch of the parent institution in Pasadena.

B Bangle studied fine art and then automotive design at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design. His first appointment was in 1981 at the Opel Styling Center, where he worked as interior designer. In 1985, he joined the Fiat Centro Stile. There he designed the Fiat coupe, which was contentious because of its shape but instantly made his name. In 1992, Bangle was

appointed director of the Centro Stile. In the same year, he moved to BMW America and then to BMW Munich. There he remained as Group Director of Design until 2009. His successor was Adrian van Hooydonk, who had been Head of Design until then. Bangle gave BMW, and the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, a design that was unmistakable but also hotly debated.

Fiat Coupe, 1994

BMW Z4, 2010

Chris Bangle 1956 Opel Fiat BMW CBA Fiat Coupe BMW Z3, Z4 BMW 1–7 Series, 1994–2009

BMW 7 Series, 2001

After his military service, Barbaz worked for Ford from 1945. One of his first tasks included designs for the 1949 Lincoln Continental and the 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan, the presidential state car. Barbaz moved to Gil Spear’s Advanced Studio and, at the beginning of the 1950s, designed the XL-500 Dream Car. Under Roy Brown,

he was put in charge of the styling for the 1958 Ford Edsel. From the project code-named “Quicksilver” for the 1959/60 model year, one of the most successful ever Ford models emerged; since 1935, this was the second time that Ford managed to overshadow its eternal competitor, Chevrolet. George Barbaz retired in 1981.

Lincoln XL-500, 1953

’59 Ford, 1959

George Barbaz 1920 (?) Ford Lincoln Lincoln Continental Ford XL-500 Ford 1959

69

B Robert Barthaud (?) Renault Renault Dauphine, R8

Johannes Beeskow 1911–2005 Erdmann & Rossi Deutsch Rometsch Karmann

Barthaud was an engineer and auto body developer at Renault from 1949 through to the 1960s. Together with Jacques Ousset, he designed the Renault Dauphine in 1951 and then the follow-up model, the R8. It must be said, however, that the R8 also incorporates the ideas of Philippe Charbonneaux.

In 1925, at the age of fifteen, Beeskow started an apprenticeship at the Josef Neuss auto body builder in Berlin. In parallel, he attended evening classes at the Berlin auto body training institute. While still an apprentice, he was awarded the State prize by the German Chamber of Commerce for his 10/40 PS Opel. He proceeded to work for Neuss as a conceptual designer in the construction department. In 1933, the local competitor, Erdmann & Rossi, took over the company and Beeskow became Head of Construction and Chief Designer. In 1949, Erdmann & Rossi had to cease trading. In the same year, Beeskow designed a cabriolet based on the “Buckel-Taunus” for the Karl Deutsch company in Cologne. In 1952, he joined Fritz Rometsch, whom he knew

Renault Dauphine, 1952

from their time at Erdmann & Rossi. While there, Beeskow developed his best-known designs—a sports coupe and a cabriolet based on the VW Beetle. These designs were awarded the “Grand Premier Prix” at the Geneva Motor Show in 1954 and 1955; a total of 585 units were built. Beeskow had presented a similar design as early as 1951 with the Goliath 1100 (coupe and cabriolet in aluminium). In 1953, Beeskow returned to Deutsch in Cologne and designed cabriolet conversions. In 1956 he joined Karmann as Head of Technical Development. The Karmann Ghia, a few BMW coupes, and the Opel Diplomat V8 coupe were made there. He retired in 1976, so ending the professional career of one of the most distinguished German automobile designers of the early years.

Goliath 1100 Sportcoupe, 1951

Horch, 1940

70

Rometsch VW Cabriolet, 1954

B Bel Geddes studied art at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. His first commissions were for stage design in Los Angeles and, in 1918, he was given the job of stage designer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1925, Bel Geddes went to Los Angeles and designed stage sets for Hollywood films and theater plays. His second career as industrial designer started in 1927. From 1928, Bel Geddes acted as design consultant to the automobile manufacturer, Graham-Paige, but the Great Depression prevented the implementation of the designs. The model for “Airliner Number 4” was created in 1929. This was an amphibian aircraft with several decks, an orchestra auditorium, a sports hall, a solarium, and hangars for two smaller water planes.

For the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Bel Geddes designed the huge Futurama pavilion for General Motors. In it, spectators were meant to feel transported to the year 1960. They could see thousands of model cars driving, via remote control, through a model town of the future. Bel Geddes was one of the founders of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

Giovanni Bertone founded his wheelwright business in 1912, but it took until 1921 before the body workshop received its first order for an automobile body. Bertone’s acquaintance with Vicenzo Lancia opened the doors to the automotive industry, especially to Fiat. In the 1930s, Bertone, together with about fifty employees, built some streamline coupes for racing purposes, although they also built commercial vehicle bodies. In 1933, Giovanni Bertone’s son Giuseppe,

nicknamed “Nuccio,” started his career in his father’s company, which he took over in 1950. Following the end of the war, Nuccio Bertone took part in motor races and built some special auto bodies for Fiat cars that had been tuned up by Stanguellini. At the beginning of the 1950s, a small series based on the MG and the order for the Arnolt-Bristol secured survival for Bertone. In 1955, Bertone succeeded in moving to the top of the styling studios when he designed the

Norman Bel Geddes 1893–1953 Own studio Futurama

Futurama Pavilion, 1939

Carrozzeria Bertone 1912–2014

Giuseppe Bertone 1914–1997 Fiat Lancia Alfa Romeo BMW Citroën Lamborghini Volvo

Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva, 1954

71

B Carrozzeria Bertone Giuseppe Bertone Continued

Fiat Lancia Alfa Romeo BMW Citroën Lamborghini Volvo

Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (BAT) prototypes for Alfa Romeo and a world record vehicle for Abarth. But it was the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint—that Bertone launched in 1954 and which, with 60,000 units produced, became a long-term success—that established the company as carrozzeria and studio. Nuccio Bertone recognized at an early stage that, for large manufacturers, the serial production of auto bodies would ensure the success of the company. The designs by chief designer Franco Scaglione secured international recognition for Bertone, which resulted in the design and production of more and more models—the NSU Sport Prinz, the Maserati 3500, the Simca 1000 Sport, the BMW 2300 CS, plus regular orders from Alfa Romeo and Fiat. By the end of the 1960s, Bertone had produced 31,000 units and, in addition to Pininfarina and Ghia, had become one of the most important suppliers to the European automotive industry. The range included small sports cars such as

the Fiat 850 Spider and Simca 1200 S, but also luxury GTs such as the Fiat Dino coupe, Alfa Romeo Montreal and various Lamborghinis. By now, the Bertone design was mostly determined by Giorgio Giugiaro, who had succeeded Scaglione in 1960 and who remained until 1965. He was succeeded in turn by Marcello Gandini. With the Alfa Romeo Carabo first presented in 1968, Gandini established a new design trend, the wedge shape. Many of Bertone’s studies and serial vehicles adopted the wedge profile (Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Urracco, Lamborghini Countach) in contrast to Pininfarina’s rather soft and flowing forms. The oil crisis of 1973 limited the development of show cars; the company now mainly designed and produced medium-sized serial vehicles for Volvo and Citroën, which had become new customers. From 1975, Bertone worked for Citroën in addition to the in-house design department. In 1982, the Fiat X1/9 was produced as the Bertone X1/9. Opel commissioned

Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint, 1955

Fiat 850 Spider, 1965

72

Alfa Romeo Super Sprint, 1957

B Bertone to build the Kadett E cabriolet, the Astra F cabriolet and the Astra G coupes and cabriolets. In 1979, the Renault designer Marc Deschamps took Gandini’s place and remained until 1992. During that time, the recession and the resulting drop in sales began to hit the automotive industry and Bertone with equal force. In 2009, Bertone faced insurmountable difficulties. Initially the workshop buildings were sold to Fiat, with design intended to stay in the family. But in 2011, some exhibits from the company museum

Tundra Study for Volvo, 1980

had to be auctioned off and, in 2014, Bertone filed for bankruptcy. The right to use the name was transferred to a new design company, Bertone Design.

Alfa Romeo Carabo Study, 1968

Volvo 262C, 1980

Lancia Stratos, 1975

73

B Flaminio Bertoni 1903–1964 Macchi Citroën Citroën 7/11/15 CV Citroën 2 CV Citroën T.U.B. Citroën DS 19/21 Citroën Ami 6

Bertoni studied at the Technical University in Varese until 1918. He followed this up with an apprenticeship in joinery at the local auto body workshop, Carrozzeria Macchi, before he moved over to the auto body building department where he discovered his passion for the automobile. At the same time, he began to practice drawing and working in three dimensions. In 1922, Macchi’s management appointed him to head up the design department. When a group of French engineers visited Macchi, they saw Bertoni’s designs and invited him to broaden his knowledge in France. In 1925, Bertoni returned to Macchi and became Chief Draftsman. In 1929, he founded a project studio in Varese. In 1932, he moved to Paris and started his design work for Citroën. He designed his first project, the Traction Avant model, not on paper but directly in clay. Under the management of Pierre Boulanger, Bertoni started work

on the TPV, which later became the 2CV. In addition to Citroën, Bertoni worked for other clients; under Bertoni’s leadership, Carrozzeria Baroffio built an autobus based on the lowfloor principle. In 1939, he designed Citroën’s first delivery van according to the low-floor principle, the T.U.B. After the war, Bertoni returned his attention to working on the 2CV and the Voiture à Grande Diffusion (VGD, the later DS), which was to replace the Traction Avant. In 1948, his second major design was presented at the Paris Motor Show, the 2CV. But 1955 was the year that later brought Bertoni his worldwide fame—the Citroën DS 19 was launched. At that time, the design not only caused a stir, it was also very successful—a total of 12,000 pre-orders were received during the Motor Show alone. In 1961, Bertoni’s last design came on the market—the Citroën Ami 6. For Bertoni, this was his best design.

Citroën DS 19, 1955

Citroën Ami 6, 1961

74

B From 1959, Georg Bertram worked under Chief of Design, Wilhelm Hofmeister, together with Manfred Rennen and Giovanni Michelotti, on the so-called “new class,” the BMW 1500, and later on the BMW 2002. In addition, Bertram developed a small van called the City.

Louis Bionier was Chief of Design at Panhard from 1929 until the brand was taken over by Citroën in 1965. He was strongly committed to the streamline. After the very biomorphic designs

Georg Bertram (?) BMW

BMW 1500, 1963

up until the 1950s, the design for the type 24 CT from 1963 was extremely modern and influential. His last project was the Citroën-Panhard hybrid, the Dyane.

BMW “Neue Klasse” 1500, 2000, 2002

Louis Bionier 1898–1972 Panhard Dyna, Dynavia, 24 CT Citroën Dyane

Panhard Dyna Z, 1953

Panhard 24 CT, 1963

Blakeslee studied industrial design at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. After his graduation in 1960 he started work in Chrysler’s design department. Following the acquisition of Rootes and Simca-Talbot by Chrysler in 1976, Blakeslee became European Style Director for both brands, having succeeded Roy Axe. In this position, Blakeslee was particularly focused on building up the Talbot brand for the French market. In 1983, he moved to the PSA Group (Peugeot Citroën), joining the advanced design studio. In 1987 he became Chief of Design of the Centre de Creation Citroën. Under his leadership, the ZX,

Xantia, Saxo, Xsara, and C5 models were created. After a number of unexciting Citroëns, Blakeslee initiated a series of concept vehicles from 1990 that made the brand interesting again in terms of design. The avant-garde successor of the DS, the C6 has its origin in Blakeslee’s initiative. He retired in 1999.

Talbot Tagora, 1978

Citroën C6, 2005

Arthur Blakeslee 1935 Chrysler Citroën Talbot Tagora Citroën ZX Citroën Xantia Citroën C3 Pluriel Citroën C6

Citroën ZX, 1991

75

B John Polwhele Blatchley 1913–2008 Gurney Nutting Rolls-Royce Bentley

Carrozzeria Boano 1954–1957

Felice Mario Boano 1903–1989 Vignale Fiat Alfa Romeo Abarth Fiat 1100, 1300

The aircraft engineer and aerodynamics specialist began his career in 1935 as designer for the coachbuilder J. Gurney Nutting. After the previous Chief of Design, A.F. McNeil, left the company, Blatchley succeeded him. In 1940 he moved to Rolls-Royce, working at first in the aircraft engine department and then, from 1945, in the bodywork department. The styling

department was not formed until 1951 and, in 1955, he became Chief of Design. In this role he was responsible for all “standard” four-door sedans, from the Silver Dawn to the Silver Shadow and, at Bentley, for the T-Series, the R type and the S1 Park Ward Continentals, the Silver Cloud, and the Rolls-Royce Phantom V. He retired in 1969.

Bentley R Type Continental, 1955

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow l, 1967

After an apprenticeship at Stabilimenti Farina and a short period as employee at Pininfarina, in the 1930s Boano became self-employed as designer for companies such as Vignale and Ghia. After the sudden death of Giacinto Ghia in 1944, the management of Carrozzeria Ghia was transferred to Boano; later on he became a shareholder. In 1949, Boano appointed the engineer, Luigi Segre, as design partner. In 1953, he and Segre fell out and Boano proceeded to start a new company, Carrozzeria Boano. From 1954 he worked primarily for

Alfa Romeo and Abarth. In 1956, Ferrari was acquired as a client; Boano produced most of the auto bodies for the Ferrari 250 GT. In addition, a number of individual pieces on different chassis were produced. In 1955, he designed the Indianapolis concept car for Ford. In 1957, Boano became head of the newly founded Fiat Centro Stile. His son, Gian Paolo Boano, followed him to Fiat and took over the management of the design department from his father in 1959. Felice Mario Boano worked as design consultant for Fiat until 1966.

Fiat 1500, 1963

76

B Boneschi was founded as a coachbuilder in Milan in 1919. Following the death of its founder, Giovanni Boneschi, in 1946, the company specialized in special auto bodies and prototypes for Alfa Romeo and Lancia. Another key production line was advertising vehicles. In 1957, Boneschi produced a series of station wagons based on

the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Highlights of the company’s in-house developments were the designs by Rodolfo Bonetto for the Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ford models between 1960 and 1962. In 1962, the company was sold to the truck manufacturer, Savio, which belonged to the Fiat Group.

Lancia Flaminia Amalfi, 1962. Design Rodolfo Bonetto

OSCA 1600 GT, 1963. Design Rodolfo Bonetto

Bonetto was born in Milan and, following school, became a professional jazz drummer. He joined the world of design through his uncle, Felice Bonetto, a racing driver, for whom he first produced body designs and through whom he made the acquaintance of Pininfarina. Bonetto worked there from 1951 until about 1957. In 1958, he founded his own Studio Bonetto and designed electrical appliances, furniture, and dashboards

for the automotive supplier, Veglia. In cooperation with the Viotti, Vignale and Boneschi carrozzerie, several prototypes and special auto bodies were created between 1958 and 1964. From 1961 to 1965, Bonetto was Associate Professor for industrial design at the Ulm School of Design. From the 1970s, Bonetto’s studio worked on interior design for Fiat. After Bonetto’s death in 1991, his son Marco became president of the company.

Carrozzeria Boneschi 1919–1962 Alfa Romeo Lancia

Rodolfo Bonetto 1929–1991 Pininfarina Own studio

OSCA 1600 GT, 1962 and 1963

77

B Eugene Bordinat, Jr. 1920–1987 GM Ford Mercury Cougar Ford Mustang Ford Falcon

Bordinat joined General Motors in 1939 and was one of the designers working on the styling for the 1940 LaSalle and the 1942 Chevrolet. After war duties, he returned to GM in 1946. In 1947 he moved to Ford, where he passed through a number of styling departments. After George Walker became Vice President of Styling at Ford in 1955, he made his

closest colleagues leading chief designers. Bordinat was a long-serving designer at Ford, but did not advance to Chief of Design until Walker’s departure in 1961. In this position he was responsible for legendary Ford models such as the Cougar, Mustang, Falcon, Pinto, and Lincoln Town Car. Bordinat remained Vice President for Design until 1980.

Ford Mustang, 1965

Ford Falcon, 1963

Mercury Cougar, 1967

Michel Boué 1932–1971 Renault

Michel Boué joined Renault as a stylist and worked under Chief of Design Gaston Juchet. In 1968, he sketched a small car on the basis of the Renault 4, designed to be its successor.

This design was adopted almost unchanged, giving rise to the Renault 5. It became one of the most successful and long-lived models of the Renault brand. Boué died a few years later.

Boué with Clay Model of the R5

Renault R5, 1972

R5

78

B Bourke studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and, in 1935, started as designer for the Sears store in Roebuck. In 1940 he moved to Studebaker, and in 1944 to Raymond Loewy’s studio in South Bend where, together with Virgil Exner, he designed the famous post-war Studebaker. Following Exner’s dismissal from Raymond Loewy

Associates (RLA), Bourke took over his position. Between 1949 and 1955, Bourke, together with Randy Faurot and Holden “Bob” Koto, designed the Studebaker Commander of the Starliner series. Following the merger with Packard in 1955, the Loewy team was dissolved and Bourke became an independent designer in New York.

Robert E. Bourke 1916–1996 RLA Studebaker

Studebaker Commander, 1955

Bouvot studied industrial design in Lyon. His first employer was the motorcycle manufacturer, Terrot. During World War Two, Bouvot was active in the Resistance, was detained, and deported to Dachau in 1944, whence he was freed by the American troops. From 1946, he worked for the tractor manufacturer Labourier and, in his spare time, designed a sports coupe. This caught the eye of a Peugeot manager who offered Bouvot a job as a designer. Bouvot established the

Style Peugeot design department, which he managed from 1960 to 1980. His best-known design is the Peugeot 204 from 1964.

Boyer studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and joined Ford

Germany as designer in the middle of the 1960s. In 1978, he was headhunted by Claus Luthe and joined BMW. Boyer became head of one of BMW’s design studios and worked on the 3 Series BMW E36 and on the 7 Series E38. From 2002 until 2007 he was Head of External Design at BMW and responsible for many patent registrations.

BMW 3 Series E36, 1990

Paul Bouvot 1922–2000 Peugeot Peugeot 204

Peugeot 204, 1964

Boyke Boyer 1942 Ford BMW BMW E36, E38

79

B Paul Bracq 1928 Mercedes-Benz BMW Peugeot MB 600 MB 230 SL MB 250/280 MB R113 BMW “Turbo” Study BMW 5 Series

Bracq began his career in 1953 with the industrial designer Philippe Charbonneaux. In 1957, he moved to Mercedes-Benz as a graphic designer. At the end of the 1950s, Bracq, together with Bruno Sacco, who had joined Mercedes one year after Bracq, became Chief Stylist for all Mercedes’ passenger cars under Karl Wilfert, chief of car body development. This resulted in the Mercedes 600, the 230SL (nicknamed the Pagoda), the 250/280/300 widened radiator series, and finally the “small Benz,” the 113 series (also known as “/8”). After the Mercedes models of the 1950s and early 1960s, with their somewhat baroque and slightly American designs, the new line was characterized by uncluttered, smooth surfaces, a low waistline, and low-key chrome fittings. In 1967 Bracq moved to Brissoneau & Lotz. There he became the

designer responsible for the first TGV high-speed train. In parallel, Bracq designed a prototype based on a BMW 1600 Ti, and a coupe based on the Simca 1100. Both designs alerted BMW to him as a talented designer. The newly appointed BMW boss, Bob Lutz, at the time planned to establish a stand-alone design department, which was to produce studies, concepts, and serial vehicles independent of the auto body development department. In 1970, Bracq was appointed Design Director of BMW. His first design, the “Turbo” Study presented in 1973, won a prize as best concept car. At BMW, Bracq was responsible for the first 3 Series and 5 Series and the large coupes and sedans of the 6 Series and 7 Series. He left BMW in 1974 and became Chief of Interior Design at Peugeot. Bracq was considered a master of rendering.

MB 113 series, 1969

MB 230 SL “Pagoda,” 1963

BMW “Turbo” Study, 1970

80

B Brock started out in 1954 by studying transportation design at Pasadena Art Center College of Design. In 1957 he was recruited from there by GM. For a short period, under Harley Earl and his successor, Bill Mitchell, he worked on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, but left GM in 1960 in order to devote himself to racing and to photography.

Brock made the acquaintance of Carroll Shelby and, in 1963, designed the Cobra Daytona coupe. This led to orders from Japanese works teams and to the establishment of various own racing teams. Brock designed and produced primarily racing cars, but also hang gliders.

GM Cadet Study, 1960

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, 1963

In the early 1950s, Brovarone worked as illustrator for the Argentinian company that succeeded Cisitalia, PWO, and also designed auto bodies there. In 1952, he started as stylist with Pininfarina and, in the following decades, was responsible for some of the company’s classics, such as the Maserati A6 GCS, the Ferrari 375 MM Rossellini, the Alfa Romeo Superflow, and the Ferrari 400 Superfast. But in addition

to the supercars, Brovarone was also responsible for some medium-sized sedans, such as the Peugeot 504 and the Lancia Gamma coupe. From 1975 to 1988, he was Head of Design at Pininfarina; after that, he joined the studio of his former Pininfarina colleague, Leonardo Fioravanti, as a freelancer. Together with Fioravanti, he designed the Ferrari F40.

Peter Brock 1936 GM Own studio Shelby Daytona Coupe

Aldo Brovarone 1926 Pininfarina Maserati A6 GCS Alfa Romeo Superflow Ferrari 400 America Superfast Peugeot 504 Lancia Gamma Coupe Ferrari F40

Ferrari Superfast, 1963

Peugeot 504, 1968

81

B Gordon Buehrig 1904–1990 GM Auburn Duesenberg Cord RLA Ford Auburn Speedster Duesenberg J Speedster Cord 810 Studebaker Starliner Lincoln Continental Mark II

Jean Bugatti 1909–1939 Bugatti Type 41, Type 57 Atalante, Ventoux

Ricardo Burzi (?) Austin Austin Princess Austin Cambridge Austin A90 Riley Elf

82

Buehrig completed an apprenticeship as coachbuilder and studied at Bradley University in Peoria. In 1927 he joined the auto body builder, Dietrich, and later Packard. In 1929, he briefly worked in the newly formed design department of General Motors, but after a short while moved on to the manufacturer, Stutz, and from there to Duesenberg, where he became chief designer. The Auburn Speedster designed by Buehrig in 1935 was considered the first American sports car until the launch of the Chevrolet Corvette, and saved the brand from going under.

Buehrig’s masterpiece is considered to be the Cord 810/812 from 1935, the design of which was often copied and adapted. After a short spell with the auto body manufacturer, Budd, Buehrig moved to Raymond Loewy’s company RLA in 1947 and contributed to the work on the famous post-war Studebaker models. In 1950, he moved to Ford, where his most important design contribution was the 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II. In 1965, Buehrig left Ford and proceeded to teach design for a few years at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Cord 810 Sedan, 1935

Lincoln Continental Mark II, 1956

At the age of twenty-three, Jean Bugatti drew the shape for the Type 41 Royale, which his father, Ettore Bugatti, had engineered. This was followed by designs for the Type 57, Ventoux, Stelvio, and Atalante models. During a test drive in a Type 57 in 1939, Bugatti came off the road and was tragically killed in the accident.

The Argentinian-born Ricardo “Dick” Burzi was a comic strip artist for Italian newspapers and, in parallel, worked for Vincenzo Lancia as illustrator. Lancia recommended Burzi to Herbert Austin in England at the end of the 1920s. In 1938, Burzi became Head of Design in Longbridge on the strength of his design of the Model 16. At Austin, Burzi was responsible for nearly all vehicles until the 1950s, in other words, the A40, Atlantic, and A90 models. In 1961, a notchback ver-

Bugatti Ventoux, 1938

sion of the Morris Mini was produced to Burzi’s design, which was known within the British Motor Corporation as the Riley Elf.

Austin A90, 1949

C Robert Cadwallader became Chrysler’s Chief of Design after Ray Dietrich left in 1942. Owing to a dearth of design opportunities during the war, Cadwallader moved to General Motors in 1944. In 1947, he became Chief of Design at Kaiser-Frazer; his assistant there was Duncan McRae. At the closure of Kaiser in 1955, Cadwallader turned to design management and, in 1967, became Head of

Marketing at the furniture manufacturer Knoll.

Richard David Caleal was the son of Lebanese immigrants and an enthusiastic draftsman. He completed his training in window dressing and his designs attracted the attention of an Oldsmobile manager. Caleal joined the GM Styling Section as a trainee. Thereafter he worked for Hudson, REO, Packard, and Studebaker. In 1941, Caleal joined Raymond Loewy’s design team in South Bend. Owing to the animosity between the then Studebaker Chief of Design, Virgil Exner, and his former employer Loewy, there were many dismissals from Loewy’s Studebaker team in 1944, which also affected Caleal. He applied for a job with George Walker, who had been commissioned by Ford to produce a competing design for the 1949

model. Walker asked Caleal to produce a design which, with help from Holden Koto, he produced in clay at home on the kitchen table. This model was later reworked by Elwood Engel and Joe Oros, winning the internal competition. It became one of Ford’s most successful models. After his time at Ford, Caleal went on to work for Chrysler for a few years.

Pietro Castagnero was Chief Designer at Lancia from 1960 to about 1980 with the remit to give the brand its own independent image beyond the special sports bodies produced by Pininfarina, Bertone and Zagato. His first job was the Flavia model of 1960.

Castagnero’s best-known design is for the extremely well-engineered Lancia Fulvia of 1963. For the Beta series, which was worked on by four studios (Bertone, Pininfarina, Centro Stile Fiat, Centro Stile Lancia), Castagnero designed the shooting brake HPE.

Robert Cadwallader 1913–(?) Chrysler/DeSoto GM Kaiser-Frazer

Chrysler DeSoto, 1942

Richard D. Caleal 1912–2006 Studebaker RLA Ford Chrysler ’49 Ford

1949 Ford

Pietro Castagnero (?) Lancia Fulvia Flavia Beta HPE

Lancia Fulvia, 1965

83

C Ernesto Cattoni 1936 Alfa Romeo AR Giulia AR Alfasud

Philippe Charbonneaux 1917–1998 GM Own studio Renault Delahaye Renault R8 Renault R16 Renault R21

Cattoni, from Milan, studied at the Lausanne University of Arts and Design. From 1957 until 1980, he worked as designer in auto body development at Alfa Romeo, initially under Giuseppe Scarnati and later Ermanno Cressoni. In parallel, Cattoni worked as a cartoonist, and he also illustrated many children’s books.

Charbonneaux began his career in 1939 at the auto body builder, Figoni & Falaschi, in Paris. After the war, he tried to make a name for himself at the 1948 Paris Motor Show with designs for both Delahaye and Salmson. A colleague of Harley Earl hired him there for the GM Styling department. In 1949, Charbonneaux went to GM in Detroit for half a year in order to work on the “Project Opel,” which later on became the first Chevrolet Corvette. Disappointed by the fact that at GM he was only able to work on details, never on the whole project, and by the fact that his designs were used and developed further by others, he returned to Paris and opened his own design studio. With the design of furniture and electrical appliances, trucks, and cars, Charbonneaux became one of the most successful industrial designers in France.

Alfa Romeo Giulia, 1964

In 1960, he was approached by the Renault boss, Dreyfus, with a view to redesigning the Renault Dauphine. Within a few weeks, Charbonneaux developed ideas for the new Renault 8. He became Chief of Design of the new Style Renault department, with Gaston Juchet becoming his closest colleague. At the end of 1963, differences of opinion with the company management led to Charbonneaux’s departure. At this time, the revolutionary Renault 16, Europe’s first hatchback, was already at pre-production stage—a result of the collaboration between Charbonneaux and Juchet. In 1985, he returned to Renault to work on the design of the Renault 21. A passionate collector, Charbonneaux has compiled a collection of 150 cars in the Reims Automobile Museum founded by him in the same year.

Renault R8, 1960

Promotion car for Pathé, 1959

84

Renault 21, 1985

C At the end of the 1950s, Wayne Cherry studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His career as designer began in 1962 in GM’s Advanced Studio. His first projects involved work on the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Chevrolet Camaro. In 1965, Cherry moved to Vauxhall in England to reorganize the design department there. In 1970 he became Assistant Design Director and, in 1975, Director. The “droop snoot” fronts are a characteristic design feature of the new Vauxhalls during this period. In 1983, the design activities of Opel and Vauxhall were coordinated and Cherry became Chief of Design for the European GM brands. He developed the “Junior” concept, which led to the very successful Opel/Vauxhall Corsa; in addi-

tion, he oversaw the development of the new generation of Vectra, Astra, Omega, and Calibra cars between 1986 and 1996. After his years in Europe, Cherry returned to Detroit in 1991 and, one year later, became the fourth Vice President of Design at GM. In the following years he changed the structure of GM Design. From the twenty-seven separate studios, he formed eight brand design studios and one GM Brand Center. Cherry was responsible for the new design and brand image of nearly all GM marques, in particular for the angular design of the Cadillac, Hummer, and Pontiac, which was presented with a series of show and concept cars—a GM tradition which had been neglected in the previous years. Cherry retired in 2004.

Wayne Cherry 1937 GM Vauxhall/Opel Opel Monza Opel Manta 2 Cadillac Hummer Pontiac

Vauxhall Design Studio, 1972

Vauxhall “droop snoot,” 1975

Pontiac Aztec, 2004

Opel Corsa A, 1982

85

C Sergio Coggiola 1930–1991 Ghia Own studio

Sergio Coggiola’s first post, from 1952, was at Carrozzeria Ghia, where he managed the enlargement of the model to 1:1 and the subsequent build of the Chrysler prototypes. In 1966, Coggiola founded his own inde-

pendent studio. In 1969 he began to cooperate with Saab, which led to the design of the Saab Sonett III. In the 1970s, he worked with Volvo (262C), Lancia, and Pontiac, and in the 1980s with Renault (Megane Study).

Saab Sonett III

Saab Sonett III, 1970

Luigi Colani 1928 Own studio Colani GT Experimental vehicles

Colani studied sculpting and painting at the Berlin College of Fine Arts from 1946; from 1952, he studied aerodynamics at the Sorbonne in Paris. After a short spell at the aircraft manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, in the late 1950s Colani turned his attention to automobile fiberglass and plastic bodies, and produced designs for Rometsch in Berlin and Deutsch & Bonnet in Paris. This was followed up with

Colani GT, 1960

Colani Hybrid Vehicle, 1970

86

many prototypes for sporty two-seaters, motorbikes, trucks, boats, and airplanes. Colani’s commercial success came primarily from the design of furniture, fixtures and fittings, and office machinery. His biomorphic— even bionic—style language was too advanced for the automobile design of the 1970s and 1980s; his influence, particularly on Asian designers, would not be felt until the 1990s.

C 1967, Conrad and his partners founded the Delta-Design studio for design and development in Stuttgart which, in the same year, presented the Delta mid-engined sports car in rigid form composite construction based on an NSU-TT chassis. Conrad lectured on industrial design at Pforzheim University.

Michael Conrad

The Belgian auto body builder founded his company in Brussels in the mid-1950s. Coune had good connections in Italy and became importer for Iso, and also the first European importer for Abarth. His craftsmen were mostly auto body builders from northern Italy; at times, Coune employed

twenty panel specialists. He specialized in modifying serial models to customer requirements, turning them into station wagons, shooting brakes, coupes and cabriolets, such as the MGB Berline, station wagons for BMW, Mercedes, and Peugeot, and a Volvo cabriolet based on the Amazon.

Jacques Coune

MGB Gemini Spyder, 1966

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Estate

Michael Conrad studied industrial design at the Ulm School of Design (HfG). In 1964, while still a student, he designed, together with Piero Manzoni and Henner Werner, the Autonova brand, which presented a GT model and the Autonova Fam van at the IAA (International Motor Show Germany). In

1940 Autonova Delta Design Autonova Fam Delta GT

Autonova Fam, 1965

Autonova GT, 1964

1924–2012 Carrosserie Coune

87

C Ermanno Cressoni 1939–2005 Alfa Romeo Fiat Alfa Romeo Alfetta Alfa Romeo Giulietta Alfa Romeo 33, 75, 145 Fiat Coupe Fiat Barchetta Fiat Bravo

Wesley P. Dahlberg 1918–(?) Ford Ford Taunus 17M P2 Ford Taunus 17M P3 Ford Anglia 101 Ford Falcon Ford Pinto

Cressoni had studied architecture and, in 1975, became Chief of Design at Alfa Romeo. He was responsible for the angular designs of the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Alfetta of 1977 and the Tipo 33. Following the acquisition of Alfa Romeo by Fiat in 1986, Cressoni became Chief of Design at Centro Stile

Fiat and there initiated important models for both brands, for Fiat in particular the coupe, the Barchetta, the Cinquecento, and the Bravo. In 1990, Centro Stile Alfa Romeo was founded. Cressoni had well-known designers working for him, such as Chris Bangle, Walter de Silva, and Andreas Zapatinas.

Alfa Romeo Alfetta, 1975

Alfa Romeo 33, 1980

Wesley P. Dahlberg, the son of Swedish immigrants, started as designer with Ford in the 1940s. In 1956, he became head of the newly founded Canadian, International and Tractor Styling Studio in Dearborn. There, Dahlberg had contributed to the Ford Taunus P2 and Ford Anglia, and he was a major contributor to the design of the first Ford Falcon, which was launched in 1959. In 1957/58 he went

to Europe to reorganize the design departments in Cologne and Dagenham for Ford. While there, he developed, together with studio manager Uwe Bahnsen, the “Monaco” Study on the P3/17M, resulting in the famous “line of reason.” In 1967, Dahlberg returned to Ford in Dearborn and oversaw both the development of the Ford Pinto and that of the Lincoln Continental Mark IV before he retired in 1973.

Ford Falcon Sedan, 1961

Taunus 17M Turnier, 1961

88

D “Damsels of Design” was the effective publicity label of the first women-only design department at GM established by Harley Earl around 1955/56. The designers Suzanne Vanderbilt, Marjorie Ford, Ruth Glennie, Sandra Longyear, Peggy Sauer, and Jeanette Linder had almost all studied design at the Pratt Institute in New York, and worked in various GM studios on the interior design of automobiles, as well as on household appliances for the GM subsidiary Frigidaire. In 1958, they

produced a GM-internal exhibition, the “Feminine Auto Show.” Each of the six designers redesigned one or two serial models to reflect their ideas. The show had been planned for GM dealers in order to test trim versions, colors, and materials. Earl’s successor Bill Mitchell dissolved the department two years after taking office in 1961 because, in his opinion, cars should only be designed by men. Of the six designers, only Suzanne Vanderbilt stayed at GM.

Harley Earl and the “Damsels,” 1957

Publicity shot from the studio

Darrin completed training as an electrical engineer with the American company Westinghouse. He served as a reconnaissance pilot in France in World War One, and after the end of the war, he founded a regional airline in the USA, selling it in 1921 in order to return to Europe. In Paris he made the acquaintance of Thomas L. Hibbard, with whom he initially operated a dealership for the Belgian brand Minerva and, in 1923, opened

an auto body and styling studio for exclusive automobiles, Hibbard & Darrin. At times the studio employed two hundred staff. The company had developed a special method for working with particularly thin, lightweight aluminum. Darrin’s partner Hibbard moved to GM Design in 1930, prompting Darrin to take on an Argentinian investor in the company, and he proceeded to win numerous awards for his creations. But the decline of

Damsels of Design 1955–1961

GM

Howard Darrin 1897–1992 Hibbard & Darrin Packard Kaiser-Frazer Packard Clipper Kaiser Manhattan

Packard, 1940

89

D Howard Darrin Continued Hibbard & Darrin Packard Kaiser-Frazer Packard Clipper Kaiser Manhattan

individual automobile production in Europe could not be halted. In 1937, Darrin established a new company in Los Angeles, Darrin of Paris, which primarily provided Hollywood stars with bespoke automobiles. Many Darrin designs were based on Packard models, leading him to be awarded a consultancy contract with the manufacturer. Together with Werner Gubitz, the Chief of Design at Packard, Darrin developed the very successful Packard Clipper. During World War Two, he worked as a flying instructor. After the war he founded the Darrin Motor Car Company, which set out to produce a fiberglass sports car designed by

Kaiser Manhattan, 1952

Panhard-Dyna Roadster, 1953

90

him, which however never made it into serial production. Darrin became design consultant to the Kaiser-Frazer brand and designed almost all models between 1950 and 1952, including the legendary Kaiser Manhattan with the kink in the rear side window which was often copied (with the so-called “Hofmeister kink” at BMW; and also at Bertone). The Kaiser-Darrin sports car, however, was a fiasco; owing to its strategy on models, Kaiser hit difficult times and, from 1955, concentrated on commercial vehicles. In 1965, Darrin was elected one of the fifteen most influential designers of the twentieth century by Syracuse University.

D DeCausse started out as a coachbuilder at George Kellner’s famous Parisian carrosserie. He came to the attention of American company, Locomobile which, in 1914, offered deCausse the position of boss of the Locomobile special auto body department. In 1916, he designed the first dual-cowl phaeton for Locomobile involving separate compartments. The 1917 Locomobile Model 48 was the first car to be fully designed by a designer. As Locomobile declined, DeCausse left the company in 1921 and became self-employed. In 1923 he became design consultant to the

Franklin brand which, after protests from its Californian dealers, needed a new design line for its models. DeCausse designed the new Series 11 from 1925. The previous Chief of Design, John Wilkinson, left the company and DeCausse succeeded him. Franklin developed into a style-forming brand in the field of special auto bodies. During a visit to the 1926 European Motor Show, deCausse was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. He was operated on in Paris, but fell ill with pneumonia the following year. He died in 1928 at the age of forty-eight.

Franklin DeCausse 1879–1928 Locomobile Franklin

Locomobile 48, 1917

From 1931 Delaisse was Chief of Styling at Letourneur & Marchand in Paris and responsible for the elegant streamline coupes and special productions of the Talbot-Lago and Delahaye brands. After the demise of Letourneur, he went to Chapron and designed some Talbot-Lago models (the T14, T26), as well as the Delahaye 235 Chapron and the Renault Frégate Cabrio of 1953. In the 1950s he designed special bodies for the HGV manufacturer, Heuliez, and, in 1958, a cabriolet with front drive for Hotchkiss Grégoire.

Carlo Delaisse (?) Letourneur & Marchand Chapron Salmson 2300 S, 1953

Talbot-Lago T14 Delahaye 235 Salmson Hotchkiss Grégoire

Hotchkiss Grégoire Sport, 1958

91

D Marc Deschamps 1944 Ligier Peugeot Bertone Coggiola Heuliez Renault R5 Turbo Citroën XM

After completing his baccalaureate, Deschamps met the Chief of Design at Style Peugeot, Paul Bouvot, who trained him for two years. Thereafter, Deschamps moved to Ligier, where he stayed until the closure of automobile production in 1975. Robert Opron, who had joined Renault as Chief of Design, employed Deschamps in 1976. After a short spell at Style Peugeot, Deschamps joined Bertone as external

Peugeot designer and, in 1980, succeeded Marcello Gandini as Chief of Design. At the beginning of the 1990s, Deschamps worked for Sergio Coggiola, after whose death in 1992, Deschamps, together with former Coggiola colleagues and the French vehicle manufacturer, Heuliez, founded the Heuliez-Torino studio, which focused on the development of prototypes and show cars. This studio closed in 2001.

Citroën XM, 1988

Charles Deutsch 1911–1980 DB SERA Panhard CD Porsche 917-20

In 1938, Deutsch and René Bonnet founded the DB company which, after 1945, built road and racing vehicles with GRP bodies based on Panhard technology. Deutsch was a trained aerodynamics engineer and started work as a civil servant. In spite of their underpowered engines, the small, lightweight and aerodynamically sophisticated DBs regularly won the Le Mans race in their category. In 1961 Deutsch and Bonnet parted company. Deutsch went on to found the Sera company, which focused on aerodynamic research for automobiles, among other things. Numerous racing cars by Peu-

Panhard CD, 1963

92

geot, Panhard, and Matra were aerodynamically optimized with the help of Sera. Porsche asked Deutsch from the very beginning to optimize its Type 917; for the 24 Hours race at Le Mans in 1971, Sera built a separate body version, the Type 917-20 “Sau”, which was legendary for its paint finish.

Porsche 917-20, 1971

D After the war, Dienst trained as a technical draftsman at Adam Opel AG in Rüsselsheim. He followed this up with a course in graphic design and illustration at Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden, now RheinMain University of Applied Sciences. In 1955 he was appointed stylist at Auto Union/DKW in Düsseldorf and later at Audi in Ingolstadt. In 1958 he designed the DKW 1000 Sp, which closely resembles the first Ford

Thunderbird. His best-known designs include the DKW models Junior, F12 and F102. Dienst illustrated many titles of the Perry Rhodan series, which was very successful in Germany.

DKW F102, 1962

DKW 1000 Sp, 1958

Dietel completed his training as a metalworker and went on to study at the College for Automotive Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau until 1956. Thereafter, he enrolled at the Berlin-Weissensee Academy of Art to study product design. From 1961 to 1963, Dietel worked as conceptual designer at the Center for Development and Engineering for Vehicle Construction at Karl-Marx-Stadt, and thereaf-

ter as freelance industrial designer. At Sachsenring Automobilwerke, Dietel was responsible for the design of the Wartburg 353 and several Trabant successors which, however, never proceeded beyond the prototype stage. From 1967 to 1975 he taught at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design and thereafter at the Schneeberg Faculty of Applied Art, of which he became Director from 1986 to 1990.

Josef Dienst 1928 DKW, Auto-Union DKW 1000, DKW Junior, DKW F12, DKW F102

Karl Clauss Dietel 1934 Sachsenring Wartburg 353 Trabant successors

Wartburg 353, 1966

93

D Raymond H. Dietrich 1894–1980 LeBaron Lincoln Packard Pierce-Arrow Chrysler Checker

In 1913, Dietrich started his training as design draftsman at the Brewster auto body company. In 1919, Thomas L. Hibbard became his colleague. Both were unhappy with the position of designer, compared with the executing tradesmen and design engineers, and when they talked to the company management about it, they were both fired. In 1920, Dietrich and Hibbard started their own company—LeBaron, Carrossiers—at Columbus Circle in New York. LeBaron offered well-to-do customers nothing less than “automobile architecture.” That meant that LeBaron supplied the design and the construction drawings, and the customer was able to have his car built to these drawings at any auto body workshop of his choice. This made Dietrich and Hibbard the first automobile designers in the modern sense, whereby design and execution were separated. Immediately, they were successful. Hollywood stars including Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino and Florenz Ziegfeld ordered coachwork from LeBaron. When Dietrich and Hibbard started to promote their business in Europe in 1923, Hibbard

decided to stay in France and left Le­ Baron to found—together with Howard “Dutch” Darrin—the company Hibbard & Darrin, which was also successful right from the start. As a designer without a factory, Dietrich experienced difficulties; he cooperated with the Bridgeport Body Company. The new company was called LeBaron, Inc. Dietrich developed his own style in the designs, and with it a consistency not achieved at GM until years later. Edsel Ford helped Dietrich in 1925 to become independent of LeBaron, and to produce catalog designs especially for the luxury Ford brand, Lincoln. But Dietrich also worked for Packard, Chrysler Imperial, Franklin, and Pierce-Arrow. The company did not survive the Great Depression. In 1932, Walter P. Chrysler offered Dietrich a job as designer, but following Chrysler’s death in 1940, he lost his post. After that, Dietrich worked as independent designer and consultant for Checker, Lincoln and Mercury. In the early 1950s he designed the parade car for Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. In 1969, he retired from business.

Franklin Runabout, 1928

Checker Cab A2, 1949

94

Plymouth, 1939

D Dryden taught herself how to draw and only attended a few courses at an art academy in Pennsylvania. In 1909 she moved to New York to become a fashion designer. After she had initially been turned down by Vogue, she obtained the desired contract after a sudden change in management. Dryden worked for the journal from 1909 to 1922. In addition, she made a name for herself on Broadway as a costume designer. After the epoch-making Art Deco exhibition in Paris in 1925, Dryden turned to

product design. She designed bathroom fittings, lamps, and household items. In 1928, she was considered to be the best-paid female designer in American industry. From 1934, Dryden worked for Studebaker, primarily in interior design; she possibly also had a hand in the exterior design of the Studebaker President of 1936. Until 1940, Dryden worked for Raymond Loewy’s studio, RLA. After 1945, however, she did not match her earlier success.

Helen Dryden 1887–1972 Studebaker Studebaker President

Studebaker President, 1940

Harley Earl was not only one of the most successful automobile designers of the first half of the twentieth century, but also an early proponent of design management and the concept of branding through design. His work at General Motors from 1927 to 1958 was instrumental in elevating industrial design and automotive design to the

status they have today in the production process, where they are essential for success. Harley Earl was born in Hollywood, the son of auto body builder J.W. Earl. His father’s company, founded in 1889, was changed in 1908 into a company for auto bodies, having previously manufactured coachwork for horse-drawn coaches.

Harley Earl 1893–1969 General Motors Cadillac LaSalle 1927 Buick Y-Job 1939 Buick LeSabre 1950 Chevrolet Corvette Firebird I–III

Harley Earl at the Wheel of the LaSalle, 1927

95

E Harley Earl Continued General Motors Cadillac LaSalle 1927 Buick Y-Job 1939 Buick LeSabre 1950 Chevrolet Corvette Firebird I–III

Harley Earl started a course at Stanford University, but after a brief spell left to become designer in the family company. The company built special auto bodies for film stars and producers. In 1919, the Cadillac dealer Don Lee bought the company, and Earl became Chief of Styling. In 1922, Cadillac’s Director, Lawrence P. Fisher, visited Lee’s Cadillac dealership and the associated auto body workshop, and met Earl. At that time, Earl had already started working with clay as a material to produce scale models and 1:1 mock-ups, which hugely impressed Fisher, who commissioned Earl with the design of the 1927 Cadillac LaSalle coupe. The success brought Earl an invitation to Detroit, where the GM boss, Alfred P. Sloan, asked him to establish a design department, later to become the legendary Art & Colour Section. It was the first industrial design department in a large corporation which had corporate responsibility for the concept, design, and production

Buick Y-Job, 1939

Buick LeSabre, 1950

96

of automobiles. Up until then, designers had only been employed for small series and special orders. In addition, most auto bodies were manufactured by special suppliers, and also designed by them. Initially, Earl found it hard to be accepted by GM’s engineers and financial people. They looked down on the design department, and nicknamed it the “beauty parlor.” In 1937, the Art & Colour Section was renamed Styling Section, and Sloan promoted Earl to Vice President of GM. This meant that he had the last word on all decisions relating to new products. Sloan and Earl developed the concept of planned obsolescence, which involved an annual change of models, with small modifications, and they established a brand hierarchy with clear design characteristics within the GM corporation. In addition, Earl introduced studios for advanced design, which had the task of working on futuristic designs and mobility concepts. In 1939, under Earl’s leader-

E ship, GM Styling built the world’s first concept car, the Buick Y-Job. The car was meant to be a vision of the future of the automobile and test the reaction of customers to the new design with streamline and ponton elements. After the production of new models had come to a halt during the war years, the work was resumed from 1947 with a new design style. The GM designer Frank Hershey, inspired by a Lockheed jet, had designed the first rear fins for the 1948 Cadillac models. These fins became ever larger up until 1959, and determined the styling of American automobiles, as well as

other products. They became part of the American pop culture. In 1953, Earl presented the first American sports car, the Corvette, in response to the European imports. In 1956, he established a women-only design team, because he was sure that the decision to buy a car was greatly influenced by women on the basis of interior design qualities. In 1958, at the age of sixty-five, Earl retired. He did not agree with the design changes of 1959/60, which—with a sober, angular design language—heralded a new era in automotive design.

Firebird III, 1958

Enever started in 1927 in the trial department at MG in Abingdon. In 1938 he became leading engineer and, in 1954, finally head of development. In this position he was responsible

for the development of the MGA and MGB sports cars, including their body design (the roof part of the later MGB coupe was designed by Pininfarina).

Syd Enever 1906–1993 MG MGA MGB

MGA, 1960

MGB, 1965

97

E Elwood Engel 1917–1986 Ford Chrysler Ford Thunderbird ’55 Lincoln Continental ’61 Chrysler Turbine Car Dodge Charger

Starting in 1939, Elwood P. Engel learnt the job of stylist in the Orientation Studio of General Motors until, during World War Two, he served for four years in the US Army as a map draftsman. His friend Joe Oros recommended him to George Walker, who engaged Engel for his design studio. With Walker, Engel designed agricultural machinery, household items, and shoes. Walker’s studio had already designed components for Ford, and was given the opportunity to present a complete design for the 1949 model, which was designed by Dick Caleal, Engel and Oros, and went into production. When Walker became Chief of Design at Ford in 1955, Engel advanced to Studio Director for Lincoln and Mercury. Although Oros won the internal competition for the 1958 Thunderbird, Engel was given the opportunity to develop this design and turn it into a four-door car. This resulted in the famous 1961 Lincoln

Continental, for which he won the most important American design prize and which, incidentally, saved the Lincoln brand. When Walker retired in 1961, Eugene Bordinat became his successor. In November 1961, Engel succeeded Virgil Exner as Chrysler’s Chief of Design. As was customary at Ford, Engel merged the design and modeling departments in order to be able to better coordinate the design process. His first big project was the turbine car, which was created in cooperation with Bill Mashigan and Luigi Segre. Engel discontinued Exner’s sometimes over-ambitious design and introduced a less convoluted design that emphasized the lines. He was responsible for the Chrysler sedans, as well as muscle cars such as the Dodge Charger and Plymouth Barracuda. His contemporaries described Engel as a team player and promoter of talent. He retired in 1973. He was succeeded by Dick Macadam.

Lincoln Continental, 1961

Plymouth Barracuda, 1970

Dodge Charger, 1966

98

E Björn Envall

Envall’s career started in the early 1960s as assistant to Sixten Sason at Saab. In 1967 he joined Opel as designer, but returned in 1969 after Sason’s departure and took over the design department at Saab. Envall retired in 1990 following the acquisition of Saab by GM.

1942 Saab Opel Saab 99 Saab 900 Saab 99, 1970

The company, founded by Willy Erdmann in 1898, produced horse-drawn coaches. In 1906, the automobile salesman, Eduard Rossi, joined the company. Until then, the company had not offered bodywork for automobiles. In 1909, Rossi had a fatal accident and Erdmann withdrew from the company. It was taken over by its chief accountant, Friedrich Peters. During World War One, the company primarily manufactured post and ambulance vehicles, and did auto body repairs. It was not until the 1920s and 1930s that Erdmann & Rossi specialized in luxury bodywork for German and foreign automobile manufacturers; as the German dealership for Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Erdmann & Rossi was extremely well positioned for this. The

Chief of Design was Johannes Beeskow. During the company’s busiest years, it produced two to three auto bodies per week, employing about two hundred workers. Its customers included international representatives of high nobility. To expand its capacity, in 1933 the company acquired local competitor, Wagenfabrik Jos. Neuss, in Berlin-Halensee. When Peters died in 1937, his brother Richard Peters took over. Like many other auto body builders, Erdmann & Rossi lost influence and orders as the technology changed and unitized auto bodies came in; World War Two exacerbated matters. In 1949, the company produced its last auto body in own-production based on the chassis of a Maybach SW 42.

Erdmann & Rossi 1898–1949 Mercedes-Benz Maybach Horch Bentley

Mercedes-Benz 500K, 1935

Mercedes-Benz S680, 1928

99

E Virgil Exner Sr. 1909–1973 RLA Studebaker Chrysler Studebaker Starlight Chrysler 300 Chrysler-Ghia Prototypes

Exner studied art at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, but had to abandon his studies in 1928 owing to a lack of money. He worked as an advertising designer for Studebaker HGVs, and others. In 1936 Exner went to General Motors but, in 1940, moved on to Raymond Loewy’s RLA design studio, which at that time was responsible for all Studebaker designs. Working with Loewy proved difficult, because he declared all designs his own, without mentioning the names of the employed designers. Frustrated by this situation, Exner negotiated with Studebaker about establishing an inhouse design department which, in 1944, led to his dismissal by Loewy. From then on, both Loewy’s RLA studio and Studebaker styling worked on models for the post-war era. The 1947 Studebaker Starlight coupe, usually credited to Raymond Loewy, is most likely an Exner design. In 1949, following the departure of Raymond Dietrich and Robert Cadwallader from Chrysler, Exner joined the company’s Advanced Styling section. Exner discovered the Italian studios, above all Ghia, with whose boss, Luigi Segre, he main-

tained a close friendship. Many Chrysler/Ghia designs evolved from that cooperation, such as the Chrysler K-310 of 1952, the Chrysler d’Élegance and the DeSoto Adventurer. Up until Exner’s arrival, the Chrysler design had been heavily influenced by the design engineers, which meant that the brand lost ground to GM and Ford; following the example of GM, Exner became Vice President in 1957 to enable him to insist that design decisions were also put into practice. In the mid-1950s, the “fin wars” started between GM and Chrysler—the rear fins became larger and larger until they reached absurd and counterproductive dimensions. With its 300 series and the models with a long bonnet and short boot, Chrysler created the “forward look” between 1956 and 1957, and took a leading position in styling. Ford and GM found themselves aesthetically in a catch-up position; the design of the Chrysler 300 was also copied by Volvo and Rover. In 1956, Exner and his team received the gold medal from the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI). In 1956, Exner had a heart attack while working on the de-

Chrysler 300, 1957

Chrysler Ghia Special, 1952

100

Chrysler 300, 1955

F sign for the 1962 models. After that, one of the strangest cases of industrial espionage occurred—informers reported that GM wanted to reduce the size of its models for 1962. Worried about being left behind, the Chrysler management decided to rework the

models that had already been fully developed. When sales collapsed in 1961, the blame was put on Exner and he was dismissed, even though he had objected to the corrections. His successor was Elwood Engel.

In the 1950s through to the mid1960s, Carrozzeria Fantuzzi in Modena was an outstanding address for the construction of racing cars, very small series, and individual productions. Medardo Fantuzzi and his brother Gino acquired their first laurels with the construction of the Maserati A6 GCS; this was followed by the Maserati 350S and the Maserati 200S. Until 1966, Medardo Fantuzzi also worked for Ferrari (for example, the 250 Testa Rossa Spyder Fantuzzi of 1961). Later on there were orders from

De Tomaso, Scuderia Seranissima, AMS, and Techno. Fantuzzi had a virtually legendary reputation because his tradesmen were able to translate the design drawings directly from sketches to metal without first producing a model.

The brothers Giovanni and Battista Farina were auto body builders in Turin. Giovanni, the elder brother, started his company, Stabilimenti Farina, in 1911;

in 1930, Battista founded Carrozzeria Pinin Farina, which evolved into Europe’s most influential design studio.

Giovanni & Battista Farina

Feeley worked at Lagonda and, from 1934 to 1947, was responsible for the Types 6, 45 and Rapide V12. In 1947, Feeley and the rest of the Lagonda team became part of the David Brown Group, designing primarily for Aston Martin, among others the sports cars AM DB1 and DB2, but also the DBR 1–3 racing cars. When Aston Martin moved to Newport Pagnell in 1957 owing to the production of the completely new DB4 model, Feeley remained at the previous loca-

tion, Feltham. Even before that, David Brown had turned down his designs for the DB4 as too antiquated, which is why Touring was commissioned to carry out the design.

Frank Feeley

Medardo Fantuzzi 1906–1986 Carrozzeria Fantuzzi Maserati Ferrari ATS

Stabilimenti Farina Pinin Farina

(?) Lagonda Aston Martin LG 6, 45, Rapide AM DB1, DB2, DBR3

Aston Martin Lagonda 2.6, 1950

101

F Figoni & Falaschi 1935–1955 Delahaye Talbot-Lago Alfa Romeo Simca

Leonardo Fioravanti 1938 Pininfarina Ferrari Fiat Fioravanti Design

Joseph Figoni (originally Giuseppe) came to Paris as the son of Italian immigrants and, in 1908, began his apprenticeship as a coachbuilder. After World War One, he opened a car body workshop in Boulogne-sur-Seine. The technical and aesthetic quality of his work became well known, and Figoni found himself much in demand as a designer. In 1935, together with the businessman Ovidio Falaschi, he founded Figoni & Falaschi in Paris. Their first designs at the 1936 Motor Show established the company’s reputation worldwide. Figoni’s drop or teardrop form, combined with twoand three-colored paint finishes, gave their designs a classy and unusual appearance; the company was nick-

Talbot-Lago Teardrop Coupe, 1938

After studying at Turin Polytechnic, Fioravanti joined Pininfarina in 1964, where he remained for more than twenty years. He worked as designer and construction engineer on some of the milestones of the studio, such as the Aerodinamica BLMC, the Dino 206 GT, and the Ferrari 365 GTB/4

“Daytona.” His work for Ferrari (512 BB, 308 GTS) led to his position of Deputy General Manager. Having worked independently for a brief spell, Fioravanti became Director of Design at Fiat Centro Stile in 1989. Having left that position in 1991, he founded a design studio in Moncalieri.

Ferrari P6 Prototype, 1968

Ferrari 400i, 1979

102

named “Phoney & Flashy.” But Figoni, in addition to his eccentric designs, also knew something about aerodynamics, and he designed some record-breaking cars of the 1930s. After 1945, the era of individual productions was over. The designs for small series did not lead to the success hoped for. The company closed down in 1955.

F Fiore was born in England as Trevor Frost, but adopted his mother’s Italian name. At the beginning of the 1960s, he started to work for Fissore as a designer. He designed the TVR Trident, which was presented in 1965 (not produced), as well as additional TVR and Bond prototypes. He is best known for the Monteverdi types, which were

produced by Fissore. Many design elements of the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS prototype of 1970, which did not go into serial production, were later incorporated in the Renault Alpine A310. In the 1970s, Fiore moved to Coggiola. From 1980 to 1982, he was Chief of Design at Citroën and responsible for the Karin and Xenia concept cars.

Monteverdi Hai 450 SS, 1970

Citroën Karin Concept, 1980

In 1920, Carrozzeria Fissore was founded by four brothers as a wheelwright and repair business. From 1936, the company began to specialize in commercial and special bodywork. After 1950, Fissore tried to break into the car business and began with the design of small series based on large series technology for Fiat, drawn by Mario Revelli di Beaumont and Trevor Fiore among others. On the strength of a continuous flow of orders from small European manufacturers such as TVR, De Tomaso and OSCA, but also DKW Brasilia, Fissore in the 1960s grew to a respectable size among the Italian carrozzerie.

From 1969, the company focused on the Swiss Monteverdi cars; Monteverdi was looking for an auto body builder for its increasing range of models, and became the main shareholder at Fissore. When Monteverdi discontinued its car production in 1984, Fissore also went into liquidation.

Trevor Fiore (Frost) (?) Fissore Citroën TVR Monteverdi Citroën Xenia

Carrozzeria Fissore 1920–1984 Fiat OSCA DKW Brasilia De Tomaso Monteverdi

DKW Vemag-Fissore, 1965

Monteverdi 375L, 1969

103

F William Flajole 1915–1999 Chrysler Ford Own studio Nash Metropolitan Flajole Forerunner

Allan Flowers 1940 GM Nissan Buick Nissan NX

Carrosserie Franay 1903–1955 Bentley Delahaye Talbot-Lago

104

At the age of 15, Flajole won a Chrysler drawing competition which, after his studies, brought him a job at the company in 1933. In the following years, he worked for General Motors, Murray Body, and Ford. In 1939, he opened his studio for industrial design; Flajole designed, among other things, yachts, watches, household goods, and toys. Flajole responded to the growth of suburbs and the resulting increase in distances between work, living, and shops, with the idea of a small second car which, however, was rejected by the “big three,” GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Only George Mason, boss of Nash-Kelvinator, was convinced by Flajole’s idea of a small

American car. The NX1 was introduced in 1950, and was produced in England as the Nash Metropolitan for the American market from 1954 to 1961. In 1955, Flajole designed the Flajole Forerunner show car based on a Jaguar XK120, with a fiberglass body and some details that later on served as inspiration to other manufacturers.

Flowers completed a course at the Institute of Design at the IIT Chicago in 1964, and joined GM. As Assistant Chief Designer, he won awards for the design of the 1976 Buick Regal. In 1980 he joined the newly founded Nissan Design America as Chief Designer. There he designed the Pulsar NX, the NX coupe, and the first Nissan Altima. At Nissan Design, Flowers was also responsible for designs for external customers—for computers, measuring instruments, yachts, and audio components. In 2001, he founded

the Nissan Design Lab at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and there taught automotive design. Since 2006, he has been working as an independent consultant for clients including Kia and Hyundai.

In 1930, after completing his training at Carrosserie Binder, Marius Franay took over his father’s wheelwright business which had been founded in 1903. Franay quickly established a reputation for luxury automobiles, especially for auto bodies based on Bentley chassis. After World War Two, Franay attempted to continue his success of the 1930s, but the company

was closed in 1955 owing to a lack Carrosserie Franay of orders.

Nash Metropolitan, 1954

Nissan Pulsar NX, 1982

Delahaye 178 Coupe de Ville, 1949

F Frua’s career as designer began after his technical draftsman training at Fiat at the early age of 17, when he started as auxiliary draftsman at Stabilimenti Farina in Turin. Five years later, he was promoted to Chief of Design. In 1937, Frua opted for independence for the first time, but he did not attract any notable attention until after the war, with his designs for Maserati. In 1957, Ghia took over his company, making Frua Chief of Design of this established studio. Just one year later, Frua left the company and again opted to go it alone; the most successful period of his life as a designer began. Frua designed and built more than two hundred individual productions, prototypes, small and large series vehicles based on the undercarriages of nearly all large automotive manufacturers in Europe. These included Alfa Romeo, BMW, DB/Panhard, Fiat, Ford, Glas, Jaguar, Lancia, Maserati, MG, Lamborghini, Opel, OSCA, Peugeot, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Some of Frua’s designs were produced in cooperation with other designers, for example, the Volvo coupe P1800 S, which

he designed with Pelle Petterson. He worked on other orders with Giovanni Michelotti, who was a good friend and colleague from his time at Farina. Characteristic of many Frua designs are large window areas with conspicuous kinks and subdivisions. The Maserati Quattroporte of 1963, with its large front windscreen that reached up into the roof and the very slim pillars, anticipated the roof construction of the NSU Ro 80 and many other sedans of the 1960s and 1970s. Frua was a friend of angles and tricks that looked like American styling, but were not. In competition with the Italian studios for orders, Frua had found a niche in Germany in the 1950s, and worked for Borgward and Glas; at Glas, he was even able to establish a brand image within a few years. Frua’s speciality was the luxurious GT coupe, versions of which he created for Maserati, Glas, AC, Monteverdi, BMW and Opel. As design departments gained importance in the automotive manufacturing companies, orders to external designers such as Frua dried up. His last projects were extravagant one-off productions for wealthy clients.

Renault Floride, 1960

Volvo 1800 S, 1957

Glas V8 2600 GT, 1965

Maserati Mistral, 1966

Pietro Frua 1913–1983 Farina Ghia Frua Maserati Quattroporte 1 Maserati Mistral Borgward 100 Glas 1500, 2600 Renault Frégate Volvo 1800 S AC 428

105

F Richard Buckminster Fuller 1917–1983 Dymaxion Car

Thomas C. Gale 1943 Chrysler Dodge Ram Chrysler Prowler Dodge Viper

George A. Gallion 1938 GM Opel

Fuller is mostly known as a structural engineer and architect; he was also a lateral thinker however, and in the 1930s and 1940s he also designed means of transport. His “Dymaxion” concept focused on material- and energy-efficient construction methods. This approach also led to the Dymaxion car, which was created in three versions between 1933 and 1937. This was a streamlined vehicle with three wheels, rear steering, and rear drive. The Dymaxion car was very efficient regarding consumption, and achieved a good top speed, but turned out to be very difficult to steer and to be

highly susceptible to side winds; after an accident during the 1933 Chicago World Fair, the investors pulled out. Two Dymaxion cars were used as advertising vehicles up until the 1950s. In 2012, the architect Norman Foster had a replica of the Dymaxion car built.

As the son of a Buick engineer, Gale was fascinated by cars. He studied design and vehicle technology at Michigan State University and, after his exams in 1967, started a thirtythree-year career with the Chrysler Corporation. After numerous company crises during the 1970s and 1980s, Gale finally became Chief of Design in 1985. In 1987, he launched the Chrysler Portofino, and with it, signaled a turning point in the company’s design language. One of Gale’s best-known

designs is the Dodge Ram series and the Dodge Viper of 1992. Following the merger with Daimler in 2000, Gale left the company.

Gallion started his career with GM in the early 1960s and, in 1966, initially for only half a year, moved to the styling department at Opel. In 1969, he returned to Rüsselsheim and, under Chief of Design Chuck Jordan, devel-

oped the Opel Manta and the Opel CD Study. Other designs produced under his influence were the Kadett C, the Aero GT, the Monza and the Bitter CD. Gallion remained Deputy Chief of Design at Opel until 2002.

Opel CD, 1970

106

Dymaxion Car III, 1937

Dodge Viper, 1992

G Gallitzendörfer started his career in 1951 as designer with Rosenthal after completing training as a ceramicist and studying at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. In 1960, he became stylist at Ford Cologne and, in 1965, he moved to Mercedes-Benz. There he worked initially under Friedrich Geiger on the SL successor, the R107, and the first S-Class car. Both the T models of the W123 series and the station wagons of the W201 series, which was

mainly designed by Bruno Sacco, are attributed to Gallitzendörfer. In 1981, he became professor of automotive design in Pforzheim, and established the curriculum course in car design (now transportation design). Following his departure from Daimler-Benz at the beginning of the 1990s, Gallitzendörfer remained external consultant to the company until 2001. He also designed the Korean SsangYong Chairman, which is based on the W124 series.

Joseph Gallitzendörfer

developed by Ganz and which was explicitly advertised as a “Volkswagen”—a small car designed to Jaray’s streamline principles for a price of 1,600 Reichsmarks, unbeatable at the time. In 1933, Ganz was detained by the Gestapo on the basis of false accusations, and was not released until one year later. In the meantime, Ferdinand Porsche was commissioned to build the “KdF-Wagen” (strength through joy car) and the Standard company was forbidden to use the Volkswagen name. Ganz emigrated to Switzerland, where he tried to get a new small car/ people’s car concept off the ground. In 1949 he moved to France and, in 1951, to Australia. There he continued to work for some years for the GM subsidiary, Holden.

Josef Ganz

1931–2004 Ford Mercedes-Benz SsangYong MB R107 MB W123 MB W126 MB W201

Mercedes-Benz 350 SLC, 1972

Ganz was born in Budapest as the son of a German father and Hungarian mother. He studied mechanical engineering and, in parallel, worked as a journalist writing for a number of automobile journals. In these journals he promoted his idea of a small, everyday car for everybody, which he called “Volkswagen” (people’s car). After first attempts in the late 1920s, he produced his first Volkswagen for Adler in 1931. The model was called the “Maikäfer” (May beetle). At the beginning of the 1930s, Ganz worked as construction engineer and designer for BMW on the BMW 3/20 AM1 (Munich version) and for Mercedes-Benz on the Type 170 with rear engine. In 1933, the Standard company (Gutbrod) launched the Standard Superior, which had been

1898–1967 Adler BMW Standard

107

G Marcello Gandini 1938 Bertone Gandini Design Lamborghini Miura, Espada, Countach, Jarama, Urraco Maserati Khamsin, Quattroporte II, IV Fiat 132, X1/9 Lancia Stratos Alfa Romeo Montreal Citroën BX

Gandini began as a self-taught industrial, interior, and graphic designer. More or less by chance, he redesigned sports cars of acquaintances for competitive purposes. In 1963 he applied for a job with Bertone. Nuccio Bertone did not want to lose his then Chief of Design, Giugiaro, and did not employ Gandini even though he appreciated his work. Following Giugiaro’s departure from Bertone to Ghia in 1965, Gandini got his chance. In the following fifteen years, he produced an enormous number of milestones in automotive design that was only matched by his colleague and competitor of the same age, Giugiaro. Between 1965 and 1980, Gandini worked at Bertone for Citroën, De Tomaso, Ferrari, Fiat, Iso Rivolta, Lamborghini, Lancia, Maserati, Renault, and BMW. His first commission at Bertone was the Lamborghini Miura, even though that design is often attributed to Giugiaro. Gandini established the wedge shape (as did Giugiaro), the most important style characteristic in automotive design following the trapeze shape and the curved lines of the 1960s. The design element which is not attributed to anybody other than Gandini is that of the front-hinged scissor doors, which were first realised in 1968 on the Alfa Romeo Carabo

concept car. The first serial vehicle with these doors was the Lamborghini Countach, which had also been designed by Gandini. Gandini designs were not restricted to super sports cars for Maserati, Lamborghini, and other Italian manufacturers, however, he also worked on bread-and-butter cars such as the Fiat 132 of 1972 and the formally very similar first BMW 5 Series (since 1960, Bertone had repeatedly worked for BMW and, in 1967/68, made proposals for sedans and sporty GT models). Many of Gandini’s concept cars ultimately became serial production vehicles—the Tundra Concept for Volvo became the Citroën BX, and the Runabout Barchetta Study became the Fiat X1/9. In 1980 Gandini left Bertone and set himself up independently. The largest number of his commissions came from the De Tomaso/Maserati/Qvale consortium, but he also worked for Renault (HGVs) and Japanese manufacturers.

Alfa Romeo Carabo, 1968

Lancia Stratos, 1975

Citroën BX, 1982

108

Lamborghini Miura, 1966

G After his wheelwright training and his studies in vehicle construction, Geiger joined the special vehicle construction department at Daimler-Benz in 1933. His first major designs were the 500K and 540K models. After 1950, Geiger established the main styling department, of which he was the head until 1973. The MB 300 SL Gullwing coupe (1955), the W110/111 Fintail, the SL W108/109 Pagoda and its successor, the R107, were all created under his

influence. From 1957/58, Paul Bracq and Bruno Sacco worked under Geiger, and the latter became Geiger’s successor in 1977.

Mercedes 220 SE, 1961

Carrozzeria Ghia, which was founded in Turin in 1915, became one of the very big names in automotive design from 1950 until its acquisition by De Tomaso in 1969. Giacinto Ghia established the company, together with the metal construction family, Gariglio, under the name of Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio in Turin. In the 1930s, Ghia gained a reputation with lightweight auto bodies for sports and racing cars by Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Lancia. During World War Two, the company produced trailers and bicycles for the Army. In 1943, the buildings and production machinery of the automotive manufacturer were com-

pletely destroyed by a bomb attack; Giacinto Ghia died shortly thereafter from a heart attack. Ghia’s wife sold the company to two close employees, Giorgio Alberti and Felice Mario Boano. The latter employed the young designer, Luigi Segre, whose designs soon helped Ghia gain international recognition. The company’s success was also largely due to its partnership with Chrysler under their Chief of Design, Virgil Exner. Ghia became the advanced design studio for the American and European automotive industry—in addition to Chrysler, orders for designs and small series were placed by Ford, Renault, VW, Volvo,

Friedrich Geiger 1907–1996 Mercedes-Benz MB 300 SL MB W110 MB W108 MB R107

Carrozzeria Ghia 1915–1970 Alfa Romeo Fiat Chrysler Ford Volvo VW

Renault R8 Coupe Prototype, 1964

Ghia-Chrysler 300, 1952

VW Ghia Study, 1957

109

G Carrozzeria Ghia Continued Alfa Romeo Fiat Chrysler Ford Volvo VW

Giorgetto Giugiaro 1938 Bertone Ghia Italdesign Alfa Romeo Fiat Maserati BMW Iso De Tomaso Gordon-Keeble Audi VW Hyundai Kia SsangYong

110

and Fiat. Elements of the Ghia supersonic studies from the early 1950s were incorporated not only in exclusive, individual cars, but also in the Volvo coupe P1800 S. After Boano’s move to Centro Stile Fiat, Segre took over the company and engaged the best talent in automotive design: Pietro Frua, Giovanni Michelotti, Sergio Sartorelli, Giovanni Savonuzzi, Giorgio Giugiaro. Segre’s sudden death in 1963 destablized the company which,

in spite of some sensational designs, was sold several times in quick succession in the 1960s until it was taken over by Ford in 1970 and integrated in Ford’s worldwide network of design departments. Ford used the old Ghia logo and the name in Europe until the end of the 1990s as a label for its top trim models. Ghia was responsible for the design of the Ford Fiesta and the Ford Ka.

VW Karmann Ghia Study, 1964

FIAT 2300 Coupe, 1966

At the age of sixteen, Giugiaro attended evening classes for painting and technical drawing at a school in Turin. At the annual show organized by the school, Fiat’s Technical Director, Dante Giacosa, saw Giugiaro’s drawings and, in 1955, employed the seventeen year old in the department for experimental design. In 1959, at only twenty-one years of age, Giugiaro moved to Bertone and became Chief of Design. The designs of serial vehicles created by him or under his influence during that period include the BMW 3200 CS, the Maserati 5000 GT, the Alfa Romeo 2000 GT, the Iso Grifo, the Fiat 850 Spider and the Simca 1000 coupe. In 1965 Giugiaro left Bertone and joined the local competitor Ghia as head of the styling center and prototype department. While at Ghia, Giugiaro designed the Maserati Ghibli and the De Tomaso Mangusta, the Isuzu 117 coupe and the Iso Rivolta Fidia. In 1967 Giugiaro founded his

Studio Italy Styling, which worked for Ghia and also sought its own clients. One year later saw the start of Italdesign, the company managed jointly with the engineer Aldo Mantovani. The name of the company was a clear indication that its focus was not only on the classic styling of automobiles, but also on industrial design in the wider sense. The studio’s first large series model was the Alfa Romeo Alfasud, presented in 1971. At the same time, Giugiaro pursued the strategy of concept cars and his alternative designs for existing serial passenger cars. The number of spectacular designs at the beginning of the 1970s made him the best-known designer alongside Pininfarina and Bertone. The year 1970 saw the start of the cooperation with Volkswagen. Giugiaro designed the Golf 1, Passat, Scirocco and Audi 80 models. Giugiaro often combined the wedge shape, which was also cultivated by his colleague Gandini, with the con-

G ventional three-box concept or a fastback. From 1970, his studio, Italdesign, designed about two hundred serial production vehicles for nearly every manufacturer in the world—with the exception of the big American brands. These include small cars such as the Fiat Panda, numerous medium-sized sedans and sporty versions, but also luxury sedans and super sports cars such as the BMW M1. In the 1990s Italdesign won new customers among the Asian automotive manufacturers, especially in Korea and China. In the early 1980s, Giugiaro also fulfilled his

ambition to design other products with designs for the camera manufacturer, Nikon, and the watchmaker and measuring instrument manufacturer, Seiko. In addition, Italdesign produced concepts for railway trains, tractors, tires, handguns, and furniture. By 2010, Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, had acquired a 90 percent share in Italdesign. In 2015, Giugiaro left the company and Audi took complete control of Italdesign. At that time, Italdesign employed about a thousand members of staff.

VW Golf 1, 1973

Fiat Panda, 1980

Alfa Romeo Caimano Study, 1971

VW Cheetah Study, 1974

BMW M1, 1978

Maserati Quattroporte III, 1976

Alfa Romeo 159, 2006

111

G Albrecht von Goertz 1914–2006 RLA Goertz Design Studebaker Commander BMW 507, 503 Nissan Fairlady, Silvia Datsun 240Z

Mary Ellen Green Dohrs 1928 GM Sundberg-Ferar Buick Crosley

112

Von Goertz, the son of a German nobleman and a German-Jewish mother, started out with a banking apprenticeship in Hamburg and then worked in London. In 1936 von Goertz emigrated to the USA. In Los Angeles he worked in a factory for aircraft engines and, on the side, he built custom cars based on Ford chassis. His Paragon model was exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. From 1940 to the end of the war, von Goertz served in the US Army. After that, he settled in New York. By chance, Raymond Loewy saw the Paragon on the road, and proposed to train von Goertz as a designer with a view to future employment. Von Goertz studied design at the Pratt Institute and, in 1949, joined Loewy’s Studebaker studio in South Bend, Indiana. In 1953 he started his own design studio in New York. He made the acquaintance of the importer, Max Hoffman, who imported German sports cars to the USA and had suggested to BMW the idea of a

super sports car. This gave von Goertz the opportunity to design the BMW 507, which he presented in Munich in 1955. BMW immediately commissioned him with a second project, the BMW 503. Even though these designs did not result in commercial success for BMW, the two designs were von Goertz’s entry ticket to the world of blue-chip orders. In the early 1960s, he proceeded to work for the Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan/Datsun. In addition to designs for the Silvia coupe and the Fairlady of 1963/64, he designed the Yamaha/ Nissan 2000 GT prototype. The Toyota 2000 GT that evolved from this prototype was substantially revised by the Japanese designer, Satoru Nozaki, and can therefore not be unequivocally attributed to von Goertz; the same applies to the Datsun 240Z, for which von Goertz supplied initial design ideas in 1965, and which was largely designed in-house by Yoshihiko Matsuo.

BMW 503, 1955

BMW 507, 1955

Green studied design at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1950, she was the first female designer at GM and worked in the Buick studio. In 1953, Green moved to Sundberg-Ferar, a design company that had been founded by the former GM designers, Carl Sundberg and Montgomery Ferar, in 1934. Its automotive industry customers included the small vehicle manufacturer, Crosley, as well as

Packard. In 1955, Richard Teague commissioned her with the interior design of the Packard Caribbean.

Packard Carribean, 1955

G Gregorie started his professional career in 1927 as draftsman at the Elco Boat Works in New Jersey. One year later he joined the yacht design company, Cox & Stevens, in New York. In 1929, he became designer first at Brewster, the automobile body builder, then at General Motors. Owing to the redundancies forced on GM by the crisis, he returned to Cox & Stevens. In 1931, Gregorie became designer at Lincoln and he helped design the

Zephyr model. In 1935, Edsel Ford made him head of the Ford styling department, where he designed a number of Mercury models and the 1939 Lincoln Continental. After the design by George Walker’s team was selected for the 1949 Ford, Gregorie resigned from his post as the chief designer in 1946. He took to sailing using a boat he had designed himself and, after fifteen years, resumed his work as a yacht designer in the 1960s.

Lincoln Zephyr, 1935

Lincoln Continental Coupe, 1940

Grisinger’s first position as designer was with Chrysler in 1931. Some years later, he moved to Kaiser-Frazer/ Packard, where he rose to become Chief of Design. In 1953, he founded his own design studio. In 1955 he went to Ford, where he progressed to become head of the Lincoln/Mercury design studio in 1961. While at Ford, he also devised the “Stylerama” project, Ford’s response to the very

successful “Motorama” shows by GM. Grisinger was responsible for the design of all Lincolns from 1963 to 1973.

Gropius studied architecture and, in 1908, started to work in Peter Behrens’ practice, which not only designed buildings, but also products for AEG. In 1910, he founded his own architecture practice. In 1919, Gropius designed the concept for the State Bauhaus in Weimar, a design college that became the example for all modern design schools. In 1933, the Bauhaus was forced to close following pressure from the Nazi regime. Gropius was primarily an architect, but in 1927/28 he designed auto

bodies for two models of the Adler company, the Standard 6 and Standard 8. In 1935, Gropius emigrated first to England and then to the USA, where he continued to be successful.

Eugene Gregorie 1908–2002 Lincoln Mercury Ford Lincoln Zephyr 1935 Lincoln Continental 1939

Arnott Grisinger 1908–2002 Kaiser-Frazer Ford Lincoln Continental

Lincoln Continental Coupe, 1966

Walter Gropius 1883–1969 Adler Standard 6/8

Adler Standard 6, 1928

113

G Werner Gubitz 1899–1971 LeBaron Dietrich Packard

Gubitz emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1905. After the end of World War One, he started to design both individual productions, as well as serial production auto bodies for Fleetwood,

LeBaron Carrossiers, Dietrich, and the Ohio Body & Blower Co. In 1927 he joined Packard, and there designed almost all models until his departure in 1947.

Packard, 1938

Gurney Nutting coachbuilders 1917–1948 Bentley Rolls-Royce

Walter Häcker 1905–1989 Mercedes-Benz MB 170 MB 190 SL

114

In 1917, John Gurney Nutting, who had been successful as a building contractor, together with his partner, founded the coachbuilding company, J. Gurney Nutting & Co., which soon gained a good reputation owing to the designer A. F. McNeil. The auto bodies for Bentley in particular helped to boost Gurney Nutting’s reputation.

Häcker trained as a metalworker and proceeded to study mechanical engineering in Cologne. In 1926, he started his professional career at Deutsche Werke’s Wagenkörperfabrik (WaKö) in Berlin. There he met Hermann Ahrens. After the sale of WaKö to Ambi-Budd, Häcker remained in Berlin for some time before he followed Ahrens to Horch at Zwickau. In 1933, he moved to the auto body construction department of Daimler-Benz, working under Ahrens. One of his first tasks was the design and construction of the 170 model. After

At the beginning of the 1930s, their competitor James Young poached McNeil; the new Chief of Design at Gurney Nutting was John P. Blatchley. Later, McNeil returned to the position. In 1948, Gurney Nutting merged with James Young coachbuilders and focused primarily on bus bodywork. The company closed down in 1952.

the war, Häcker designed the 190 SL, which was launched in 1954, among other models. From 1955 to 1970, Häcker was head of the car construction department at Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz 190 SL, 1955

H Haynes’ first job was with Ford Europe, where he was Chief of Design and was largely responsible for the form of the Cortina Mark II of 1966. In 1967 he accepted an offer from British Leyland and proceeded to establish a new design department in Oxford. Haynes took his former Ford colleague, Harris Mann, with him. The Mini Clubman of 1969 was the first job completed for the new employer. The Morris Marina of 1971 was another design created under the aegis of Haynes. Dissatis-

fied with the conditions and responsibilities at BL, Haynes founded ElecTraction Ltd. in 1976, a company for electric vehicles.

Herlitz was the son of Swedish immigrants and, even at a young age, was an enthusiastic draftsman; at the age of thirteen, he sent drawings to Chrysler. After he had been told what training a designer should have, he studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York. Immediately after graduating in 1965, he was employed by Chrysler for the Plymouth Division. He designed the Barracuda SX show car, which anticipated the shape of the Plymouth Barracuda, which was presented in 1967. Later,

Herlitz took on the design of the 1970 Barracuda and the 1971 Plymouth GTX and Road Runner. In 1994, Herlitz was appointed Vice President of Chrysler Design.

Hershey’s first employer was Murphy Coachworks, where he worked under Frank Spring from 1927. In 1932, Harley Earl persuaded him to join GM, and asked him to design the 1933 Pontiac. In 1936, Hershey traveled to Opel and designed the first Opel Kapitän (built 1938). During the war, Hershey served in the Navy. His design for the legendary 1948 Cadillac with the first rear fins predestined him as successor to Harley Earl. However, in 1948 Hershey opted for independence, and then went to Packard in 1950 and to Ford in 1952. There, he designed many high-volume models,

Roy D. Haynes (?) Ford GB BMC/British Leyland Ford Cortina Mark II Mini Clubman Morris Marina

Mini Clubman, 1969

John Eric Herlitz 1942–2008 Plymouth Chrysler Plymouth Barracuda Plymouth Road Runner

Plymouth Barracuda, 1967

as well as the first Ford Thunderbird of 1955. Since Ford’s Chief of Design, George Walker, claimed to have produced the design, disputes arose between him and Hershey. Eventually Hershey moved to Kaiser Aluminum and established a design department there.

Frank Hershey 1907–1997 Murphy Coachbuilders GM Opel Ford Opel Kapitän 1938 Cadillac 1948 Ford Thunderbird 1955

Cadillac, 1948

115

H Ron Hickman 1932–2011 Ford Lotus Ford Anglia Lotus Elite Lotus Elan Lotus Europa

Wilhelm Hofmeister 1912–1978 BMW BMW 700 BMW 3200 CS BMW 1500 BMW 2000

Hickman was born in South Africa. In 1954, he moved to London with the aim of becoming an automobile designer. He was employed as a model maker by Ford in Dagenham. Just a few months later, he was involved in the design of the Ford Anglia 105 E. In 1957 he met the Lotus founder, Colin Chapman, who was looking for qualified staff for his new serial production vehicles. Hickman joined Lotus and, on the side, worked as furniture designer. The Lotus Elite was his first design job at Lotus—its styling was highly acclaimed, but financially it was a fiasco. His next design, the Lotus Elan

of 1962, brought worldwide recognition of the company and the designer. In 1967, Hickman and his design studio became independent. One of the most successful objects designed by him is the Workmate work bench, for which Black & Decker acquired the license in 1970.

Initially, Hofmeister worked for the long-standing BMW Chief of Design, Peter Szymanowski, before he participated in the design of the new modern line of BMW from 1957. After the near-crash of the company and the threatened takeover by Mercedes-Benz in 1958, Hofmeister worked with Bertone and Michelotti on new styling for BMW cars. The small BMW 700 (Michelotti), the new BMW 1500 class (Michelotti), and the BMW 3200 CS (Bertone) were

created under his management, and established the image of the brand as progressive and sporty. Hofmeister has given his name to the BMW design characteristic known as the “Hofmeister kink,” a typical feature of the rear side window which, however, had been introduced by Howard Darrin on the Kaiser Manhattan model of 1952 and later reappeared in some Bertone designs of the early 1960s. Hofmeister remained Chief of Design until 1970; his successor was Paul Bracq.

BMW 700, 1959

BMW 3200 CS, 1961

BMW 2000, 1966

116

Lotus Elan, 1962

H Holls studied industrial design at Michigan State University and, after his graduation in 1952, worked for GM. Harley Earl took Holls into the Cadillac studio, where he worked on the iconic 1959 Cadillacs with the bullet tail lights. In 1960, Holls was transferred to the Chevrolet studio and was involved in the development of the split-window Corvette. In 1961 he became Chief of Design for Buick and, in this position, largely influenced the design of the Buick Riviera of 1966.

Between 1966 and 1970 he headed up the design of the new Corvette and the first Camaro. In 1970, Holls went to Opel, initially as Chuck Jordan’s assistant, and one year later was promoted to Chief of Design. In 1986 Holls was appointed Director of Design at GM. He retired in 1991. Together with Michael Lamm, he authored the standard publication on American automotive design, A Century of Automotive Style, which was published in 1996.

David Holls 1931–2011 GM Opel Cadillac 1959 Buick Riviera Chevrolet Camaro Opel CD Bitter CD Cadillac STS

Chevrolet Camaro, 1969

The I.De.A Institute was founded as a design company in 1978 by Franco Mantegazza and the architect Renzo Piano following the example of Giorgio Giugiaro’s Italdesign. However, from the very beginning, I.De.A focused not on classic design, but on the development of type series and platform concepts. In 1983, Ercole Spada became Chief of Design, but he left the company again in the mid-1990s. I.De.A

developed a platform concept, initially for the Fiat Group, but Japanese, Chinese, and Indian (Tata) manufacturers were also interested in the expertise. With a staff of over two hundred, I.De.A became the third largest design company in Italy, but struggled financially as a result of the 2007 crisis and was acquired by a financial investor in 2010.

Tata Nano, 2000

Fiat Tipo, 1981

I.De.A Institute 1978 Lancia Fiat Daihatsu Daewoo Tata

117

J Norman J. James 1932 GM Sundberg-Ferar Firebird III Lunar Rover

Paul Jaray 1889–1974 Ley T-6 Audi Type K Maybach

James studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1955 he started at GM, even though he had not yet finished his studies. His first task involved work on the Firebird II concept car. After qualifying, he worked on the Firebird III project from 1957. In 1963 he moved to the GM Defense Research Laboratories and started work on the Lunar Rover, which was used by NASA for the Moon landing. In addition, James

designed the interior of the Lockheed TriStar for Sundberg-Ferar. He ended up working for the armaments industry.

Jaray studied mechanical engineering in Vienna and Prague and, in 1914, became chief design engineer at the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshafen. Throughout his life, Jaray had dealt with lightweight construction and aerodynamics and, in addition to flying objects, he developed the first streamlined bodies for automobiles, for which he registered the patent. In this design, two halved drops or spindle bodies are placed on top of each other and the front faces are largely rounded, while the rear is drawn to a flowing end. The first vehicles built under a Jaray license were the Ley T-6 (prototype), the Audi Type K and the BMW Dixi G7. Likewise, the manu-

facturers of large prestigious sedans, such as Adler, Maybach, and Mercedes, built special auto bodies under the Jaray license. However, while the reduction in fuel consumption and the increase in maximum speed were considerable, the manufacture of the bodies, before the introduction of steel presses and unitized body constructions, was very expensive. In the 1940s, the Kamm-tail discovered by Wunibald Kamm became the favored solution for an aerodynamic shape. This is another reason why the Jaray designs rarely made it into mass production. The serial production vehicle that comes closest to his ideas is the Tatra 87 by Hans Ledwinka.

Ley T-6, 1922

118

Lunar Rover, Apollo 15, 1973

J Dean Jeffries

After completing his military service, Jeffries, in 1950, started custom pinstriping racing cars and racing motorbikes—it was him who painted “Little Bastard” on James Dean’s Porsche 550. After STP Oil had commissioned him with the designs for various racing teams, Jeffries finally rose to prominence. From 1960, he designed many TV and film vehicles, for example Black Beauty from The Green

Hornet, the Monkeemobile, and the Moon Buggy for the James Bond film, Moonraker.

Andrew Johnson is one of the founders of automotive design as a discipline, even though he did not design a single production vehicle. He completed an apprenticeship as coachbuilder in Maine and, in 1882, joined Brewster & Co. in New York. In addition, he attended night classes at the Technical School for Carriage Draftsmen and Mechanics. Johnson was one of the best students and, in 1885, won a scholarship to the École DuPont in Paris. Albert DuPont had revolutionized coachbuilding by introducing a design method for capturing irregularly curved shapes that was commonly used in boat building, and was teaching three-dimensional design. After his

return from Paris, Johnson was offered the position of Head of the Technical School in 1892. Johnson tried to direct the school’s focus towards the gradually flourishing automotive production. After the Technical School had to close down in 1919, owing to lack of financial support, Johnson went to the Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Later on, he devised a correspondence course from his residence in Maine. This correspondence course was operated for several decades and was taken up by hundreds of students, of whom some, such as Ray Dietrich or the Fisher brothers of Fisher Body, became big names of the first generation of automobile designers.

Andrew F. Johnson

Jones studied at the Birmingham School of Art and, in 1928, won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, where he studied illustration and sculpting. In 1932, he started work at Vauxhall’s styling department and, after Eric Kennington’s departure, became Chief of Design. During the war years he designed personnel carriers. In the 1950s, Vauxhall, the British subsidiary of GM, experienced rapid growth and Jones designed not only cars, but also vans and trucks for the subsidiary, Bedford. Jones’ penchant for temporary sculpture, GM

styling, and streamline design resulted in a very special mix. The Bedford van with sliding doors dating from the late 1950s is probably his best-known design. After a serious car accident, Jones took early retirement in 1967.

David Jones

1933–2013 Own studio Black Beauty Green Hornet Monkeemobile

Monkeemobile, 1966

1854–1943 Brewster

1910–2000 GM Vauxhall Bedford Van Bedford Truck

Bedford CA Van, 1958

119

J Chuck Jordan 1927–2010 GM Opel Cadillac Eldorado ’59 Buick Centurion Chevrolet Corvette 2 Buick Riviera Opel GT Opel CD Opel Manta Chevrolet STS

When still a child, Jordan was already drawing cars and, as a teenager, he modeled his designs in gypsum. Jordan studied construction and design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, during his time as a student, submitted a model to the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild. He won the top prize and was given the opportunity to join GM immediately after qualifying in 1949. His first designs were construction machines and the GM Aerotrain. At the early age of thirty, Jordan became Director of Design of the Cadillac studio, and in this position was responsible for the Eldorados of 1958/59. In 1962, LIFE magazine included him in a list of the hundred most influential people in the USA. After Harley Earl’s departure, Jordan remained under Bill Mitchell as one of

the most important GM designers and contributed to many iconic designs of the 1960s. In 1967, Jordan moved to Opel in Rüsselsheim as Head of Design and successor to Clare MacKichan, and there intitiated a series of remarkable concept cars and serial models that made the Opel brand a design pioneer in Europe. In 1971 Jordan returned to Detroit and worked as Director of Design of various studios before he became Vice President of Design as successor to Irv Rybicki in 1986. In 1992 he took retirement from this position, but continued to teach automotive design. Jordan was one of the last influential representatives of an intuitive approach to design, which did not rely on market research but on aesthetic aspects.

Opel CD Study, 1969

Chevrolet Corvair Study, 1964

GM Aerotrain, 1957

120

J Juchet was an enthusiastic draftsman and was fascinated by aviation and aerodynamics. After completing his studies and military service, he took up a post at Renault in 1958 as specialist for aerodynamics and contributed to facelifts for the Frégate and Caravelle models. From 1961, he was involved in the project 115/Renault 1500, the precursor of the legendary Renault 16. After the designs by Philippe Charbonneaux and Ghia had been turned down, it was Juchet’s designs that became the basis for the serial production model. In 1965, Juchet became Head of Style Renault. Until 1975 he was responsible for the

design of most Renault models; then, Robert Opron (who previously worked for Citroën) took over the management at Style Renault and Juchet was part of his team. Opron had been engaged to bring new flair to Renault design after the long dominance of Auto Body Development. When Opron left in 1984, Juchet was again appointed Head of Design. In 1987 he was replaced by Patrick Le Quément. Juchet cultivated a close professional relationship with Italian studios and designers such as Marcello Gandini, Giorgio Giugiaro, and Sergio Coggiola, and also with the Chief of Design at AMC, Richard Teague.

Gaston Juchet 1930–2007 Renault Renault R16 Renault R12, 15, 17, 30

Renault R16, 1965

Rendering of Renault R17, 1970

Kady started work at GM in 1961 and was soon asked to join the Cadillac studio, where he contributed to the design of the 1965 model. In 1968, Kady was promoted to Chief Designer in the Advanced Cadillac studio. From then on, the large sedans of the early 1970s bore his signature, especially the 1971 Eldorado. In 1972, Kady became Chief of Design at the Buick studio, but after two years returned to Cadillac, where he remained as head

of the studio until 1988. In 1988, Kady returned to Buick as Chief of Design of the Buick Studio No. 2. He retired in 1999.

Wayne Kady 1936 GM Cadillac Eldorado Cadillac Brougham, Fleetwood Buick

Cadillac Eldorado, 1971

121

K Wunibald Kamm 1893–1966 Daimler-Benz FKFS Kamm Test Cars

Klaus Kapitza 1939 Ford BMW Ford Capri III Ford Taunus II BMW 850i

122

Kamm was born in Basel and, as a child, moved to Germany with his mother. He completed his studies in mechanical engineering in Stuttgart in 1920, and completed a doctorate two years later. His first employer was Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, where he developed racing engines. In 1930, Kamm became professor of automotive technology at Stuttgart Technical University and founded the Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart (FKFS). This enabled him to focus on both aerodynamics and the drive technology of automobiles. Kamm expanded the FKFS into a research center, which included not only a test circuit but also a full-scale wind tunnel for motor vehicles. Between 1938 and 1944 a number of test cars were developed (some based on BMW technology) in

cooperation with Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld. Kamm’s research resulted in the Kamm-tail, which is still pertinent today; contrary to the common notion that the complete spindle form with long, drawn-out rear (the Jaray principle) is the most aerodynamically effective, Kamm proved that a nearly vertically cut rear is more effective. With the K1 to K4 prototypes Kamm was able to sensationally reduce the drag coefficient, and hence also fuel consumption, while also increasing maximum speed. Even though during and after World War Two Kamm focused primarily on aviation, his research is still relevant to contemporary automotive design. In addition to functional aerodynamics, Kamm’s test vehicles also made the case for two-box design and the ponton shape.

BMW Mille Miglia-Coupe, 1940

Kamm Test Car, 1941

Kapitza started out as construction engineer for Steyr-Daimler-Puch in 1962 and, in 1968, moved to Ford Cologne as designer. There he became manager of the exterior advanced design studio, and worked on the Fiesta, Escort, Taunus II, Capri III, and Sierra models. In addition, between 1976 and 1979 Kapitza developed aerodynamic solutions for the Formula 1 teams of McLaren, Copersucar-Fittipaldi, and Willi Kauhsen. Claus Luthe encouraged Kapitza to join BMW. There, he took on the management of the Exterieur-Design department in Munich in 1984.

His best-known design was the BMW E31/850i. From 1990 to 1999, Kapitza worked as Chief of Design for the exterior, interior, trim, and color of concept vehicles, prototypes, and show cars that were manufactured by BMW Technik, including the Z13 small car.

BMW E31/850i, 1990

K Karen was born in Brno in the Czech Republic. The family fled to Great Britain to escape the National Socialists. Karen studied engineering for aviation and initially worked for the British aircraft industry. In 1955 he went to Ford as a designer. In 1959, he moved to Ogle Design. From 1960, he worked for Philips for two years. After David Ogle died in a car accident, Karen returned to Ogle Design in 1962 and became Chief of Design and Managing Director. In the years to follow, Karen designed numerous vehicles for Reliant, including the Bond Bug and the small Rialto and Robin delivery vans. With the Scimitar GTE launched in 1967, Karen established the con-

cept of a three-door sports estate (shooting brake). Through Reliant, which carried out numerous development orders for the Turkish automotive manufacturer, Otosan, some of Karen’s designs also reached the Turkish market. Karen is also the designer of the Raleigh Chopper children’s bicycle from the 1970s.

Klie began as model maker and stylist at Porsche under Erwin Komenda in 1953. One of his first designs was the Porsche F1 racing car, and later the groundbreaking Carrera 6. When Ferdinand Alexander “Butzi” Porsche joined the company, the design language changed, primarily owing to the 904 and 911 models. Among other things, Klie designed the famous light metal wheel rims of the Porsche 911, but it is likely that his contribution to the overall design of the car is much

more extensive than frequently assumed. There is no uncertainty about his leading influence on the design of the VW-Porsche 914.

After qualifying from grammar school, von Koenig-Fachsenfeld studied engineering in Stuttgart and, as racing driver, he won races and broke speed records. His first employer was the Zeppelin factory; in addition, von Koenig-Fachsenfeld took on the patent business of Paul Jaray. In 1932, he designed an improved auto body for Manfred von Brauchitsch’s Mercedes racing car. In 1937, using Jaray’s principles he designed the BMW 328 Wendler streamline coupe, which, together with Wunibald Kamm, he developed to become the Kamm K3. In 1939,

Tom Karen 1928 Ford Ogle Design Reliant Bond Bug Reliant Rialto Reliant Scimitar

Reliant Robin, 1975

Heinrich Klie 1914–1999 Porsche Porsche Carrera 6 Porsche 911 Porsche 914

VW-Porsche 914, 1970

von Koenig-Fachsenfeld designed a streamlined test car for the Fulda tire manufacturer, which achieved well over 200 km/h. In 1947 he designed the V2 Sagitta based on a VW chassis, which achieved 140 km/h owing to its low cw-value of 0.25.

Reinhard von KoenigFachsenfeld 1899–1992 Daimler-Benz FKFS Kamm Test Cars

K3 Test Car, 1939

123

K Hideo Kodama 1943 Opel Opel Manta Opel Corsa A, B, C Opel Tigra

Kodama studied design at the Tama Art University in Tokyo and subsequently applied to General Motors for a job as designer. The company referred him to Clare MacKichan who was in the process of establishing a design department for Opel in Germany. In 1966, Kodama started to

work as assistant to Erhard Schnell at Opel Rüsselsheim. In addition to contributing to the design of the Manta A and Corsa A, Kodama, from the 1980s, was responsible for the design of the second and third generation Corsa and its sportier version, the Tigra. Kodama retired in 2010.

Opel Corsa C, 1994

Erwin Komenda 1904–1966 Steyr Daimler-Benz Porsche Kdf-Wagen/VW Beetle Berlin-Rome Racing Car Porsche 356 Porsche 550 Porsche 904 Porsche 911

124

Komenda attended the Advanced Technical College for Metalworking in Steyr, Austria. From 1920 to 1926 he worked as automotive construction engineer at Wiener Karosseriefabrik. In 1926, he became construction engineer at the Steyr works. Here Komenda met Ferdinand Porsche, who was Technical Director there. From 1929 to 1931, Komenda worked as chief construction engineer in the test and auto body development department of Daimler-Benz AG. Cars such as the Mercedes-Benz Mannheim 370 K and a streamlined small car with rear engine were created during that period. In November 1931, Komenda joined the engineering section newly founded by Ferdinand Porsche as head of the auto body design department, which he headed up at Porsche AG until 1966. There he designed the auto body of the VW Beetle and the Berlin-Rome racing

car, among others. Together with the aerodynamics engineer Josef Mickl, Komenda developed the auto bodies of the Auto Union P-Wagen racing car and the Cisitalia F1 racing car of 1947. In 1946, Komenda started work on the body for the first Porsche, which led to the Porsche 356; this was followed by various other models and the Porsche 550 Spyder. Komenda was heavily involved with the development of the 901 (the later 911) and the plastic auto body of the 904 racing car, even though both designs had, in the past, been attributed to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche alone.

Berlin-Rome Racing Car, 1939

Porsche 356 A, 1952

KdF-Wagen/Beetle, 1939

K Koren was born in Norway, grew up in Kenya, and went to London in the 1950s. He studied industrial design at the Royal College of Art and, in 1956, graduated with a project on automotive design, for which he designed a Jaguar XK 140 in the form of a mod-

ernistic shooting brake. In 1957, he went to Bentley in Crewe under J. P. Blatchley, and worked on the new S2 series. After Blatchley’s departure in 1969, Koren was offered the post of Chief of Design, but he focused more on architecture and interior design.

Vilhelm Koren 1921 Bentley Bentley S2

Bentley S2 Continental “Chinese Eyes,” 1962

Koto studied engineering and architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1933, he found his first employment with the auto body builder Briggs, and remained there until 1939. He worked as assistant to Ralph Roberts and Tom Tjaarda. Thereafter, Koto went to Hudson for a short spell but, in 1943, he moved to Raymond Loewy Associates (RLA) to design for Studebaker. With Robert Bourke, Koto worked on the 1953 Starliner. In addition, he helped his former RLA colleague, Dick Caleal, with

the design of the 1949 Ford, which saved the corporation. In 1950, Loewy sent Koto to England to join Austin to develop a design for the new Austin A30. However, the car that eventually made it into production had been reworked extensively by the Austin Chief of Design, Ricardo Burzi, such that little of Koto’s original design remained. Following the acquisition of Studebaker by Packard, RLA’s design contract ended and Koto went to Ford, where he worked on the Mercury and Lincoln models until the 1960s.

Holden Koto 1910–1988 Briggs Hudson RLA Ford Studebaker Mercury

Studebaker Champion, 1949

125

L Harm Lagaay 1946 Simca Ford BMW Porsche Ford Scorpio BMW Z1 Porsche 924 Porsche Boxster Porsche Cayenne Porsche Carrera GT

Homer LaGassey 1924–2014 GM Chrysler Ford Buick Dodge Ford Fairlane, Maverick Lincoln Mark III, IV

126

Lagaay studied at Delft University of Technology and began his career in 1967 with the company Olyslager. In 1968 he moved to Simca as designer. In 1971, he went to Porsche for the first time and remained there until 1977. In that time, he worked on the 924 model. In 1977, he became Chief of Design at Ford in Cologne, and contributed to the development of the Scorpio. In 1985, BMW poached him and

he proceeded to design the Z1 model, which was technically and stylistically very advanced but proved to be a flop commercially. Lagaay became Director of Design at Porsche in 1989, taking over from Anatole Lapine, and he modernized the range of models by adding the Boxster, Cayenne and Carrera GT. He retired from design in 2004. Lagaay was, and is, an enthusiastic racing driver in historic motor sport.

BMW Z1, 1987

Porsche Carrera GT, 2002

LaGassey studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York. At the young age of 22 he became the youngest designer to join the design department at General Motors in 1946. His first job involved the Buick Wildcat II and Wildcat III concept cars. In 1955, he moved to the Chrysler Corporation and became Chief of Design of the Dodge and Suburban studios. Four years later, he started his own company, Homer LaGassey Design Consultants, and worked for a number of clients before accepting an offer from Ford, where he became the leading designer in a number of studios and for different projects. LaGassey contributed to the design of the Mustang, as well as the Maverick, Falcon, Fairlane and Thunderbird mod-

els. In the 1960s, he supervised the designs for the Lincoln Mark III and Mark IV. He also developed the shape of the GT 40, which was used in the 24 Hours race at Le Mans in 1967 and which became known as the J Car. LaGassey retired from design in 1980, but worked as Associate Professor for transportation design at the Detroit Center for Creative Studies.

Buick Wildcat, 1952

Lincoln Continental Mark IV, 1974

Ford Fairlane, 1963

L Lapine started working with GM in 1954 in the unofficial “Studio X,” where he contributed to the development of many concept cars under Bill Mitchell’s aegis. Lapine was a racing enthusiast, and the co-driver of Dick Thompson at Elkhart Lake, where they drove Mitchell’s XP-87 Stingray prototypes at the SCCA 500-mile Wisconsin Grand Prix. The constant design companion of Lapine was Larry Shinoda, with whom, 1960–64, he worked on the Corvette Stingray, the Corvair Monza GT of 1962, the Corvair Monza SS of 1963, and Zora

Arkus-Duntov’s CERV Monoposti of 1960–1964. Lapine moved to Opel in Germany in 1966. As well as contributing to the models of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lapine became famous for the body design of an Opel Rekord that had been tuned up to 150 hp, the “Black Widow.” In 1969, Lapine became Porsche’s first external Chief of Design. During the following twenty years, he developed the design of the 924 and 928 front-engine models, which involved a radical change from the Komenda/Ferdinand Alexander Porsche styling.

Porsche FLA Study, 1973

Porsche 928, 1977

Anatole C. Lapine 1930–2012 GM Opel Porsche Porsche 924 Porsche 928

Porsche 924, 1975

Lawson studied sculpting and illustration at the Cleveland School of Art. After qualifying, he started to work as an advertising designer in a freelance capacity and worked on commissions for Greyhound. This was followed by a brief spell at GM, before Lawson went to the Briggs Manufacturing Company in 1940. During the war, he illustrated brochures for the Army on behalf of GM. Immediately after the war, Lawson started with the design for Preston Tucker’s “Torpedo” project. In addition to drawings, he produced a clay model. After a dispute with Tucker, Alex Tremulis proceeded with the design. Lawson rejoined GM and

became Studio Director at Buick. In 1959, he went to American Motors and designed concept cars such as the Cuda 44. In 1962, he set up on his own; in 1969 he gave up work for health reasons.

George S. Lawson 1907–1988 GM Briggs Tucker AMC Tucker Torpedo

Tucker Torpedo, 1946

127

L Alan H. Leamy 1910–1937 Cord GM Auburn Speedster Cord L29 LaSalle

LeBaron Coachbuilders 1920–1952 Chrysler Chrysler Newport Chrysler Thunderbolt

Leamy’s first appointment was with the Marmon brand, before he joined E. L. Cord at Auburn. His first big designs were the Cord L29, the Auburn Speedster, and the front of the Duesenberg Model J. When Auburn experienced a drop in sales in 1933 and 1934, E. L. Cord employed Gordon Buehrig as new Chief of Design.

In consequence, Leamy submitted some designs to Packard to apply for a job, but the company found his ideas too radical. Eventually, Leamy was employed by Harley Earl for the design of the LaSalle in 1936; shortly afterwards he became Studio Director. Leamy died just one year later from septicemia.

Cord L29, 1929

LaSalle, 1937

LeBaron was founded in 1920 in New York by Raymond Dietrich and Thomas L. Hibbard as a design and coachbuilding company for luxury and custom-built models. The customers included Hollywood stars and the international jet set. Hibbard left the company in 1923 and, with Howard Darrin, established a new company. Dietrich set up on his own in 1925. The designer and managing director, Ralph Roberts, took over LeBaron and arranged for the company to be acquired by the coachbuilding company, Briggs Manufacturing. In view of the increasing tendency for luxury models to be manufactured in serial production, LeBaron switched to the manu-

facture of show cars and customized auto bodies for large manufacturers such as Chrysler and Packard. The Newport and Thunderbolt concept cars of 1941 were designed by LeBaron designers (including Alexander Tremulis), and were built by LeBaron.

Chrysler Newport, 1941

128

Chrysler Imperial Roadster, 1931

L tion of building components, and what he termed “living machines.” In 1935, he submitted sketches for a Voiture Minimum, a rear-engined three-seater, to a competition for a microcar organized by a magazine. Le Corbusier’s idea is surprisingly similar to the Iso Isetta produced twenty years later.

Le Corbusier

Ledwinka studied at the Vienna Construction & Mechanical Engineering School and, from 1897, worked for the Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft, which was renamed Ringhoffer-Tatra in 1923. He became Chief Design Engineer as early as 1905 and, between 1911 and 1914, developed the four-wheel brake to serial production stage for the company, among other things. In 1917, Ledwinka moved to Steyr, where he became Chief Design Engineer for the production of automobiles. In 1921, he accepted the offer from Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft and, as Technical Director, assumed the main responsibility for development until 1945. In 1932, Ledwinka designed the very modern Tatra 57, but thereafter turned his attention to a new vehicle concept, a combination of rear engine and aero-

dynamic body. It is likely that his V 570 was used as a model for Porsche’s “KdF-Wagen” (strength through joy car). Owing to the annexation of Czechoslovakia to the German Reich in 1939 and Ferdinand Porsche’s commission to build the “KdF-Wagen,” Ledwinka missed out on the construction and design. After the war, Ledwinka was branded a collaborator and, in a show trial, was sentenced to six years imprisonment by the Communist government of the CˇSSR (the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic). After serving his term, Ledwinka moved to Munich in 1954. From 1955, he worked on the Spatz mini-car for the engine manufacturer Harald Friedrich. In 1961, Volkswagen paid the legal successors of the original Tatra owners, Ringhoffer, three million DM as compensation for Porsche’s patent infringements.

Hans Ledwinka

Tatra V570, 1939

Tatra 87, 1940

Le Corbusier (actually CharlesÉdouard Jeanneret) was a Swiss architect who concentrated on urban design and mobility issues in the 1920s and 1930s. Impressed by American production methods and the standard of living, he contemplated mobile homes, conveyor belt produc-

1887–1965 Voiture Minimum

Voiture Minimum, 1936

1878–1967 Steyr Tatra Tatra 11, 12, V570, 77, 87

129

L Louis Lucien Lepoix 1918–1998 FTI Magirus Henschel Hanomag DAF

After the end of the war, Lepoix worked as engineer for the French Army in Friedrichshafen and, in 1954, opened his studio for industrial design (FTI) in Baden-Baden. One of the first designs was the body for the last Bugatti, the 101; in addition, Lepoix designed motor scooters and microcars. In 1955, he received an order from Magirus which led to his specialization in commercial vehicles and HGVs. From 1959, he worked primarily for Henschel, Hanomag, and Büssing

in Germany, but also internationally for Steyr, Saurer, Berliet, and DAF. Lepoix became one of the most important designers of construction machines, locomotives, and tractors in Europe. In parallel, he developed and designed bathroom fittings, the famous BIC lighter, the Kienzle parking meter, and produced the interior design of Concorde. Lepoix was one of the most productive and successful industrial and transportation designers of the 1960s and 1970s.

DAF Semi-Trailer, 1964

Claude Lobo 1943–2011 Simca Ford Ford Ka Ford Focus

130

Steyr Tractor 760, 1970

Henschel LKW HS 22, 1963

Lobo studied technology and design at the Collège Technique Diderot in Paris and at the University of Michigan. Initially, he worked for a manufacturer of electrical equipment. In 1964 he moved to Chrysler-Simca. In 1966, he joined Uwe Bahnsen’s design team at Ford in Cologne. In 1967, he was appointed Manager of Exterior Design at Ford of Europe, and later became Chief of Design of various departments and programs. In 1994, Lobo took over management of Ford’s advanced design studio in Dearborn in order to develop concepts for the future and to advance the opportunities offered by working with CAD. In 1997, he returned to Ford of Europe as director of design and proceeded to work on the new design line at Ford, re-

ferred to as “New Edge” design, which led to the design of the Ford Ka 1, Ford Focus 1, and Ford Puma. In 1999, he retired at the age of fifty-five and moved to the south of France, where he organized numerous show events. Lobo was an enthusiastic racing driver who, at the beginning of the 1970s, won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with Klaus Ludwig, and the Marathon de la Route in a Ford Capri RS.

Ford Ka, 1996

L Le Quément studied at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and graduated in 1966. His first employer was Simca but in 1968 he and his colleague John Pinko set up on their own. Not being as successful as hoped, Le Quément returned to automotive design and started at Ford Cologne under Uwe Bahnsen in 1969. Le Quément’s breakthrough came with the Ford Sierra project of 1982. The design found international acclaim and the car sold well. In 1985, he joined Ford USA in order to be prepared for the duties as Bahnsen’s successor (Head of Design) for Ford Europe, but the local working conditions and the prospects were disappointing for Le Quément. Back in Europe, VW approached him in 1986 and asked whether he wanted to take on the directorship of VW Design. This was immediately followed by an

offer from Renault, not only to take on the Style Renault design department, but to fully reorganize and expand it. Le Quément accepted and made Style Renault into a department that produced not only automotive design, but also the corporate design, and reported directly to the board of directors. He developed a new design language for Renault, which gave a new image to the struggling corporation and, most importantly, resulted in good sales—the Twingo, Scénic, Espace III and IV, Kangoo, Laguna II, Mégane II, Clio III models were all created under his aegis. With the luxury class Avantime and Vel Satis models, concept studies reached production maturity, which underscored Renault’s design ambition. In 1999 he became head of the Renault-Nissan design group. Le Quément retired in 2009.

Ford Sierra, 1982

Renault Kangoo, 1998

Patrick Le Quément 1945 Ford Renault Ford Sierra Renault Twingo, Kangoo, Scénic, Vel Satis, Avantime

Renault Vel Satis, 2002

Renault Avantime, 2002

131

L Raymond Loewy 1893–1986 RLA Hupp Studebaker Rootes Austin

Loewy emigrated from France to the USA after World War One, and started work there as a fashion illustrator and advertising designer. Over time, he proceeded to receive orders for corporate designs, logos, and the interior design of department stores. In 1928, he was commissioned by the British entrepreneur, David Gestetner, to revise his internationally distributed office copying machine. The Gestetner copying machine, which appeared in 1929, was not only Loewy’s first order for industrial design, but also proved to be successful, opening a new line of business for him. Loewy founded Raymond Loewy Associates (RLA), a studio for industrial design, which grew rapidly. At the beginning of the 1930s, his customers included big American companies such as Westinghouse, Sears, Roebuck & Co., the Pennsylvania and Northern Pacific Railroad companies, as well as the car manufacturer, Hupp. When Hupp encountered financial difficulties and

was taken over by Nash, Loewy was able, in 1935, to enter into a long-term consultancy contract with Studebaker for which he established a dedicated studio in South Bend. Loewy was not only an excellent businessman and self-promoter, but also a good talent scout. Many of the successful automobile designers from 1930 to the 1960s worked for Loewy’s RLA company—Helen Dryden, Gordon Buehrig, Virgil Exner, Albrecht von Goertz, Bob Koto, Dick Caleal, to name but a few. Because the copyright and the publicity for the designs were always claimed by Loewy, many designers left the studio in frustration after a few years. For example, the much-praised designs for Studebaker from 1952 to 1960 were created by Loewy only to a marginal extent; he did not implement his idea for the American GT until the Avanti of 1963. Loewy also commissioned show cars and custom cars, manufactured for him privately, in order to land orders—in addition to

Hupmobile, 1939

S1 Locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1939

132

L those from Studebaker—from BMW, Jaguar or Lancia, but without success. Next to Harley Earl, Loewy must be considered the second founding father of industrial design. Both pursued similar approaches with respect to their working methods, for example, the use of clay models instead of 2D drawings, and also their studio organization. In his memoirs, which were published as early as 1951, Loewy very clearly describes the situation in the USA in the 1920s, and the beginning of industrial design as a discipline. The book became a worldwide success, and Loewy made it to the title pages of the most important magazines. In Germany, designers

hailing from the Bauhaus tradition were suspicious of Loewy and his success. His (poorly translated) book title, Hässlichkeit verkauft sich nicht (Ugliness Doesn’t Sell) was considered to be proof of the supposedly purely cosmetic styling in the USA. However, his book was originally entitled Never Leave Well Enough Alone and described a design ethos that, in its essence, was quite similar to that of the school of functionalism. Loewy left behind logos, corporate designs, industrial designs, transportation and interior designs, many of which remained part of the visual product and pop culture for many years after their creation.

Greyhound-Scenicruiser Bus, 1954

Studebaker Commander, 1953

Hillman Minx, 1951

Studebaker Avanti GT, 1963

133

L Claus Luthe 1932–2008 NSU BMW NSU Prinz NSU Ro 80 VW K70 BMW E28, E30, E32, E34

Luthe trained as a master coachbuilder and worked for the company Voll in Würzburg, where he designed bus bodies. After a brief spell at Fiat Neckar in Heilbronn, where he designed the front of the Fiat Nuova 500, Luthe went to NSU, where he established a design department in the mid 1960s which he managed from 1967. During this time he designed the NSU Prinz 4 and the NSU Prinz 1000. His first groundbreaking design was the NSU Ro 80 with Wankel engine, the development of which started as early as 1964. After the acquisition of NSU by VW, Luthe was the designer with responsibility for the NSU/VW K70,

the Audi 50/VW Polo, and the interior of the Audi 100. In 1974, Luthe moved to BMW and became Chief of Design, succeeding Paul Bracq. There he focused not only on cars, but also on motorbikes—the BMW R80 and the K100 and K1100 RS models pursued new approaches in motorbike design. At BMW, Luthe was involved with the design of several generations of the 3, 5, and 7 Series, including overhauls of existing models through to comprehensive new developments. Many BMW designs were created in cooperation with Ercole Spada, who also worked for BMW from 1977 to 1986. Luthe retired in 1990.

NSU Ro 80, 1967

VW K70, 1970

BMW E32, 1990

134

L Lyons completed night classes in mechanical engineering at Manchester Polytechnic. He earned money as a car salesman, and also took part in motorcycle races. In 1922, Lyons, together with William Walmsley, founded the Swallow Sidecar Company, which produced motorbike sidecars. In 1927, they created the first auto body; in the following years, the company produced small series of sedans based on various manufacturers’ models. In 1931, Lyons presented his first completely self-developed car, the SS 1, the chassis of which had been built by Standard. In 1933, Lyons founded SS Cars and, in the years to come, he built a number of two- and four-seaters in open and closed designs. With a redesigned Standard engine, the SSs also produced good sports performance on the road and racetrack from 1935; the top model was christened “Jaguar” in the adver-

tising. In 1945, SS Cars changed its name to Jaguar Cars. In 1948, Lyons launched the XK120 sports car with a newly developed engine and an extravagant body shape that had been inspired by Talbot-Lago and Bugatti; with a top speed of 193 km/h, the XK was the fastest sports car of its time. The Jaguar C-Type racing cars evolving from this model drove to victory in the 1951 and 1953 Le Mans races, thereby gaining a worldwide reputation. Jaguar models cost less than their competitors and, in the eyes of many contemporaries, looked more elegant which, for the sedans, was due to Lyons’ design input, while the sports and racing cars were designed by the aerodynamics engineer, Malcolm Sayer. Lyons’ last design, the XJ6 of 1968, was—and is—deemed by many journalists and designers to be one of the best-looking sedans of the 1960s and 1970s.

William Lyons 1901–1985 Swallow Sidecars SS Jaguar SS Jaguar Jaguar MK 1/2 Jaguar S-Type/420 Jaguar XJ6

Jaguar XK120, 1949

Jaguar MK 2, 1959

Jaguar MK X/420 G, 1963

Jaguar XJ, 1968

135

M Edward Macauley 1896–1973 Packard Packerd One-Twenty Packard Clipper

Macauley was the son of Packard’s President, James Alvan Macauley. In 1929, he became head of the auto body department where he was tasked with the development of his own body designs for top-of-therange Packards. His staff included Werner Gubitz and Ray Dietrich. After Dietrich’s departure in 1931, Macauley employed Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. As a small manufacturer, Packard faced many difficulties, which affected its human resources policy and hence also the design of the vehicles. Macauley tried to emphasize the

technical claims of the brand with a corresponding design language by employing experienced designers; he saw himself more as a design manager than as an operative designer. When Gubitz left in 1947, Macauley appointed John Reinhart as Chief of Design. Similar to the Twelve and One-Twenty series, the many Clipper models were modern in design and were awarded a design prize in 1948. John Reinhart left the company in 1952 and his successor was Richard Teague. Macauley retired in 1955.

Packard, 1937

Clare MacKichan 1918–1996 GM Opel Chevrolet Corvette 1953 Chevrolet Corvette 1970

136

MacKichan was head of the Chevrolet design studio from 1952 and was responsible for the European-inspired lines of the Chevrolet Bel Air. From 1953, he worked with Harley Earl on the Corvette sports car project, the first design of which MacKichan supervised. He also directed the work on the Corvette Nomad station wagon, the basic design of which had been created by the young designer Carl Heinz Renner. In the late 1950s, MacKichan worked on the Stingray Racer.

In 1962, he was sent to Opel Rüsselsheim as Director of Design where, with Chief Designer, Erhard Schnell, he established a design center like that in Detroit. This meant that Opel was the first European manufacturer to extricate the design from auto body development and evolve it into a key function in its own right. MacKichan stayed with Opel until 1967, initiating the design for many models through to the Opel GT. In 1969, he returned to the Corvette studio as Chief of Design.

Chevrolet Bel Air, 1955

Opel Rekord A, 1963

M MacMinn started as stylist at Hudson under Frank Spring. In 1936, he moved to the Buick studio of GM where Frank Hershey was in charge. In 1937, GM established a styling department for Opel. MacMinn and Frank Hershey, together with Hans Mersheimer, started to design the Opel Kapitän with unitized body, which was scheduled for 1938. The design included elements of the Cord designed by Buehrig, and also of Earl’s Buick

tegrated into the fenders were a sensation in Europe. After that, MacMinn worked for Greyhound in the Oldsmobile studio and, under his own name, for a long list of various customers. From 1948, MacMinn taught transportation design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena—with forty-one years of teaching activity, he was one of the most influential tutors in automotive design. In 1973, he founded a design studio which, until 1984, devel-

Y-Job concept car; the headlights in-

oped concepts—especially for Toyota.

Opel Kapitän Cabriolet, 1939

MacMinn teaching at the Pasadena Art Center College, 1960

Mann studied motor vehicle engineering and auto body construction, and then worked for the bus and truck manufacturer, Duple. He then went to Raymond Loewy Associates in the USA for half a year. Back in England, Mann worked for the commercial vehicle manufacturer Commer and, in 1962, began as designer with Ford in Dagenham, contributing to the design of the first Escort and Capri. In 1967, Ford’s Chief of Design, Roy Haynes, persuaded Mann to move to the newly established design department of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in Ox-

ford. There, Mann worked on the BMC Marina. When BMC was restructured to become British Leyland, Haynes left the corporation and Mann became Chief of Design. He designed the Allegro and the Princess, and finally the Triumph TR7. He developed ideas for the successor to the Mini, the Metro, although the concept by the Rover design department was favored within the corporation. After that, Mann set up as a freelance designer, working on the MG Rover for the BMW-Rover Group, the MG Z series, and on concept cars.

Triumph TR7, 1975

Austin Princess, 1975

Strother MacMinn 1919–1998 Hudson GM Opel Toyota Opel Kapitän 1939

Harris Mann 1938 Ford British Leyland BMC Marina BL Allegro BL Princess Triumph TR7

137

M Piero Manzoni/ Pio Manzù 1939–1969 Autonova Fiat Autonova GT Autonova Fam Fiat 127

Bob Marcks 1929 Ford RLA Chrysler

Manzoni (Lombard: Manzù) studied design at the HfG Ulm (Ulm School of Design) from 1960. Contrary to the design principles of the school, which scoffed at the design of automobiles, considering it “just styling,” he founded, in 1962, the Autonova design team with fellow students Michael Conrad and Henner Werner. He completed his studies at the HfG with a tractor design in 1964. In 1963, Manzù and his colleagues presented a study based on an Austin Healey. This was followed in 1965 by the Autonova Fam

minivan and the Autonova GT coupe (with motor journalist, Fritz B. Busch). On graduation in 1965, Manzù was commissioned by Magirus-Deutz to design a bus for Hamburger Verkehrsbetriebe, and he became independent design consultant to Centro Stile Fiat, Piaggio, Olivetti, and Kartell. From 1967, he was increasingly involved with Fiat and designed the City Taxi, a coupe for Autobianchi (neither made it to serial production) and, especially, the supermini Fiat 127. Manzù died unexpectedly in 1969.

Fiat 127, 1970

Autonova GT, 1965

Marcks studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and, after graduation, went to Ford in 1952. In 1953 he changed to Raymond Loewy Associates and contributed to the design of the Studebaker Starliner fleet. After being

Ford Galaxy, 1963

self-employed for a brief spell, he returned to Ford in 1956 and remained in the design department until 1961. Marcks founded the design consultancy Marcks, Hazelquist, Powers, which, as external designer, worked on the last Studebaker models of 1966/67. In 1973, Marcks went to Chrysler and worked on the designs for their top-of-the-line vehicle, the Imperial, and the LeBaron and Cordoba models. In 1977, he became Chief of Design for special vehicles and, from 1948, moved to Chrysler marketing. Marcks set up on his own again in 2008.

Ford Thunderbird, 1964

Chrysler Cordoba, 1977

Studebaker Starliner Ford Thunderbird ’64 Ford Galaxie ’63 Chrysler Imperial

138

M At the age of seventeen, Martin started at Giovanni Michelotti, whose studio, at the beginning of the 1960s, was considered one of the most successful of the Scuola Italiana. In 1967, Martin went to Bertone and from there to Pininfarina (1968), and finally was head of the Centro Stile of Ghia from 1973 to 1976. This meant that he had worked in Italy’s four most important design studios. Paolo Martin’s rise started as Chief of Design at Pininfarina from 1967 under the patronage of Sergio Pininfarina and Chief Construction Engineer, Renzo Carli. Martin became the man for the concept cars, which were meant to establish and strengthen Pininfarina’s reputation as most innovative design forge, that is, the Ferrari Dino Berlinetta Competizione, the Ferrari Sigma GP and

the Ferrari 512 Modulo. Together with Leonardo Fioravanti, Martin worked on the influential BMLC 1800 and BMLC 1100 studies, which established the hatchback design principle. Everyday cars created by him include the Alfa Romeo 33 Roadster and the Peugeot 104. Highlights of his career are the Rolls-Royce Camargue, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo and the Fiat 130 coupe. It is quite likely that Martin was the only designer who produced work for both Ferrari and Rolls-Royce. After a short spell at Ghia, Martin set up on his own in 1976. In addition to the automobile concepts, his studio produced designs for motorbikes, aircraft, boats, trains, and electrical equipment; the standard hairdryer in Italian hotels is his design.

BLMC 1900 Aerodinamica, 1969

Lancia Beta Montecarlo, 1975

Fiat 130 Coupe, 1975

Rolls-Royce Camargue, 1977

Martinengo studied art and architecture in Turin and joined Stabilimenti Farina in Turin as designer and construction engineer in 1928. When the brothers Farina separated in 1930, Martinengo joined Battista Farina at Pinin Farina. From 1952 to 1972 he was Director of the Centro Stile at Pininfarina and in this function he was involved in many iconic Pininfarina de-

signs (the Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider is considered his masterpiece), but also in the training of many Pininfarina designers, such as Aldo Brovarone. Martinengo became Director of research and development in 1972 and for production quality in 1976. In addition to his work for Pininfarina, Martinengo was active as an artist.

Paolo Martin 1943 Michelotti Bertone Pininfarina Ghia Paolo Martin Design Triumph Spitfire Fiat 130 Coupe Lancia Beta Montecarlo Peugeot 104 Rolls-Royce Camargue

Franco Martinengo 1910–2001 Pininfarina Alfa Romeo Duetto

139

M Tsutomu Matano 1950 GM BMW Mazda

Matano initially studied engineering in Japan and, in 1970, emigrated to America where he studied transportation design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena from 1971 to 1974. After his studies, he became designer at the Oldsmobile studio and

Mazda Miata MX-5 Mazda RX-7

Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1990

Yoshihiko Matsuo 1940 Nissan Datsun 240Z

Duncan McRae 1919–1984 Kaiser-Frazer Studebaker-Packard Ford Studebaker Lark Ford Taunus P7

140

participated in the design for the 1976 Cutlass body. This was followed by work for Volvo and BMW (E36, 3 Series). In 1983, Matano became Chief of Design at Mazda North America. There he developed his most famous designs, the Mazda Miata MX-5 and the RX-7. In the following years, up to 2002, Matano became Chief of Design and then Vice President of Mazda North America, Europe, and Japan. Since 2002, he has been teaching industrial and transportation design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

As with so many Japanese automotive designers, not much is known about Matsuo. The information policy of Japanese corporations emphasizes the importance of teams rather than of individuals. In 1965, as boss of Nissan

Design Studio 4 (sports cars), Matsuo was asked to develop a new twoseater. This led to the development of the extremely successful Datsun 240Z in the USA.

After McRae had helped out in the modeling department at Ford as a student for some summers, he got a job as designer at Kaiser-Frazer in 1949, and worked on the development of the 1951 Kaiser. In 1955, he became Chief of Design at Studebaker-Packard. While there, he oversaw the design of the Packard Hawk model of 1958 and the Studebaker Lark of 1959, which were both very important for the company’s commercial success. In 1960, McRae left

the company and joined the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. One year later he founded his own design consultancy. In 1964, he became designer at Ford in Dearborn and was sent to England shortly afterwards to work on the design of the Cortina MK2, Escort and Capri. In 1967, he moved to Ford Cologne as Chief Designer for the Taunus 17/20M. Shortly after his return to the United States, he became Director of Design of Ford Australia in 1969. He retired in 1975.

Studebaker Lark, 1960

Ford Taunus 17/20M, 1966

M Mersheimer started an apprenticeship as a metalworker with Opel in 1920; in 1924, he completed a course of study in mechanical engineering, and qualified as engineer. This was followed by training as a master coachbuilder. In 1930, Mersheimer returned to Opel as assistant in the department for auto body development. His first big projects were the Kadett and Kapitän models in the 1930s, which featured Opel’s first unitized body. Regarding the styling, he was supported by

designers from GM Styling (Strother MacMinn, Frank Hershey). After the war, Mersheimer rose to become head of the auto body construction department and thereby de facto boss of the design department, until this was reorganized in 1964 by MacKichan. From 1959, Mersheimer was chief engineer, and hence the father of all Opel developments throughout the following decade. The Opel top-of-the-line and sporty models in particular were initiated by him.

Opel DIplomat A, 1966

Opel Kadett A, 1964

Meyerhuber came from an artistic Karlsruhe family and, like his father, studied painting. His design career started at Opel, which was followed by a brief spell in the USA with a stint at the GM design department. In 1937, Meyerhuber started at BMW in Munich, and shortly afterwards defined the concept of “artistic design,” which included conceptual design as an indispensable process of automotive production. Now Meyerhuber’s experience at GM Styling paid off—from now on, designs were no longer just

produced as drawings, but in plasticine models at scales of 1:5 and 1:1. The most interesting designs under Meyerhuber’s guidance were created in 1939–1942, which were already intended for production after the war and were more modern than the BMW 501 of 1952. Some of Meyerhuber’s greatest achievements are the BMW 328, and the Mille Miglia Roadster of 1940. After the end of the war, Meyerhuber returned to Karlsruhe and worked as a fine art painter.

Hans Mersheimer 1905–1970 Opel Opel Kapitän 1939 Opel Kadett A Opel Diplomat A

Wilhelm Meyerhuber 1888–1978 Opel BMW BMW 328 BMW Mille Miglia Roadster BMW 337/335 (planned)

BMW 327/328, 1938

141

M Giovanni Michelotti 1921–1980 Farina Own studio BMW 700 BMW “Neue Klasse” 1500, 2000 Triumph TR 4, Herald, Vitesse, 1200, 2000, Dolomite, Spitfire, GT 6 Leyland Trucks DAF 44, 55, 66 VW 1200 Ghia Aigle Fiat 1200 Alemanno Cunningham GT Maserati 3500, 5000 Alfa-Romeo 2000 Vignale Nardi 750 ND Abarth 2400 Alpine A 106 Reliant Scimitar SS 1

Michelotti left school at the age of fifteen in order to start an apprenticeship at Stabilimenti Farina. His father was already working in automotive construction, for the manufacturer Itala. At Farina, Michelotti’s talent for drawing was discovered, and he discovered his ability as designer. His first personal design for the 1938 Lancia Astura just remained a project. In 1947, the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 was built to his design. Only two years later, Michelotti set up on his own, taking commissions from Bertone, Ghia, Allemano and Vignale. He built a life-long friendship and business partnership with Alfredo Vignale, as well as with his colleague Pietro Frua. At the beginning of the 1950s, Michelotti started to produce designs under his own name for Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari; the 212 Inter and 340 Mexico Coupe, the Maserati 3500 GT, the Lancia Aurelia and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce models were created in that period. At that time already, Michel-

otti had the reputation of being one of the fastest designers in the trade; many designs were produced almost overnight. At the end of the 1950s, he succeeded in progressing to become the preferred designer of various manufacturers; his first big client was Standard Triumph. Michelotti drew almost all models of the 1960s—the Herald, Spitfire, GT 6, TR 4, Stag, and Dolomite. In Germany, it was BMW who engaged Michelotti’s services. After designing the company’s “saviour,” a small car called the BMW 700, he made a major contribution to the design of the New Class, the BMW 1500, 2000, and 2002. In the 1960s, Michelotti was also commissioned by Japanese manufacturers, such as Hino and Daihatsu, as well as DAF, Fiat, and Ford. Michelotti also designed trucks, buses, and vans; altogether, almost 1,200 designs are attributed to him. With the exception of Giugiaro and Pininfarina, no designer has produced more designs that made it into production than Michelotti.

Michelotti works on the design of DAF 44, 1960

142

Cabin Truck for British Leyland, 1968

DAF Siluro Study, 1966

BMW 700, 1959

Triumph Spitfire GT 6, 1966

M Mitchell studied engineering and applied art in Pittsburgh and New York, and worked as illustrator and art director in a New York advertising agency which had the British brand, MG, as one of its clients. He was also the illustrator for the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1931. A guest at the clubhouse saw his illustrations and advised Mitchell to send drawings to Harley Earl. Earl engaged Mitchell for the GM design department in 1935. One year later, Mitchell was already Chief of Design in the newly founded Cadillac studio, where he celebrated his first success with the Cadillac 60 Special. In 1954, he was promoted to Director of Styling; in 1958, succeeding Earl, he became the second Vice President in GM’s history. Mitchell did away with the chromeheavy design of the Earl era, which was so much in love with rear fins and, at the beginning of the 1960s, established a new design language. Important models of this new development

were the Buick Riviera and the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (split window) of 1963. Even though Mitchell was no longer busy at the drawing board after 1956, there were some GM models which can be considered personal designs; in addition to the Riviera and the Corvette, these include the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, the 1970 Chevy Camaro, the 1975 Cadillac Seville, and the 1977 Chevrolet Impala. Mitchell was a cantankerous and difficult character, a feared boss displaying irretrievable machismo; for him, automotive design was a male domain. Upon his initiative, the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild competition was ended in 1968 because he feared that not only Afro- and Hispano-American youths might take part in the competition, but also females. Mitchell retired in 1977, not without heaping ridicule on his colleagues at Mercedes-Benz in the magazine Der Spiegel beforehand; he claimed that the design of the Stuttgart brand was antiquated and staid.

Pontiac Grand Prix, 1963

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, 1964

William L. Mitchell 1912–1988 GM Cadillac 60 Buick Riviera Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Cadillac Eldorado Pontiac Grand Prix Chevrolet Impala Chevrolet Camaro Cadillac Seville

Buick Riviera, 1963

143

M Wolfgang Möbius 1938–2013 Opel Porsche Opel Rekord C Porsche 928 Porsche 933 Porsche Boxster

Carlo Mollino 1905–1973 Nardi Bisiluro

From 1962, Möbius worked in Opel’s newly established design studio under Clare MacKichan, and later Anatole Lapine. During this time, he worked on medium-range sedans, but also developed sports car concepts. When Lapine went to Porsche as Chief of Design in 1969, he took Möbius with him as Chief Designer. From 1971, Möbius redesigned various Opel sports car concepts to replace the Porsche 911 with the planned

928 model. Möbius remained Chief Designer under Lapine’s successor, Lagaay, until he retired in 2000.

After leaving school, Mollino registered for a course at the engineering faculty and then changed to the newly established Istituto Superiore di Architettura (ISAD) in Milan, where he first studied art history, and later architecture. He completed his diploma in 1931 and started to work in his father’s architects’ practice. Mollino had many skills, working as architect, furniture designer, photographer, fashion designer, stage designer, and writer; he participated in motor racing, was a stunt pilot and, in the 1940s, was reputed to be the best skier in Italy. After some success as architect and furniture designer, Mollino began to design cars in the 1950s. He designed a streamline auto body for OSCA, the

Maserati brothers’ company, in which he took part in the Le Mans race in 1953. Mollino’s best-known automobile is likely to be the Nardi Bisiluro (twin torpedo), which he designed for the 1955 24 Hours race at Le Mans in cooperation with Mario Damonte. As a result of contact with another racing car, a Jaguar, the extremely lightweight car was pushed off the track after six laps. Mollino designed many promotional vehicles for the Italian energy group, AGIP, which caused a stir—exhibition booths on wheels, which perfectly matched the pattern language of the Milan triennial exhibitions of the 1950s. Mollino’s designs work with biomorphous forms and are influenced by futurism and surrealism.

Nardi Bisiluro Racing Car, 1955

“Nube d’Argento”/Silver Cloud

Advertising bus for AgipGas, 1957

144

Porsche 928, 1977

M Having trained as a toolmaker, Muth studied commercial art and design. His first orders were for illustrations for automobile catalogs of various German manufacturers. For the motor journals of a large publishing house, he drew design proposals for contemporary sports cars. This helped him to get a job as a designer with Ford Cologne in 1965. After a spell at Ford USA, Muth worked on the Capri 1 at the Ford studio in Cologne. The Micro Car Berliner with electric drive was launched in 1968. In 1971, Muth

joined BMW as Chief of Design and took over the interior design and, later, the motorbike design. In 1980 Muth went to Japan, where he stayed for ten years and worked for a number of companies designing motorbikes (Suzuki), cars (Mazda Miata MX-5), remote control systems (Tamiya), watches, and helicopters. He then moved to Switzerland and worked as Associate Professor at Art Center Europe, a branch of the Pasadena Art Center College of Design (ACCD).

Hans A. Muth 1935 Ford BMW Capri 1 Studie Berliner BMW R 90 S, R 100 RS Suzuki Katana

Ford Berliner City Car, 1968

After his time at high school, Najjar started his training in the production department at Ford in 1935. When asked by Henry Ford, who happened to drop in to the department, whether he was happy with his job, Najjar replied that he would prefer to design cars rather than assemble them. This prompted Ford to move him to the design department that was about to be set up under Eugene Gregorie and Edsel Ford. Until his retirement in 1979, Najjar was Chief of Design at various Ford studios, focusing primarily on the design of concept cars and experimental vehicles. During World

War Two, Najjar also contributed to the design of the M4A3 Sherman tank and the B-24 bomber. Najjar became known through the experimental vehicles displayed in Ford’s “Stylerama” shows of the 1950s—the Mercury XM800, and the Lincoln Futura which a few years later was used to develop the first Batmobile. In the years between 1955 and 1960, Najjar supervised the design of the Lincoln Continental models. In 1962, Najjar and Bill Schmidt designed the first study for the Ford Mustang, at that time still as a mid-engined concept.

Ford Mustang Concept, 1962

Lincoln Futura, 1955

John Najjar Ferzely 1918–2010 Ford Lincoln Continental Lincoln Futura Mercury XM-800 Ford Mustang Concept Car

145

N Dick Nesbitt 1946 Ford Lincoln Continental Mark V Ford Mustang II

Nesbitt attended a study course in design at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, from 1967 to 1971. Following its completion, he started to work in the Advanced Design Studio for the Lincoln and Mercury. At the beginning of the 1970s, he worked on the Lincoln Continental Mark V program. Later, Nesbitt moved to the International Design Studio, where he

organized various projects with Ghia. Nesbitt designed the Ford Carousel van, revised the design of the Ford Bronco, and made a significant contribution to the design of the Ford Mustang II. In 1980, he set up on his own as design consultant. He designed a concept car for Chrysler, from which the Voyager series was developed.

Ford Mustang II, 1974

Ernst Neumann-Neander 1871–1954 Neander Driving Machine

Ned Nickles (?) GM Cadillac 62 Chevrolet Corvair Buick Riviera

146

Neumann (his second name, Neander, is the translation of “Neumann” into Greek) studied fine art painting in Kassel, Munich and Paris. Initially, he worked as a caricaturist and advertising designer. This was followed in 1903 by a five-year stay in Paris which provided him with the opportunity to get to know the automotive industry and current trends in art. In 1908, Neumann founded the advertising and illustration agency, Atelier Neumann, in Berlin, which focused primarily on car manufacturers. In addition, he worked as an auto body designer, showing several pieces of work at the Werkbund exhibition in Cologne in 1914.

In the same year, he published the article “The Architecture of Vehicles,” a treatise on the principles of automotive design. From 1918, he started to build motorbikes and the so-called “driving machines,” a mixture of bicycles, tricycles, and four-wheelers.

Nickles’ first mention as designer at GM is linked with the famous postwar Cadillacs with rear fins designed by Frank Hershey’s team. In 1954, Nickles became Chief of Design in the Buick studio and designed the Buick Wildcat II show car. Later, Nickles moved to Chevrolet; the form of the first Chevrolet Corvair of 1960 was created under his management. After that, Nickles returned to Buick and,

under Bill Mitchell’s management, designed the Buick Riviera of 1962.

Neander Driving Machines, 1924

Chevrolet Corvair, 1962

N North studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena from 1953 to 1959, and thereafter started his career at GM. His first spectacular design was the Pontiac GTO of 1964. In the mid-1960s, North

became Chief of Design at the Oldsmobile studios, but was also involved in the designs for the Cadillac Eldorado and the Buick Riviera. The Oldsmobile Toronado of 1966 is considered his masterpiece. North retired in 1991.

David North 1935 GM Pontiac GTO Oldsmobile Toronado Cadillac Eldorado Buick Riviera

Pontiac GTO, 1966

Northup trained as a joiner and thereafter worked for the car manufacturer Wills Sainte Claire. In 1924, he moved to the coachbuilder Murray Corporation of America, where he was responsible for serial auto bodies while Ray Dietrich was responsible for special auto bodies. While at Murray, North worked for those manufacturers that did not have their own auto body departments, such as Hupp, whose

Hupmobile Century Eight he designed in 1928. In the same year, he became Art Director and Chief Designer at Willys-Overland. His designs for the 1929 Willys-Knights and the Graham “Blue Streak” of 1932, with their slanting radiators and attached fenders, were considered trendsetters. North died unexpectedly in 1937 when working on the successor to the “Blue Streak.”

Amos Northup 1889–1937 Wills Murray Graham-Paige Hupmobile Century Eight Graham “Blue Streak”

Graham Supercharged, 1937

147

N Satoru Nozaki (?) Toyota

Nozaki worked as designer for ­Toyota, where he was asked, in 1964, to ­revise the designs by Albrecht von Goertz for a GT that had originally

been developed by Yamaha for Nissan. In 1965, the car was presented to the press as the Toyota 2000 GT.

2000 GT

Toyota 2000 GT, 1965

David Ogle 1922–1962 Ford Ogle Design Ogle SX1000

Josef Maria Olbrich 1867–1908 Opel

Having left the military where he had served as a pilot, Ogle studied industrial design at the Central School of Art and Design in London from 1945. He started as designer of radios, which included the well-known Bush TR82. From 1952, Ogle worked as designer at Ford in Dagenham, and in 1954 he founded Ogle Design. From 1958, he designed automobiles for small English manufacturers; the SX1000 in particular—which was based on the Austin Mini—promised to become a

success. On his way to a business appointment, Ogle had a fatal accident in the car. His colleague, Tom Karen, took over the company.

Olbrich was one of the leading Art Nouveau designers in the German-speaking countries. He designed furniture, embroidery, glasses, cutlery, and also auto bodies for Opel, which did not, however, make it into production. From 1882 to 1886, Olbrich studied architecture at a state vocational college in Vienna and, from 1890, fine art painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was a founding

member of the Vienna Secession. In 1899, Olbrich was commissioned with the design of the Mathildenhöhe Artists’ Colony at Darmstadt. In 1907, together with Peter Behrens, Richard Riemerschmid, Hermann Muthesius, and others, he founded the Deutscher Werkbund, the first design association in Germany. In the same year, Olbrich set up on his own with a practice for architecture and design.

Design for Opel, 1908

148

Ogle SX1000, 1962

O Opron studied architecture from 1952. After a period as technical draftsman for an aircraft manufacturer, he started to work for Simca in 1957. His first design was the Fulgur Study, a fourwheeled UFO with planned nuclear power aggregate and a glass dome over the passenger cabin. The Simca 1100 with slanting rear was based on designs by Opron. In 1962, Opron joined Citroën under Flaminio Bertoni and after his death became Chief Designer in 1964. His first production design was the Citroën Ami 8 in 1969. This was followed in 1970 by the spectacular designs for the Citroën

GS and the Citroën SM with Maserati engine. This design was considered Opron’s masterpiece right from the beginning. The successor to the DS, the CX, which was launched in 1974, was his last work for Citroën. Opron was poached by Renault and pushed the previous Chief of Design, Gaston Juchet, into second place. At Renault, Opron was responsible for the Fuego, the R25 and the Alpine A310. In 1986, Opron moved to Italy to join the Centro Stile Fiat and while there also worked for Alfa Romeo. From 1992 to 2000, Opron worked as an independent design consultant.

Robert Opron 1938 Simca Citroën Renault Alfa Romeo Citroën Ami 8 Citroën GS Citroën SM Citroën CX Renault Fuego Renault 25 Alfa Romeo SZ

Simca Fulgur, 1959

Citroën SM, 1970

Citroën CX, 1974

Citroën GS, 1970

Alfa Romeo SX, 1989

149

O Joe Oros 1916–2012 GM George Walker Design Ford 1949 Ford 1952 Lincoln Ford Thunderbird Ford Mustang Ford Torino

Oros studied industrial design at the Cleveland Institute of Art and, in 1939, went to the General Motors School of Automotive Design, where he worked for Cadillac. At GM, he again met his fellow student, Elwood Engel. In 1942 he married the Hudson designer, Betty Thatcher. After his time with the Army, Oros worked in George Walker’s design studio and persuaded Walker to also employ Engel. Oros and Engel designed for Nash until Walker pulled in a lucrative order for Ford in 1946. This opened up the opportunity to take part in the competition for designing the 1949 Ford. The winning

design was probably produced by Dick Caleal, but was revised by Oros and Engel. When Walker became Chief of Design at Ford in 1955, Oros followed him. He was part of the design team of the 1956 Lincoln Premiere, and made a major contribution to the design of the four-seater Ford Thunderbird of 1958. The car most often associated with Oros was the Ford Mustang of 1964, even though a large part of the work on the production design was produced by David Ash. As Chief of Design, Oros was also responsible for the 1968 Ford Torino. He retired in 1975.

Ford Thunderbird, 1958

Ford Mustang, 1965

Jacques Ousset (?)

Ousset was designer at Renault. His first project was the 1956 Renault Dauphine, which was still produced in cooperation with Carrozzeria Ghia. In

the 1960s, Ousset worked at Style Renault under Gaston Juchet, designing the R6 of 1968 and the R15/17 series from 1971.

Renault R6, 1968

Renault R17, 1971

Renault Renault Dauphine Renault R6, R15, R17

150

P Paulin left school at the age of fourteen and trained as a dental technician. In 1931, he had his idea of a retractable hardtop for automobiles patented. This was followed up with patents for a retractable windscreen and retractable headlights. Once Paulin had attracted the attention of the carrossier Pourtout, he gave up his work as dental technician and became designer. His first designs included coupes and cabriolets for Panhard, Unic, Delage, a “teardrop” Talbot-Lago, and the Darl’mat Peugeot race car for the 1937 and 1938 Le Mans. Pourtout, Emile Darl’mat, and Paulin cooperated to bring the retractable roof to serial production maturity

and to market the design, which was used for the first time on the Peugeot 402 BL Éclipse Décapotable in 1934. Thereafter, a number of coupes and cabriolets were fitted with the Paulin-Pourtout roof. In 1938 he designed an aerodynamic auto body based on a Bentley chassis for the racing driver André Embiricos. That design attracted the attention of Rolls-Royce/Bentley, and Paulin was invited to design for both brands. At the start of the war, Paulin joined the Resistance and cooperated with the British Secret Service. He was betrayed and sentenced to death in 1941. An escape attempt failed, and Paulin was executed in March 1942.

Peugeot 402 Pourtout, 1935

Embiricos Bentley, 1938

Pietsch was a designer who worked for nearly all big American brands, but did not have the privilege of leaving more than traces in terms of production models. Pietsch studied design and technical drawing from 1933 to 1937. He started as draftsman at Chrysler, and was quickly promoted to the position of designer. In 1940 he moved to Hudson where, due to the war, he was mainly occupied with illustrations for prospectuses and construction drawings for aircraft. In 1944, Pietsch went to the auto body builder Briggs, and supplied designs for postwar models by Chrysler and Packard. In 1947, Pietsch became Deputy Chief of Design at Ford, but work on the important 1949 model year had already been completed. Chrysler’s design department under the new Chief of

Design, Virgil Exner, seemed to be a perfect match for Pietsch’s creativity in 1950. In 1952, he went on to work for Studebaker in Loewy’s RLA studio. Under Robert Bourke and Bob Koto, Pietsch designed cars and trucks but, in 1955, the financial situation at Studebaker brought this relationship to an end too. After a few years as industrial designer for a number of design studios, Pietsch returned to Studebaker once again but, frustrated, moved to Chrysler in 1962, where he worked as interior automotive designer for several years. He changed jobs once more when he went to American Motors for the Jeep brand, but returned to Chrysler owing to the acquisition of that company. He retired in 1972.

Georges Paulin 1902–1942 Peugeot Bentley Peugeot Darl’mat Coupes Éclipse Décapotable Embiricos Bentley

Theodore Wells Pietsch II 1912–1993 Chrysler Hudson Ford RLA Studebaker AMC

151

P Carrozzeria Pininfarina 1930

Battista Pinin Farina 1893–1966

Lancia Maserati Ferrari Alfa Romeo Nash Austin Fiat Peugeot GM Nissan Daewoo

Battista Farina, the younger brother of Giovanni Farina, left school and then learnt the trade in his brother’s bodywork shop, Stabilimenti Farina. In 1921, Battista visited the USA to study the production methods used by the Ford works in Detroit. Inspired by this study trip, he founded Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in Turin in 1930. During the 1930s, Pinin Farina attracted attention with its aerodynamic coupes and racing cars, in which the ponton form was deployed earlier than by any other European design studio. However, the carrozzeria did not achieve its worldwide fame until after the war, when it produced spectacular designs for sports cars, sedans, and prototypes. In 1961, Battista Farina was allowed to change his surname officially to Pininfarina after he had already received, some years earlier, an Order from the Italian state for his merits in design and industry. Some of Pinin Farina’s early milestones in automotive design include the Cisitalia coupe of 1951 and the Lancia Aurelia coupe of 1952. Pininfarina founded the reputation of the Scuola Italiana with its trendsetting designs, which were not only important for Europe’s automotive industry, but also for the American manufacturers. The ponton body, the

trapeze shape, the “Pininfarina” front with its large radiator grille and the bonnet edge at the level of the headlight centre, the belt line, and A-line were used not only for super sports cars, but also on mass-produced models. Even though studios such as Bertone, Ghia, Touring, Michelotti, and Frua produced numerous notable designs, for several decades Pininfarina seemed to be the most prolific studio with the greatest expertise. The exceptional position of the company is evidenced by contracts with nearly all manufacturers worldwide and, in some cases, by cooperation with the manufacturer as an external design department for several decades (with Peugeot and Ferrari).

Alfa Romeo 6C, 1935

Lancia Aprilia Aerodinamica, 1940

Pininfarina set the benchmark—in 1950, he launched the sleek, slim Italian line in Europe; with the Lancia Florida II of 1957, he established the trapeze shape and thereby ushered in a new style paradigm in automotive design. A soft, aerodynamic “flow” surrounded the designs of the mid-1960s, and distinguished Pininfarina from the hard wedge shape of its competitors, Bertone and Italdesign. The designs of the late 1970s and 1980s were characterized by

Maserati A6, 1949

152

P deliberately plain and simple shapes. Pininfarina developed safety concepts for road and competition vehicles and invented numerous details which, with many manufacturers, were not applied in serial production until a decade later (for example, headlights and rear lights behind glass). Battista Pininfarina and his son Sergio, who managed the business from 1966 to 1994, not only employed talented designers, but also construction engineers and technicians that turned the traditional carrozzeria into a high-tech company with design, manufacturing, test, and development departments and, at times, more than 1,200 employees. By contrast with other studios, Pininfarina also survived—seemingly unscathed—

the increasing integration of the design departments into the automotive companies from the 1970s onwards. Pininfarina tried to compete at global level with the manufacture of small series, the development and production of components, and transportation design (cars, commercial vehicles, railways, ships). However, survival was made difficult by the manufacturers’ productivity improvement processes; the financial crisis of 2007 and the sudden death of Sergio Pininfarina’s son Andrea in 2008 sealed the company’s fate. At the end of 2015, Pininfarina was sold to Mahindra, the Indian conglomerate company. This meant that the last big Italian studio had lost its independence.

Lancia Florida II, 1957

Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, 1960

Alfa Romeo Duetto, 1964

BLMC 1100 Aerodinamica, 1968

Peugeot 604, 1976

153

P F. Alexander Porsche 1935–2012 Porsche Porsche Design Porsche 904 Porsche 911

Bill Porter 1931 GM Pontiac GTO, Firebird Buick Park Avenue, LeSabre

The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche went to the Rudolf Steiner School in Stuttgart and, in 1956, started a course at the Ulm School of Design (HfG). After two semesters, he left the HfG in 1957 and began to work on car body development for Porsche under Erwin Komenda. In 1962, F.A. Porsche became the company’s first Director of Design. His biggest challenge was the design of the 356 successor, the 901, which was presented in 1963 and launched one year later as the 911. The design development of this car had been started by Komenda and, to a large degree, had been executed

by Heinrich Klie. After the restructuring of Porsche AG and the withdrawal of the family members from all important positions, F.A. Porsche founded the Porsche Design Studio in Stuttgart, with which he moved to Zell am See (Austria) in 1974, designing watches, spectacles, and consumer electronics.

Porter studied fine art at the University of Louisville, and thereafter industrial design at the Pratt Institute, New York. In 1957, he completed an internship at GM and was permanently employed in 1958. In 1959, he started in the Pontiac studio. After changing several times between the advanced and the production studios, from 1967 he

worked on the Firebird, Le Mans, GTO, Catalina, Bonneville, and Grand Prix models. From 1980 until his departure in 1996, Porter was Chief of Design in the Buick Studio No. 1 and was responsible for the designs of the Park Avenue, LeSabre, and Riviera models. From 1980 to 1996, Porter taught design history at Wayne State University.

Porsche 911, 1963

Pontiac GTO, 1972

Claude Prost-Dame (?) Renault Renault R4 Renault R16 154

Prost-Dame was designer at Renault from 1955 to 1980 and, from 1958, made a major contribution to the design of the R4, and later the R16, under Gaston Juchet. Renault R4, 1961

R Rabbone was designer at Pininfarina in the early 1950s. During that time, he was responsible for some Ferrari and Lancia models, such as the Fer-

rari Inter 212, the 400 SA Agnelli, and the Lancia B24. In addition, the design of the Nash-Healey Pininfarina is attributed to him.

Adriano Rabbone (?) Pininfarina Ferrari 212 Inter Ferrari 400 SA Agnelli Lancia B24

Ferrari 400 SA Agnelli, 1959

Lancia B24, 1956

Ramaciotti studied engineering at Turin Polytechnic and, after qualifying, joined Pininfarina in 1972. In 1988, he succeeded Leonardo Fioravanti to become head of the research department and, in 2002, he finally became Director of the research and development branch. He retired in 2005, but two years later was appointed Direc-

tor of the Fiat design department by the Fiat boss, Sergio Marchionne. He finally retired in 2015. Ramaciotti was in charge of almost all important Ferrari designs between 1980 and 2000, as well as various Alfa Romeo and Maserati designs, since both brands belonged to the Fiat Group.

Reinhart became Chief of Design at Packard in 1947, succeeding Werner Gubitz. He designed the extremely successful 1951 model. Internal discord at Packard resulted in Reinhart moving to Loewy’s RLA. There he worked for Studebaker, and was responsible for the design of the British Hillman Minx. In the middle of the 1950s he went to Ford and took

charge of the Lincoln design team; the famous Continental Mark II of 1956 was created under his management. In the early 1960s, together with Syd Mead, he designed future concepts for US Steel, before he returned to Ford in 1968; there he worked on safety features and in the special vehicles department. He retired in 1973.

Lorenzo Ramaciotti 1948 Pininfarina

John M. Reinhart 1921–1988 Packard RLA Ford US Steel

Lincoln Continental Mark II, 1956

155

R Manfred Rennen (?) BMW BMW 2002 BMW E12, E28, E30

Carl Heinz Renner 1923–2001 GM Chevrolet Pontiac Oldsmobile

Rennen started at BMW under Wilhelm Hofmeister in the early 1960s, and worked on the company’s important models until the 1980s. His first big project was the development of the 1602/2002 (E114) sports sedan, for which Rennen also designed a Targa/cabriolet version. Rennen de-

veloped the first Series 5 generation (E12), developed by Paul Bracq, to full serial maturity. Under Claus Luthe he became Chief Designer responsible for upgrading the Series 5 (E28), the second Series 3 generation (E30), and the first Series 7 top-line sedan (E23).

BMW E23, 1977

BMW 2002, 1968

Renner was born in Nuremberg but, in 1927, the family emigrated to Detroit in America. In the 1940s, Renner went to California and became draftsman at Walt Disney. Restructuring in the studio prompted Renner to return to Detroit in 1944 and to apply for the job of designer at GM in the orientation studio. In 1945, he became designer in the Chevrolet studio. His first project was the 1955 Chevrolet, in combination with the Corvette-derived Nomad. In 1954, Renner became Deputy Chief of Design in the body development

studio, but he also worked for Oldsmobile and Pontiac. The LaSalle II and Cadillac Cyclone “Motorama” show cars were created in cooperation with Harley Earl. Together with Bill Mitchell and Larry Shinoda, Renner developed concepts for the Corvette. Owing to a nervous condition that limited his ability to produce drawings, from 1962 he focused more and more on administrative activities. Renner retired in 1980.

Chevrolet Nomad Study, 1955

156

R Revelli di Beaumont went to military school in Naples and followed this with a course in engineering. In 1925, he moved to Turin and worked as designer for Stabilimenti Farina and Ghia. In 1929, he started to work as consultant for Fiat, a relationship that was to last for several decades. From 1930, Revelli di Beaumont produced designs for Pininfarina and Viotti. At that time, he already worked on mass-produced cars for Fiat which, two decades later, resulted in the 600 Multipla model of 1953. During the war, Revelli di Beaumont designed transport and ambulance vehicles; from 1946, he worked

for Fiat, Siata, and Pininfarina (Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 with Michelotti). From 1952 to 1954, Revelli di Beaumont worked for GM. In 1954, he returned to Italy and founded a studio for design and prototypes. His most important customer was Simca, where he provided major input into the development of the 1000, 1300/1500 and Aronde models. Other clients included the motorbike manufacturer, Aermacchi, as well as Fiat and Pininfarina. In the mid-1960s, Revelli di Beaumont became teacher at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and at the Scuola d’Arte e Design in Turin.

Fiat 527, 1934

Alfa Romeo 6C, 1947

Mario Revelli di Beaumont 1907–1985 Pininfarina Viotti Fiat Fiat 525 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Simca 1000, 1300

Simca 1300, 1963

After graduating from university, in 1921 Roberts joined the LeBaron design studio, which had just been founded. Following the departure of Dietrich and Hibbard, the founders of LeBaron, Roberts became boss of the coachbuilder in 1925. In 1926, LeBaron became part of Briggs Manufacturing, the second largest American

auto body supplier after Fisher Body. Under Roberts’ management, LeBaron designed and built special models for Chrysler, Duesenberg, and Cadillac. The most famous designs produced under his management are the Chrysler Newport and the 1940 Thunderbolt, designed by Alex Tremulis.

Chrysler Dual Cowl Phaeton, 1933

Chrysler Thunderbolt, 1941

Ralph Roberts (?) LeBaron Briggs Chrysler

157

R Helene Rother 1908–1999 GM Nash

Edmund Rumpler 1872–1940 Adler Rumpler-Werke Tropfenwagen Tropfen-Benz

Rother studied at the Hamburg School for Arts and Crafts and at the Bauhaus in Dessau. At the beginning of the 1930s, she moved to Paris and designed clothing, hats, and accessories. In 1939, she fled with her daughter from occupied France to a refugee camp in North Africa and, from there, to New York in 1941. Her first job was that of draftswoman for Marvel Comics. In 1943, she moved to Detroit and was the first permanently employed female designer in the GM Styling department. Rother designed textiles and interior linings, handles, lamps, and dashboard instruments. A newspaper reported that she earned three times the average male wage. In 1947, Rother founded her design studio in

Detroit and designed furniture, glass windows, and interiors for cars. After she had published an essay on the subject of interior design in automobiles in 1948, she was hired by Nash and worked for the manufacturer as design consultant until 1956. She was the first woman to speak at the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit in 1951. In 1953, Nash won the Jackson Medal for outstanding design and the Helene Rother name was a key feature in the Nash advertising, emphasizing it as a brand name and proof of quality of outstanding interior design. From 1960, Rother primarily worked as a glass artist on sacral stained-glass windows.

Illustration of the quality of the interior design in a contemporary prospectus for Nash

Nash Airflite, 1951

Rumpler studied mechanical engineering at Vienna University of Technology. After a few jobs, he worked for Daimler-Benz from 1900. In 1902, he moved to Adler and, in 1906, set up on his own with a studio for engineering design in automobile and aviation technology. In 1908, he started an aircraft factory which, until the end of World War One, employed more

than 2,000 members of staff. After the 1921 Tropfenwagen, which was technically and formally too avantgarde and therefore a commercial failure, Rumpler developed the record-breaking Tropfen-Benz car (1923) for Mercedes-Benz and, from 1930, streamlined HGVs with front drive and modern suspension technology, which enabled a speed of over 100 km/h.

Benz Tropfenwagen, 1923

158

R After completing high school, Rybicki started to work in the tool and paint departments of Fisher Body. After completing his military service, he joined GM in 1944, where he first worked in the orientation studio and later in the Cadillac studio under Bill Mitchell and became Senior Designer in 1950. One of his first projects was the 1953 Le Mans dream car. In 1957, Rybicki became Chief Designer at the Oldsmobile studio, in 1962 at Chevrolet. The Chevrolet Super Nova Study was presented in 1964 as a response to the Ford Mustang. In 1967, Rybicki and Mitchell produced the concept for the Chevrolet Camaro. In 1970, Rybicki became Chief of Design for Chevrolet and Pontiac cars, as well as for the HGVs made by Chevrolet and GMC. In 1972, he was given the responsi-

bility for the Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac car designs. When Bill Mitchell retired in 1977, Rybicki became his successor and the third Vice President of Styling at GM. Rybicki faced enormous challenges: his life was made difficult by new laws on energy and safety, strong competition from Japan and Europe, and a changed attitude of the GM management towards design. He had to modify the entire range of GM models, making them slimmer, smaller, and more modern. This did not succeed in a hurry, and was not well accepted by consumers. GM lurched towards a crisis which it did not emerge from until the beginning of the 1990s. The designs produced during the mid-1980s are considered the lowest point of American automotive design. Rybicki retired in 1986.

Irving Rybicki 1921–2001 GM Chevrolet LeMans Dream Car Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Cadillac LeMans Concept, 1953

Chevrolet Camaro, 1967

Chevrolet Super Nova, 1964

Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1977

159

S Bruno Sacco 1933 Mercedes-Benz MB 600 W100 C-111 ESF W126 S-Class W201 C-Class SL 500 R 129

Having trained as a field surveyor, Sacco studied at Turin Polytechnic. When, in 1951, he saw a show car designed by Raymond Loewy, he decided that he wanted to become an automobile designer. Sacco had already supplied first designs to Ghia and Pininfarina while still a student. At Ghia, he worked together with Giovanni Savonuzzi and Sergio Sartorelli. Sacco’s knowledge of the German language led to a meeting with Karl Wilfert. The latter invited Sacco to Mercedes-Benz in 1957 and, in 1958, Sacco started there as the second stylist next to Paul Bracq. In 1975, he followed in the footsteps of Friedrich Geiger as head of the main style department. In addition to current projects, he also worked on future

projects such as the C-111 Wankel sports car, and the ESF (experimental safety vehicle). The first production design bearing his signature was the W126 S-Class with a moderate wedge shape and the side bumper panels that were later colloquially referred to as “Sacco panels.” In 1980, Sacco defined the Mercedes-Benz design philosophy as “vertical affinity” (aesthetic longevity) and “horizontal homogeneity”—design characteristics such as the radiator grille, headlights, and rear lights should be recognizable in all lines. The W201 “Baby Benz” followed in 1982, a model designed to appeal to a different category of buyer. In 1987, Sacco was appointed Director of Design. In 1999 he handed over to Peter Pfeiffer and left the company.

Mercedes C-111, 1969/71

Mercedes S-Class, 1979

Mercedes 500 SL, 1990

160

Mercedes 190, 1983

S After the Russian October Revolution, Sakhnoffsky emigrated to Paris in 1918. In 1919, the family moved to Switzerland. Sakhnoffsky established a reputation as illustrator and designer. From 1923, he worked for Vanden Plas in Brussels and advanced from a simple designer to design consultant. In 1929, Sakhnoffsky accepted an offer from the Hayes Body Corporation and settled in the USA. At Hayes he designed auto bodies for Auburn, Cord and American Austin. He won two European design prizes for the Cord L-29, which he designed as his private vehicle in 1929. At the beginning of the 1930s Sakhnoffsky joined Packard, but after a short spell

he moved to White Trucks, for which he designed sensational HGVs with special bodies. During that time, Sakhnoffsky was one of the best-known designers of the streamline style in the USA. In the 1940s and 1950s he worked as freelancer in the Brooks Stevens studio and designed bicycles, kitchen utensils, and furniture for various manufacturers. He had become technical adviser to the Esquire men’s magazine in 1934 and retained that position until his death. At the beginning of the 1950s, Sakhnoffsky joined forces with Preston Tucker to establish a sports car production facility for the Tucker Carioca; however, these plans did not materialize.

Alexis de Sakhnoffsky 1901–1964 Vanden Plas Hayes Packard Cord L-29 1933 Nash 1934 LaSalle White Trucks

White Truck, 1936

Tucker Carioca, 1955

White Biertransporter, 1939

During the 1940s and until the 1960s, Salomone, together with Franco Martinengo, was chief designer and head of the studio at Pininfarina. The first designs attributed to him include the

Lancia B24 and various Ferrari models of the early 1950s. One of his last projects was the Ferrari 275 GTB of 1964.

Francesco Salomone (?) Pininfarina Lancia B24 Ferrari 275 GTB

Lancia B24, 1955

Ferrari 256 GTB, 1964

161

S John Samsen 1927 Ford Chrysler Ford Thunderbird ’55 Chrysler Imperial Plymouth Barracuda Plymouth Roadrunner Plymouth GTX

Samsen studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University and took his first job at McDonnell Aircraft, which was followed with work as engineer and designer for Studebaker. In 1952 he moved to Ford. His first big project was the work on the 1955 Ford Thunderbird. In 1958, he was poached by Virgil Exner and joined Chrysler, where he designed for DeSoto and Imperial.

At the beginning of the 1960s, he became Chief of Design at the Plymouth studio and developed the Barracuda, Road Runner, GTX and Duster models. His design for the first Barracuda model of 1964 was adopted almost without changes. Samsen retired in 1979 to devote himself to drawing and painting. He was considered one of the best illustrators in the industry.

Chrysler Imperial, 1961

Carrosserie Saoutchik 1920–1957 Delahaye Bentley Mercedes-Benz Minerva Talbot-Lago Pegaso

Plymouth Barracuda, 1964

Plymouth GTX, 1970

Jacques Saoutchik had emigrated with his family from Ukraine to Paris in 1899. He completed an apprenticeship as joiner and, in 1906, started his coachbuilding company in Neuilly-sur-Seine. From the very beginning, Saoutchik wanted to be one of the best carrossiers, even though he had

no background in this trade. Indeed, he succeeded in the 1920s to advance to the top of French and European carrossiers, producing bodies for luxury automobiles. Saoutchik’s style was playful, ornamental, and somewhat over the top, comparable only to his Parisian competitor Figoni

Mercedes-Benz with Saoutchik body, 1928

162

S & Falaschi. He invented a specific type of auto body called the “transformable,” the combination of a large sedan with a cabriolet roof and retractable windows. Another special characteristic of his designs were low-slung bodies and long bonnets. Saoutchik’s designs sometimes bordered on the absurd, and were used many times as models for caricatures on the subjects of luxury automobiles and automotive design. Until the start of World War

Two, Saoutchik was very successful. From 1947, his designs caught the eye with their fully encased front wheels, which gave the automobiles the appearance of motor yachts. In spite of the commission for the auto bodies of the Spanish Pegaso sports car, after 1955 the orders for special bodies fell to such an extent that the company, which since 1952 had been managed by Saoutchik’s son Pierre, had to close in 1957.

Delahaye, 1949

Pegaso, 1955

Sapino’s first post was at Ghia in 1959, where he designed project studies for various manufacturers. In 1967, he joined local competitor Pininfarina for two years and designed spectacular prototypes for Ferrari, such as the 512 S, but also production vehicles such as the Ferrari 365 GTC/4 and the Peugeot 504. From 1969,

center; after Ghia had been acquired by Ford in 1973, the studios merged. Sapino became Chief Designer and later headed up the Management. He developed numerous studies and pre-series vehicles for Ford USA and Ford Europe, the basis for the development of production vehicles such as the Granada, Pinto, Escort, Sierra, and StreetKa. He retired in 2001.

he managed Ford’s Italian design

Filippo Sapino 1940 Ghia Pininfarina Ford Ferrari 512 S Ford Sierra Ford StreetKa

Ferrari 512 S, 1968

Ford StreetKa Concept, 1999

163

S Sergio Sartorelli 1928–2009 Ghia OSI Fiat Fiat 2300, 230S Karmann Ghia Type 34 Ford OSI 20M Fiat 126 Fiat Ritmo 1

After studying engineering at Turin Polytechnic, Sartorelli became a cartographer with the military in 1954, but was already producing designs for Carrozzeria Boano. In 1956, Giovanni Savonuzzi employed him as his assistant at Ghia. There, he worked together with Sergio Coggiola on the successor of the VW Karmann Ghia, the Type 34, and on the Fiat 2300S coupe. Following the death of Luigi Segre in 1963, Sartorelli left Ghia and joined Officine Stampaggi Industriali (OSI). Initially, OSI had no design department and Sartorelli worked as freelancer for Michelotti. When Giacomo Bianco joined OSI in 1965, Sartorelli became Director of the newly estab-

Fiat 2300 Coupe, 1963

VW Karmann Ghia Type 34, 1963

Ford OSI 20M, 1966

164

lished design department. This led to a succession of golden years, in which OSI produced various prototypes and small series, for example the Ford 20M coupe, the DAF City, the Alfa Romeo Scarabeo, and the OSI Bisiluro prototypes. When OSI hit serious financial difficulties, Sartorelli managed to integrate the development and design department into the Fiat Centro Stile in 1969. Sartorelli was Director of Design of the department for future studies at Fiat until 1984 and developed some successful volume production models for the group—the Fiat 126, the successor of the Fiat 500, the first Fiat Ritmo, the Lancia Beta, and the Fiat Regata. Sartorelli retired in 1984.

S Sason (born Karl-Erik Sixten Andersson) was the son of a sculptor who, from 1939, worked as a draftsman for the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. When, after the war, Saab wanted to build automobiles as well as military aircraft, Sason designed the “original Saab,” the 92, in 1949.

In parallel, he worked for Hasselblad, Electrolux, and Husqvarna. Sason remained faithful to Saab until his sudden death in 1967, but sadly did not live to see the production of his Saab 99 design. He was one of the most distinguished Swedish industrial designers of the twentieth century.

Saab 92, 1950

Saab 99, 1967

Savonuzzi studied engineering at Turin Polytechnic. In 1939, he started to work for Fiat Aviazione and worked on aerodynamics and jet engines. During World War Two, he met Piero Dusio who founded the company Cisitalia in 1945 and wanted to build sports and racing cars. In 1948, Savonuzzi became Technical Director at Cisitalia and developed an aerodynamic experimental vehicle, the Nuvolari Spider, and the legendary Cisitalia 202, among others. In 1954, he succeeded Felice Mario Boano as Director of Design at Carrozzeria Ghia. Under his

aegis, concept and show cars such as the Ford Futura, and the Gilda and Supersonic studies for Chrysler, were developed during the following years. In 1957, Savonuzzi joined Chrysler in a full-time capacity as head of the development department for jet-engined cars. The Chrysler turbine car was produced by him in terms of engineering and body design. In 1969, he returned to Italy and became head of the Fiat development center. He retired in 1977. Savonuzzi was also Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Turin Polytechnic.

Cisitalia 202 Coupe, 1950

Ghia Supersonic, 1955

Sixten Sason 1912–1967 Saab Saab 92 Saab 99

Giovanni Savonuzzi 1911–1987 Fiat Ghia Chrysler Cisitalia 202 Ghia Gilda Ghia Supersonic Ford Futura Chrysler Turbine Car

Chrysler Turbine Car, 1962

165

S Malcolm Sayer 1916–1970 Jaguar C-Type D-Type E-Type XJ13 XJS

Carrozzeria Scaglietti 1951–1975

Sergio Scaglietti 1920–2011 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 275 GTB

Sayer studied aeronautics and vehicle engineering at Loughborough University. His first employer was Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1948, he went to Baghdad University in Iraq, and there established the Faculty of Engineering. In 1950 he returned to England. In 1951, Sayer started to work as designer and aerodynamics engineer for Jaguar. His first design to be manufactured was the C-Type racing sports car, which won the prestigious Le Mans race for Jaguar in 1951 and 1953. Its successor, called the D-Type, became even more important for the brand, and won the Le Mans races in 1955, 1956, and 1957. The sophisticated aerodynam-

ics, with the stabilizing fin behind the driver, meant that the D-Type achieved a speed of over 300 km/h. Sayer’s next masterpiece was the E-Type, which was presented in 1961, and which is one of the icons of automotive design. This was followed in 1965 by the Jaguar XJ13, a mid-engined racing car, only one prototype of which was ever produced and which never raced. Sayer also designed the Jaguar XJS, which had nothing to do with the biomorphic pattern language of the earlier racing cars, and was more a GT than a sports car, but today is seen as a classic design of the 1970s. Sayer died unexpectedly at the age of 54.

Jaguar XK-E, 1961

Jaguar XJS, 1975

The carrozzeria was founded by Sergio Scaglietti in 1951. Scaglietti had undergone training as a car mechanic in the 1930s. After World War Two, he set up on his own with a repair workshop in Maranello, later to evolve into Carrozzeria Scaglietti which, from the mid-1950s, produced auto bodies for Ferrari chassis. Sergio Scaglietti designed the auto bodies himself;

one of the best-known designs is the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. In addition to his work for Ferrari, Scaglietti designed racing cars for Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Stanguellini. From 1960, he concentrated on the production of auto bodies designed by other designers; he had become Ferrari’s preferred auto body supplier. Scaglietti sold out to Ferrari in 1975.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, 1956

166

S Scaglione studied aeronautic engineering in Bologna. This was followed by military service and deployment in World War Two, which Scaglione ended as prisoner of war in England. He returned to Italy in 1946. In 1948, Scaglione moved to Bologna and worked for some years as fashion draftsman for the burgeoning textile industry. In 1951, he tried to succeed as an automobile designer in Turin and initially applied to Pininfarina. Shortly afterwards, Scaglione met Nuccio Bertone, the sporadic collaboration leading to a continuous business relationship. The first spectacular projects were the BAT models for Alfa Romeo, which were produced between 1953 and 1955, but also the design for the first Giulia Sprint of 1953, the original design of which came from Giuseppe Scarnati.

In addition to Alfa Romeo, Scaglione worked for Fiat-Abarth, Arnolt-Bristol and NSU. In 1959, he set up on his own and designed the modified Porsche 356B Abarth Carrera GTL for Carlo Abarth. Additional designs were the first Lamborghini 350 GTV, the ATS 2500 GT and the Prince/Nissan 1900 Skyline Sprint. This was followed in the 1960s by the designs for Intermeccanica (the Apollo, Torino, Italia GFX, Italia IMX, and Indra). In 1967, Scaglione designed the legendary Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, one of his last designs. Scaglione had invested his capital in the company Intermeccanica; when this went into liquidiation and the coowner absconded to Canada, Scaglione was disillusioned and withdrew from the automotive industry and design. From 1981 until his death, he lived in a village near Livorno.

Franco Scaglione 1916–1993 Bertone Alfa Romeo BAT Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint NSU Prinz Sport Apollo GT Porsche-Abarth Carrera GTS Lamborghini 350 GTV Nissan Skyline Sprint Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale Intermeccanica Indra

NSU Sport Prinz, 1959

Lamborghini 350 GTV, 1966

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale, 1967

167

S Giuseppe Scarnati (?) Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Giulia Berlina I and II Alfetta

Herbert Schäfer 1932 Auto Union VW Golf 1 Scirocco 2 Passat B2, B3

Scarnati was the boss of auto body development at Alfa Romeo from about 1935 and was in charge of the company’s most important models through to the early 1970s. The 1953 Giulia Sprint goes back to his basic design which, because of a production bottleneck, was built by

Bertone and revised by Franco Scaglione. Scarnati was responsible for the “Americanized” design of the Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan of 1962 and for the Alfa Romeo Alfetta Berlina of 1972. He was succeeded by Ermanno Cressoni in 1975.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta, 1955

Alfa Romeo Giulia, 1965

Schäfer completed his training as coachbuilder and, in 1952, qualified as master coachbuilder. He then studied at the vocational school for coachbuilding at Kaiserslautern. He started to work for Auto Union as auto body mechanic and, at the end of the 1950s, became head of construction in the styling department. After a short period with Daimler-Benz, Schäfer joined the auto body development department at the Volkswagen Group in Wolfsburg in 1961. Following VW’s new orientation at the end of the 1960s, Schäfer focused on design. In 1971, he was put in charge of design in the field of research and, in 1972, he became Chief of Design. He over-

saw the design development of the new range of models with front-wheel drive (Golf, Polo, Passat, Scirocco) that were designed by Giorgio Giugiaro and was responsible for the redesign of the next generations. He retired in 1993; his successor was Helmut Warkuß.

VW Passat B2, 1980

168

VW Passat B3, 1988

S Schnell studied applied art/commercial art at Werkkunstschule Offenbach and started to work for Opel in 1952. In 1961, Schnell went to GM Design in Detroit for a few months to study drawing and design techniques, and also to learn about the organization of a design studio. In 1962, he became studio assistant and, in 1964, he became head of the “N 10” Opel Advanced Design Studio, which had been newly established by Clare MacKichan and was the first European design studio based on the GM model. Schnell’s first designs for what was to

become the Opel GT date from 1962. Under MacKichan’s successor, Chuck Jordan, who was in charge of the Opel’s design department from 1967 to 1971, Schnell had a major input into the development of various studies and concept cars for Opel. In addition, he worked on serial production models such as the Rekord C, the Manta A, the Ascona B, the Kadett D, and the Corsa A. In the 1980s, Schnell was the Chief of Design responsible for the Opel Calibra and the Opel Vectra. He retired in 1992.

Erhard Schnell 1927 Opel Rekord Kadett GT Manta

Opel GT, 1969

Opel Rekord C, 1966

Opel Manta A, 1971

After completing an apprenticeship as metalworker, Seehaus studied metal design at Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden and after that worked as model maker at Ford for five years. In the mid-1960s, Seehaus opted to join BMW as designer. At the beginning of the 1970s, he designed a racing car which Mario Andretti used for his race in Indianapolis. Seehaus was responsible for the Art Car series, BMW racing cars which, from 1975, were designed by artists such as Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichten-

stein, and Andy Warhol. Seehaus also worked as a sports equipment designer, and designed cockpits for gliders and sports airplanes, and a two-man bobsleigh for the German Bobsleigh and Luge Federation.

Wolfgang Seehaus 1936 Ford BMW BMW Art Cars

BMW Art Car of Alexander Calder, 1975

169

S Hans Seer 1937 Opel Kapitän Series Kadett D Monza Calibra

Luigi Segre 1919–1963 Ghia VW Karmann Ghia Renault Fregatte Renault Dauphine

Seer studied industrial design at Folkwangschule Essen. In 1962, he joined the new Opel styling department as designer. From 1966 to 1972, Seer was studio manager for the Kapitän, Diplomat and Admiral luxury sedans. In 1971, he became Chief of Design of the research studio (racing and rally cars, concept studies). From 1977

he was in charge of the Kadett and Monza volume production models and, in the 1980s, he worked on the new generation and was head of the studio for the Vectra and Calibra models. In 1996, Seer became the company’s first German Director of Design. He retired in 2002.

Opel Senator/Monza, 1978

Opel Calibra, 1989

Segre worked in his father’s construction company until the start of World War Two. He became a partisan and later fought under American command. After the war, he joined the Siata company in Turin. Around 1951, Segre was employed by Felice Mario Boano as designer and construction engineer at Carrozzeria Ghia. In the following years, Segre became recognized as a designer and was able to gain important clients for the company, such as Chrysler and Volkswagen. Virgil Exner became his close design colleague and

business partner. Boano and Segre fell out with each other over the orientation of the company; Boano went to Fiat in 1953 and Segre became Managing Director of Ghia. In addition to producing his own designs for VW and Renault, he also commissioned designers such as Pietro Frua. Segre wanted to develop Ghia into a production company along the lines of Pininfarina and Bertone so he bought other workshops and suppliers and, with business partners, founded the OSI company. Segre died in 1963 following an operation.

VW Karmann Ghia, 1957

Virgil Exner and Luigi Segre, 1951

170

Chrysler Ghia Special, 1953

S Shinoda studied art at Pasadena City College and, after completing his military service, he studied design at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. After a short spell at Ford in 1955, he moved to Studebaker/ Packard. He became designer at GM at the end of 1956. His first production designs were for the 1961 Pontiac Tempest. In 1958, he and Bill Mitchell designed the XP-87 Stingray racing car. Thereafter, Shinoda was the designer in charge of the design of the 1963 Corvette. His next project was the Mako Shark II, the precursor to

the Corvette generation of 1968. Shinoda designed racing sports cars and sporty prototypes based on Corvette and Corvair models, sometimes working with Anatole Lapine. When the former GM manager, Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, became President of Ford in 1968, he took with him some former GM colleagues, including Shinoda. During the few months of Knudsen’s reign, Shinoda designed the new Mustang models of 1970 to 1973. In 1970, Shinoda opened an independent design firm and did work for GM, Ford, and AMC.

Chevrolet Corvette Mako Shark, 1963

Ford Mustang Boss, 1970

Schlör (full name: Karl Schlör von Westhofen-Dirmstein) worked as an engineer for Krauss-Maffei until 1936 and then took up employment with AVA (aerodynamic test institute) in Göttingen. In 1938, he started work on the design of a large aerodynamic car; this work was partially funded by the German Association of the Automotive Industry, and the car was presented to the public in 1939. The so-called “Schlörwagen” (Schlör car) had a drag coefficient (cw-value) of 0.186, which was sensationally low, even by modern standards. The fully enclosed body

was based on the heavily modified chassis of a Mercedes-Benz 170 H, which was over two meters wide; unfortunately the car was very susceptible to cross winds. The car had seven seats in three rows, with the steering wheel arranged in the middle of the first row. Owing to its shape, the car was nicknamed “Göttinger Ei” (Göttingen egg); it disappeared shortly after the end of World War Two. In the 1950s, Schlör worked as a civil servant for the state of Bavaria.

Schlörwagen, 1939

Schlörwagen, 1939

Lawrence Kiyoshi Shinoda 1930–1997 Ford GM Own studio Chevrolet Corvette Ford Mustang Boss Jeep ZJ

Karl Schlör 1911–1997 AVA Schlörwagen

171

S Ercole Spada 1937 Zagato Ghia BMW I.De.A Institute Spadaconcept Aston Martin DB4 Zagato Lancia Flavia Sport Lancia Fulvia Zagato Alfa Romeo Junior Z BMW E32, 34 Fiat Tipo Alfa Romeo 166

Spada studied mechanical engineering in Milan. In 1960 he applied for a job with Carrozzeria Zagato and, within a few months, was promoted to Chief of Design. One of his first orders was the Aston Martin DB4 Zagato. This was followed by more spectacular designs, such as the Junior Zagato and the 2600 SZ for Alfa Romeo, and the Lancia Fulvia Sport. In 1969, Spada joined Ghia as Chief of Design and worked on Ford studies. In 1977, Spada became Chief of Design at BMW. Together with Claus Luthe, he

designed the E32 (7 Series) and E34 (5 Series). In 1983, Spada returned to Italy and became Head of Design at the I.De.A Institute, where he designed large series production vehicles for the Fiat corporation based on the newly developed Tipo platform; he also worked for Alfa Romeo and Lancia. Spada’s last design for the Fiat corporation was the Alfa Romeo 166. After a short spell with Zagato, Spada set up the Spadaconcept design studio in Turin in 2006, together with his son Paolo, and Domiziano Boschi.

Lancia Fulvia Sport, 1965

Alfa Romeo Junior, 1969

BMW E32, 1986

Alfa Romeo 166, 1998

172

S Gil Spear studied design at the Pratt Institute and, in 1937, started to work for GM. He went to Norman Bel Geddes in 1938, and worked at the GM Futurama exhibit for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. After that, Spear joined Chrysler and worked under Robert Cadwallader. In 1942, he joined Briggs, the auto body supplier. In 1947, Spear became designer at

Ford. There he was responsible for the production of the 1949 to 1951 models; after that, he took charge of the reorganization of the Ford advanced studio for future studies. At the beginning of the 1960s, Spear became head of the international Lincoln/Mercury studios and, in 1967, Chief Designer at Ford England for the design of the Capri. Spear retired in 1974.

Gil A. Spear 1915–2009 Bel Geddes Chrysler Ford 1942 Chrysler 1950 Ford Ford Capri 1

Chrysler, 1942

Ford Muroc Study, 1952

Ford Capri 1, 1968

Spring studied engineering at the Paris Polytechnic and later took his first employment with a car company in Ohio. From the early 1920s, he was a designer with Murphy coachbuilders, where he became Managing Director in 1924. In 1931, he went to Hudson as head of auto body engineering. Spring wanted to push through a low roof line as early as 1937, but was

thwarted by the conservative management. It was not until 1947 that the revolutionary “step-down” Hudson models were launched, which made the company a style leader for a short period. In 1954, the Hudson Italia sports car was launched, which was designed under Spring’s management and was built by Touring.

Frank Spring 1893–1959 Hudson Hudson Commodore Hudson Italia

Hudson Commodore, 1949

173

S Clifford Brooks Stevens 1911–1995 BSA Willys Jeepster Jeep Wagoneer Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide Wienermobile Studebaker Hawk GT Excalibur

When still a child, Stevens was already drawing cars he had seen at shows together with his father, a designer and engineer. In 1933, he started to study architecture at Cornell University, but discontinued his studies in 1935. He then opened a studio for design in Milwaukee, which grew rapidly. Stevens designed toys, kitchen and electrical equipment, and logos; he promoted his theory that design pays for clients on two counts—through a higher selling price and savings in production costs. After the war, Stevens redesigned the Army Jeep, creating a leisure and family vehicle, the Jeepster. In 1954 he

coined the term “planned obsolescence,” referring to an artificial aging of products. The doctrine that design is only an attribute of products making them obsolete more quickly was strongly criticised, especially in Europe. Stevens was a founder member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and taught at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he designed the Jeep Wagoneer for Kaiser-Frazer, the Gran Turismo Hawk for Studebaker, the Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide, and his own dream car Excalibur, a Mercedes replica.

Studebaker Hawk GT, 1962

Wienermobile, 1958

Jeep Wagoneer, 1963

174

S Stevens studied design at the Royal College of Art. His first employment was as designer at Ford, from where he went to Ogle Design. In the 1980s he became Chief Designer at Lotus, where he revised the design of the Lotus Esprit and designed the second Lotus Elan. In 1989, he designed the Jaguar XJR-15. He then became Chief of Design at McLaren Cars and developed the McLaren F1 super sports

car. After that he worked as design consultant for BMW, Williams, and Toyota. In 1998, Stevens became Professor of Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2000, he was appointed Design Director of the MG Rover Group, where he was responsible for the “Z” models and the Rover 25, 45, and 75 lines. From 2003 until 2005, Stevens was design consultant for Mahindra.

Jaguar XJR-15, 1989

McLaren F1, 1991

Peter Stevens 1945 Ogle Lotus McLaren MG-Rover Mahindra Jaguar XJR-15 McLaren F1 MG-Z Cars Rover 25, 45, 75

MG-Z, 2000

Szymanowski studied auto body construction and initially took up employment with Horch. Around 1935 he started to work for BMW under Wilhelm Meyerhuber, who at the time was Chief Designer. Szymanowski is credited with major design input to the legendary BMW 328 and the forward-looking design language of the brand in the late 1930s and early 1940s (327 and 326 models). In 1948, Szymanowski started to

re-establish the design department at BMW, and finally became Chief of Design. In this function, he designed the large post-war models, the BMW 501 and 502. These designs were not as modern as the pre-war designs, but it was feared at BMW that modern styling (for example by Pininfarina) could age more quickly and cause problems for the brand. Szymanowski was replaced by Wilhelm Hofmeister in 1955.

BMW 502, 1957

BMW 502 Coupe, 1955

Peter Szymanowski 1902–(?) Horch BMW BMW 328 BMW 501, 502

175

T Richard A. Teague 1923–1991 GM Packard Chrysler AMC Packard Caribbean, Packard Panther Packard Balboa Rambler Ambassador Javelin AMX, GMX Gremlin Pacer Jeep Cherokee

As a young man, Teague had his roots in California’s hot rod scene. After high school, he worked as technical draftsman at the aircraft manufacturer, Northrop, and, from 1942, he studied design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In 1948, Teague started as designer at GM in the studio of Edmund E. Anderson. He worked for Cadillac and Oldsmobile, leaving GM in 1951. His former supervisor, Frank Hershey, had by then become Chief of Design at Packard and offered Teague a job. In 1952, Hershey went to Ford; this meant that Teague was promoted to Packard’s Chief Designer under Edward Macauley. In the following years, the design progression of the Packard models relied on Teague’s concepts for coping with the lack of funds; the company fared so poorly that there were no funds for new developments. This meant that many identical parts had to be produced and only minimal design changes could be implemented. It was thanks to Teague’s talent that the Packards nevertheless managed to look like new designs. Teague designed the Caribbean, Panther,

Balboa, and Request models, and the Predictor concept car. When car production ceased in 1957, the entire design team moved over to Chrysler. Teague became Chief Designer while Chief of Design, Virgil Exner, was undergoing rehabilitation following a heart attack. Internal power struggles caused Teague to turn his back on Chrysler in 1958. In 1959, he became Chief Designer at AMC under his previous GM boss, Anderson. When Anderson retired in 1961, Teague became his successor, being appointed Design Vice President in 1964. During his time at AMC, Teague benefited from his experience at Packard—AMC had to work with identical parts too. Teague developed a platform concept at the end of the 1960s, long before other corporations conceived of the idea. In spite of that, many AMC models of the 1960s and 1970s looked more exciting and more different than their competitors. With the Ambassador, Javelin, Pacer, AMX, Gremlin, and Jeep Cherokee models, Teague left his mark on American automotive design. He retired in 1983.

AMC Rambler, 1965

AMC Pacer, 1975

176

AMC Javelin AMX, 1971

T Telnack studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and started to work in the Ford styling department in 1958. In 1965, he became Chief Designer of the Lincoln-Mercury division. One year later, he was promoted to Chief of Design of Ford Australia. In 1969, he returned to Dearborn and took over the management of the Mustang studio. The studio worked on the successor of the very successful first generation. In 1974, he became Vice President of Design for Ford Europe and worked in Cologne and Dagenham. In 1979, he moved back to the USA and took over

the management of the studio for the Ford Mustang III and the Ford Thunderbird. Influenced by the European design language, Telnack tried to promote a new style for Ford USA from the 1980s. His Taurus team developed the 1986 Ford of the same name, and with it ushered in a successful new styling line focused on aerodynamics. As Vice President of Design, Telnack influenced all American Ford models of the late 1980s and 1990s, and supported the New Edge design of the 1990s which, with the Ka and Focus models, made Ford successful in Europe. Telnack retired in 1997.

Ford Mustang III, 1979

Ford Taurus, 1986

Jack (John) Telnack 1937 Ford Ford Mustang II, Mustang III Ford Thunderbird Lincoln Town Car Ford Taurus Ford Probe

Lincoln Town Car, 1990

Thatcher studied industrial design at the Cleveland School of Arts. When she started to work for Hudson in 1939, she was the first regularly employed female designer in the automotive industry. Hudson was keen to have the interior and exterior design of his cars designed from a female perspective too. Thatcher worked on the interior and the auto body of the 1941 Hudson. In 1940, Thatcher met Joe Oros, who at the time was designer at Cadillac, and the two married in 1941. In order to avoid conflict between the

two respective employers, Thatcher Oros left Hudson and gave up her career as designer.

Betty Thatcher Oros 1917–2001 Hudson

Advertisement for Hudson, 1941

177

T John Tjaarda 1897–1962 Briggs Briggs Dream Car Stout Scarab

Tom Tjaarda 1934 Ghia Pininfarina OSI Ghia/Ford Own studio Ghia Selene Corvette Rondine Fiat 124 De Tomaso Pantera Ford Fiesta 1 Lancia Y10

178

Tjaarda was born as Joop Tjaarda van Sterkenburg in the Netherlands. He studied aeronautical engineering in England, worked for the aircraft manufacturer Fokker, and served as pilot in the Dutch air force. He emigrated to the United States in 1923. Tjaarda settled as customizer in Hollywood and worked for Duesenberg and Harley Earl. At the end of the 1920s, he developed his idea of an aerodynamically perfect car, called the Sterkenberg. This led to employment with the coachbuilder, Briggs, for whom Tjaarda designed the Briggs Dream Car. Ford adopted the design concept

for the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr, the first streamline car in the USA. The design was revised at Ford by Bob Gregorie. In 1935, Tjaarda designed the Scarab van for Stout Engineering. Tjaarda remained at Briggs as designer, and also designed kitchen furniture and household equipment.

Tom Tjaarda’s father was the designer John Tjaarda. From 1953 to 1958, Tom studied architecture and industrial design at Michigan University. In 1956, he met Luigi Segre, the boss of Carrozzeria Ghia and, two years later, Tjaarda went to Ghia in Italy. There, he contributed to the design of the Karmann Ghia Type 34 and designed the Selene concept car. In 1961, Tjaarda moved to Pininfarina. His design of the Corvette Rondine later evolved into the Fiat 124. In 1964, Tjaarda joined the American designer Eliot Noyes for a short period, but returned to Pininfarina after one year. After that, Tjaarda worked for OSI and Giugiaro’s Italdesign before he became Ghia’s Chief Designer in 1968. He designed many models for the De Tomaso brand, because at that time Ghia was owned by Alejandro de Tomaso. In 1970,

Ford acquired Ghia, and Tjaarda was appointed Chief of Design. The first series of the Ford Fiesta was developed under his management. In 1977, Tjaarda joined Fiat Centro Stile. His responsibilities included the design for the Lancia Y10 and the revision of various models for the corporation (including Lancia and SEAT) for markets outside Europe. In 1984, Tjaarda set up his own design studio in Turin.

Lancia Y10, 1986

Ford Fiesta 1, 1976

Stout Scarab, 1935

Fiat 124 Spider, 1965

T In 1926, Felice Bianchi Anderloni and his business partner Gaetano Ponzoni purchased a majority holding in Carrozzeria Falco and renamed it Carrozzeria Touring. Touring developed a lightweight construction principle that was known from aircraft construction and which consisted of bars and metal profiles, and had it patented under the name “superleggera.” This made the construction lighter than the conventional timber-frame constructions, and it was possible to build prototypes faster. The second objective of the founders was to reduce drag. During the 1930s, Touring carried out tests in wind tunnels, which at the time was unusual practice. At the end of the 1930s, Touring had established itself along with Pininfarina as one of the top addresses for special auto

bodies for racing and sports cars. Both Alfa Romeo and BMW relied on Touring designs for their Mille Miglia vehicles. After Anderloni’s death in 1948, his son Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni took on the management of the business. The 1950s were the company’s most successful period. Anderloni’s designs were in demand and the “superleggera” principle was still appropriate for small series of top-of-therange sports cars. Touring received orders from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, and Maserati, as well as from Hudson and Aston Martin. Lamborghini joined them at the beginning of the 1960s. At that time, Touring tried to obtain a large order from the Rootes Group and built a new factory in Nova Milanese. A dearth of orders led to the closure of the company in 1966.

BMW 328 Mille Miglia, 1939

Alfa Romeo C52, 1952

Maserati 3500, 1957

Hudson Italia, 1954

Carrozzeria Touring 1926–1966 Alfa Romeo Lancia Hudson Aston Martin Lamborghini

Aston Martin Lagonda Rapide, 1961

179

T William Towns 1936–1994 Rootes Rover Aston Martin British Leyland Rover-BRM Aston Martin DBS Aston Martin Lagonda Jensen Healey Reliant Scimitar SS

Towns began his career in design in 1954 at the Rootes Group, where he worked in interior design. In 1963, he moved to Rover under David Bache. His responsibilities there included the design for the Rover-BRM racing car. Towns went to Aston Martin in 1966 and, after Touring had to close in the same year, designs were again produced in the company’s own design department. At Aston Martin, Towns initially focused on interior design and, in 1967/68, designed the successful DBS model. After its premiere in 1969, Towns worked on design proposals

for a Triumph model for British Leyland, which was later developed into the Rover SD1 hatchback. In addition, Towns produced the Minissima (1972) and Microdot (1974) microcar concepts, to both of which British Leyland acquired the rights. In the 1970s, Towns became the British protagonist of the wedge design. He designed the futuristic Lagonda sedan for Aston Martin in 1974 and the Bulldog Study in 1980. In addition, Towns was working as freelance design consultant for Jensen and Reliant and created the Hustler kit car.

Aston Martin DBS, 1968

Aston Martin Bulldog, 1980

Aston Martin Lagonda, 1976

Alexander Tremulis 1914–1991 Auburn Cord Duesenberg American Bantam LeBaron Tucker Kaiser-Frazer Ford

180

At the early age of nineteen and without having completed an apprenticeship or course of study, Tremulis became designer at Auburn Cord Duesenberg in 1933. His first projects were the Cord models, 810 and 812, which established a distinct style. In

addition he designed Duesenberg cabriolets such as the Model J. He was appointed Chief Designer at Auburn Cord Duesenberg in 1936, but the company closed down one year later. After that, Tremulis worked for GM for a short while before he moved to

Cord 812, 1937

American Bantam, 1947

T Briggs-LeBaron, the auto body supplier to Chrysler and Packard, under Chief of Design Ralph Roberts. Between 1938 and 1939, Tremulis worked in a freelance capacity for various customizers and companies including Crosley and American Bantam. When Tremulis came back to LeBaron at the end of 1939, he, Werner Gubitz and Howard “Dutch” Darrin were set to work on the project of the new Packard Clipper. At LeBaron, Tremulis designed the first Chrysler show car, the Thunderbolt of 1940/41. This design was more forward-looking and advanced than GM’s first show car, the Y-Job, which was launched in 1939, because the Thunderbolt featured a modern ponton shape with retractable headlights and an almost rational and uncluttered form language. After the war, Tremulis worked at the design firm, Tammen & Denison, producing designs for automobile entrepreneur Preston Tucker among others. The concept of the Tucker prototype had been de-

signed by George S. Lawson in 1946, but when Tucker and Lawson fell out, Tremulis took over and developed the Tucker Torpedo to production maturity. From 1950 to 1952, Tremulis worked at the advanced studio of Kaiser-Frazer and was responsible for the company’s future visions. In 1952 he was hired by Elwood Engel for the Mercury studio and the advanced studio. Over the following years, Tremulis designed a series of futuristic car concepts (some in cooperation with Syd Mead) that were meant to demonstrate that Ford was equal to its eternal rival GM. The concept cars included the two-wheeled Ford Gyron, the six-wheeled Ford Seattle-ite XXI, and the X-1000 and X-2000 models. This was not the first time that Tremulis’ ideas were too far advanced for his employer. Tremulis left Ford in 1963 and set up his own consultancy company. One of his last clients in the automotive industry was Subaru, for which he designed the BRAT models between 1978 and 1987.

Duesenberg Model J Chrysler Thunderbolt Tucker Torpedo Cord 810/812 Ford Gyron Ford Seattle-ite Ford X-2000

Tucker Torpedo, 1947

Tremulis in the Ford Studio, 1957

Ford Seattle-ite, 1962

Ford Gyron, 1961

181

V Suzanne Vanderbilt 1933–1988 GM

Vanderbilt studied design at the Pratt Institute in New York and graduated in 1955. Together with five other female designers, she became part of the “Damsels of Design” team which was

Vanderbilt in a Concept Car, 1957

very effectively used as a promotional strategy. Vanderbilt became deputy head of the Cadillac studio and, towards the end of the 1950s, moved to the Advanced Studio. In 1961, she took time out to complete a Masters degree at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. When she returned to GM in 1965, she had to restart as senior designer. For years, she remained faithful to Chevrolet’s Studio II and finally, in 1971, became GM’s first female Head of Studio at Chevrolet’s Interior Studio II. She retired in 1977 due to ill health.

Alfredo Vignale undertook an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker. At the age of seventeen, he started work at Stabilimenti Farina and used this time to hone his skills. In 1948, he and his brothers set up Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale in Turin. The company presented its first own auto body based on a Fiat 500 Topolino in the same year, and won a prize. After the auto bodies on Fiat chassis, there followed Ferrari sports and racing sports cars. Vignale established itself as a well-known auto body and design studio within a few years, not least thanks to the designs by Alfredo Vig-

nale’s close friend, Giovanni Michelotti. After a phase of exclusive one-off productions and mini-series, Vignale expanded and built a new factory in 1961. Nearly all Maserati models of the 1960s (3500 Spider, Sebring I, Sebring II, and Mexico) were manufactured by Vignale. In addition, the firm produced small series based on Fiats for OSCA. For Tatra, Vignale designed the auto body of the 613 and, from 1970, built prototypes for a planned serial production. At the same time, Vignale—like other carrozzerie—was hit by difficult commercial conditions. In 1969, the company was sold to Car-

Interior Design Chevrolet

Carrozzeria Vignale 1946–1974

Alfredo Vignale 1913–1969 Fiat Ferrari Maserati Tatra

Maserati Mexico, 1968

182

V rozzeria Ghia, which already belonged to De Tomaso. Shortly after the sale, Alfredo Vignale died. The name Vig-

nale was retained for some years and now belongs to the Ford Corporation since its acquisition of Ghia in 1970.

Ferrari Barchetta, 1951

Fiat 1500 Monterosa, 1960

Tatra 613 Coupe Study, 1969

Volanis was born in Greece. After studying engineering, he worked for Renault in auto body development and discovered his passion for design. In 1971, he started his career as designer at Matra. Until 1982 he designed all the company’s vehicles—the three-seater Bagheera and its successor, the Murena, as well as the SUV precursor, the Rancho. Volanis also designed the first MPV (multi-purpose

vehicle, or large van-like car) in Europe. The concept developed by Matra was adopted by Renault for the Espace model after it had first been rejected by Peugeot. The Citroën Xsara Picasso is also based on a study by Volanis. In 1982 he set up the Design Volanis consultancy in Paris which designed vehicles as well as furniture and machines.

Matra-Simca Rancho, 1980

Matra Bagheera, 1975

Interior Concept, Renault Espace, 1980

Renault Espace, 1980

Antoine Volanis 1948 Matra Own Studio Matra Bagheera, Murena Matra Rancho Renault Espace 1

183

W George Walker 1896–1993 George Walker Design Ford Nash ’49 Ford ’51 Mercury ’55 Thunderbird

During his time at school, Walker became a semi-professional footballer. He then studied at the Cleveland School of Art and the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. From 1920 he worked as fashion illustrator and art director for stores and printers in Cleveland. In 1928, he became illustrator for the Peerless and Graham-Paige car brands. During the Depression, both these brands went bankrupt, leading the designer Amos Northup to advise Walker to set up on his own in Detroit. From then on, Walker worked for the parts supplier Dura, through which he came into contact with Ford. From 1934, Walker specialized fully on industrial design. Walker undercut competitors such as Helen Dryden and Raymond Loewy and, with his talent for sales and experienced members of staff, such as Joe Oros and Elwood Engel, managed to establish a large clientele which, at the end of the 1930s, included Nash and International Harvester. In 1945, the opportunity arose to be appointed design consultant to Ford. The model that had been planned for 1949 and which

had been designed by Bob Gregorie’s team seemed too old-fashioned to some Ford managers. The model designed by Walker’s team was the very successful 1949 Ford, the design of which is attributed to several designers (Caleal, Koto, Oros, Engel). After additional successful designs for the company (the 1950 Lincoln, 1951 Mercury, 1952 Ford, 1955 Thunderbird), Walker was appointed Vice President and Styling Director in 1955. In the following years, Walker’s designers Oros, Engel and Eugene Bordinat, became heads of studios and had a major impact on design at Ford. Walker established an advanced design studio based on the GM model, which worked on studies and concept cars that impressed the public at the “Stylerama” shows. In 1961, Walker retired to Florida. Together with Harley Earl and Raymond Loewy, he was one of the legendary designers of the “golden epoch” between 1930 and 1960, which left its style imprint on industrial and automotive design and, with its characters, contributed to the mystique of the American designers of the early days.

Walker with William Clay Ford, 1957

Lincoln Cosmopolitan, 1952

184

Ford Thunderbird, 1955

W Warkuß completed an apprenticeship as engraver followed by metal worker training with an emphasis on design. In 1964, he started as designer for Mercedes-Benz, and two years later moved to Ford Cologne. In 1968 he finally went to Audi. The Audi 80 and Audi 100 were the most important projects of those years. In 1976, Warkuß was assigned complete responsibility for design. In 1993, he followed his former Audi boss, Ferdinand Piëch, to Volkswagen. There

he realigned the design of the brand and established a more rounded style. The first model in the new design language was the Passat B5. One of Warkuß’s achievements, in addition to the Golf IV, was to push through the New Beetle concept (by designers J. Mays and Freeman Thomas), which was important for the image of the brand in the USA. As part of the new company strategy, Warkuß was also responsible for the design of Bugatti and Skoda until his departure in 2003.

Audi 100 Avant, 1983

Audi 80, 1978

VW Passat B5, 1996

VW Golf IV, 1997

From 1928, Weissinger was employed as designer at Chrysler’s Art & Colour Studio under Ralph Roberts. Chrysler presented its new strategy in terms of technology and aesthetics with the Series Six of 1931; the slim and low-slung design of the cars

was the work of Herb Henderson and Weissinger. After World War Two, Weissinger joined the Kaiser-Frazer consortium which, in 1947, offered the USA’s first completely newly designed automobile. In the following years he worked on designs, some of which had been put forward by Chief of Design Howard Darrin, such as the 1951 model. However, the redesign of the 1954 Kaiser Manhattan/Special was the work of Arnott Grisinger and Weissinger. As Kaiser declined, Weissinger looked for a new position and found it in 1954 as Chief Designer of the Dodge studio under the new Design Director Virgil Exner.

Kaiser-Frazer Manhattan, 1954

Hartmut Warkuß 1940 Daimler-Benz Ford Audi VW Audi 80, Coupe Audi 100 VW Passat B5 Golf IV

Herbert Weissinger 1896–1993 Chrysler Kaiser-Frazer Chrysler Imperial Eight Chrysler Series Six Kaiser-Frazer Manhattan

185

W Gérard Welter 1942 Peugeot Peugeot 204, 205, 407, 907

Welter was employed by Paul Bouvot at the young age of eighteen when he was starting his art studies in 1960; he joined the styling department at Peugeot which was in the process of being created. His first project was the 204 model, which was followed by designs for the 304 and 604. Welter was appointed Chief Designer in 1975. During the 1960s and 1970s, Pininfarina supplied many Peugeot designs; the 205 model of 1984 was the first

time that Welter was able to establish an independent design line. In 1998 he became Chief of Design of the Centre Style Peugeot and oversaw a series of studies and future concepts for the brand. In 2007 Welter handed over to Jérôme Gallix. From 1969 to 2008, Welter had a racing team which, in 1988, achieved the record speed of 405 km/h along the Hunaudières straight of Le Mans.

Peugeot 205, 1984

Peugeot 407, 2004

Peugeot Study 907, 2005

Karl Wilfert 1907–1976 Steyr Mercedes-Benz MB W110/11 W113

186

Wilfert studied mechanical engineering in Vienna and, from 1926, was construction engineer at Steyr. In 1929 he moved to Mercedes-Benz, where he ended his career as head of auto body development in 1974. Wilfert started at the Mercedes-Benz research department. In 1955, he became head of auto body development, which at that time also included styling because

Mercedes did not yet have a design department. Wilfert’s colleagues included the Chief of Design, Friedrich Geiger, as well as Bruno Sacco and Paul Bracq. In addition to design, Wilfert focused on the subject of vehicle safety, which led to such developments as the dirt-repellent fluted rear lights, a large steering-wheel impact absorber, and side bumper panels.

Mercedes 230 SL, 1963

Mercedes 600 Coupe Study, 1966

W Wilsgaard was born in New York. He studied interior design and design in Gothenburg before starting as a stylist at Volvo in 1950. His first big project was the successor to the antiquated PV 444, the Amazon or Volvo 121, which was launched in 1956. This was followed by numerous sedans and shooting brakes, which underpinned Volvo’s reputation for reliable middle-class cars without unnecessary design gimmicks—the 164, 140, and

240 series. Volvo made the shooting brake its standard auto body shape. Following the company’s orientation towards the American market, the designs became more angular, starting with the Volvo 240 and, extremely so, with the 760. Wilsgaard believed in simple design which, in his opinion, was beautiful. In 1991, Wilsgaard passed on his position as Chief of Design to Peter Horbury.

Jan Wilsgaard 1930 Volvo Volvo 122 Volvo 164 Volvo 140 Volvo 240 Volvo 740 Volvo 850

Volvo 122 Amazon, 1956

Volvo 240, 1975

Volvo 142, 1968

Winterbottom started his career at Jaguar in 1966 and, after the company became part of British Leyland, he worked on a successor model for the E-Type, codenamed XJ21. In 1971 he moved to Lotus and designed the wedge-shaped models of the 1970s, the Elite, Eclat, and Excel. At the end of the 1970s, Winterbottom set up on

his own and worked for TVR (Tasmin 1978), among others. In 1981, he returned to Lotus and developed the M100, which was, however, developed to full production maturity by Peter Stevens. Since 2008, Winterbottom has been design consultant for the Chinese company, SAIC Motor Corporation.

TVR Tasmin, 1978

Lotus Eclat, 1978

Oliver Winterbottom (?) Jaguar Lotus Lotus Eclat Lotus Esprit II Lotus Excel TVR Tasmin

187

Z Carrozzeria Zagato 1942–1980

Ugo Zagato 1890–1968 Alfa Romeo Lancia Aston Martin Lancia Fulvia Sport Lancia Flavia Sport Abarth 750 GTZ Aston Martin DB4 GT Alfa Romeo Junior Z Lancia Hyena

Ugo Zagato came to coachbuilding along a circuitous route. After various jobs and completing his military service, he worked for a coachbuilding company and in a factory for airplanes. There he became familiar with the basics of aerodynamics and the technique of lightweight construction using space-frame technology, which he later used for some auto body designs (similar to Touring). In 1919, he opened Carrozzeria Zagato, which focused on sporty automobiles right from the beginning. At that time many carrozzerie were located in Turin, but since Zagato was located in Milan, Alfa Romeo became aware of the firm and asked it to provide the bodies for its 6C 1500 and 6C 1750 models. In 1921, Zagato designed an auto body for the Alfa Romeo G1. In the 1930s, Zagato attracted additional manufacturers; thirty-eight participants at the Mille Miglia

of 1938 had the auto bodies of their cars built by Zagato. In the 1950s, Zagato’s sons, Gianni and Elio, joined the company and Elio became Chief of Design. Between 1955 and 1970 the company grew, and built small series for Alfa Romeo, Lancia, and Aston Martin. The recognizable feature of many models was the so-called “double-bubble” roof, with a bubble each over the driver and co-driver seats. The Chief Designer during these years was Ercole Spada. During the 1980s, Zagato built custom designs as well as prototypes and concept cars for Alfa Romeo (the SZ and RZ models designed by Robert Opron). The Lancia Hyena was the last production car. In spite of several changes of name and of business field, Zagato is one of the few legendary Italian carrozzerie to survive, not least due to investments by global supply companies.

Maserati 450 S, 1957

Abarth 750 Z, 1957

Rover TCZ Study, 1967

Lancia Flaminia Sport, 1957

Alfa Romeo Junior Z, 1969

188

Editorial Note

For this compendium, designers have been selected who, since the beginnings of automotive design around 1890, have left their mark on the industry through continuing contributions or spectacular individual efforts. I am aware that, in view of the sheer number of people since then who have worked as designers in or for the automotive industry all over the world, it is very likely that some have not been mentioned, or sufficiently honored, or have simply been overlooked. Furthermore, a time limit had to be set for the compendium, due to organizational developments and changes in design strategy. Since the 1990s, a sea change has occurred with respect to strategic market management and, associated with it, both corporate and product design. The design departments of the automobile manufacturers are spread all over the globe; the large external studios that existed formerly are no longer in existence, or no longer independent; Volkswagen Group became majority shareholder of Italdesign in 2010, Bertone was declared insolvent in 2012, and Pininfarina was sold to Mahindra at the end of 2015. It would therefore be fair to say that the historical development described above has, in a sense, come to an end. These considerations lead to a timescale of about one hundred years of automotive design, from 1890 to 1990. I have therefore only selected designers for this book who, today, no longer make design decisions in a style-defining capacity or as part of their main occupation. Another large compendium would be necessary to describe the people and developments that have influenced automotive design over the last twenty-five years. This book deals primarily with the exterior design of automobiles. Interior design came about at the same time as the large styling departments for exterior design, but was never able to attract the same media attention garnered by the design of exterior surfaces and shapes—automobiles are first, and frequently, exclusively viewed from the outside. The subject of interior/dashboard/panel design justifies a separate effort altogether.

190

Design is a profession and an industry which has been scientifically investigated and supported for the last half-century but, for various reasons, historical accounts focus very much on clearly distinguishable directions, styles, and schools. Until just a few years ago, automotive design was not a serious research subject in Europe. The situation with the source material is difficult; there is not much more than interviews with contemporary witnesses (few of them, and hard to find) and press releases from past decades. In my research I have relied heavily on specialist magazines, but above all on the many websites hosted by companies, universities, associations, and individuals, and dedicated to automotive design and/or individual representatives. In the USA, a method is widely used which is referred to as “oral history” and which scientists use to conduct lengthy interviews with contemporary witnesses regarding their activities. This produces invaluable source material for the reconstruction of a historical subject, which is simply neglected by the industry—its own historiography. A case in point is the project of the University of Michigan in cooperation with the Benson Ford Research Center which, under the title “Automobiles in American Life and Society; Automotive Oral Histories,” has been running since the late 1980s and for which designers are interviewed about their life in the industry (career, working environment, colleagues, projects, and so on). Many of the interviewees have since died—without their testimonies we would know much less about the heroic phase of automotive design between 1930 and 1970. Since no comparable material exists in Europe, I had to rely on the research of private enthusiasts of European and Japanese automotive design; these enthusiasts often focused on an individual designer and tried to make information about his life and his work available to a wider public. It was my task to check various sources for plausibility and consistency, and to tie it all together. It was not always possible to verify all data.

191

Overview Map

Development of Automotive Design in the USA and Europe The diagram shows sections of the development of automotive design from coachbuilding through to the corporate design departments of the large corporations. Since 1990, all international automotive manufacturers have their own design departments; these are not shown in this overview. USA Brewster

Example: Traditional coachbuilders who, from 1900, specialized in the manufacture and design of auto bodies

1810–1938

Murphy

1920–1932

LeBaron / Briggs 1920–1942

First generation of manufacturers of auto bodies with design departments; special auto bodies, custom cars, production of small and mini-series

GM Art & Colour Styling Division

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Styling Dept.

Packard / Henney Coachworks Styling Dept.

1927/1936

1927–1936

1937–1958

Kaiser-Frazer Hudson Nash Styling Dept.

Studebaker Styling Dept.

Ford Styling Dept.

Chrysler Styling Dept.

1936

1936–2010

1946–1963

RLA Raymond Loewy 1929–1963

George Walker Design 1934–1955

1936–1961

AMC Styling Dept. 1957–1980

Corporate design departments; strong fluctuation of design staff in the styling departments owing to geographic and commercial concentration of the industry

Brooks Stevens Design 1937–1975

William Flajole Design 1939–1978

Richard Arbib Design 1952–1975

Albrecht von Goertz Design 1953–1980

Industrial designers who set up their own firms or studios and also, but not exclusively, worked for automotive manufacturers

192

Europe Hooper

1805–1959

Saoutchik

1905–1956

Ghia

Letourneur & Marchand 1905–1955

Touring

1934–1968

1934–1967

Chapron

Figoni & Falaschi

1919–1985

Scaglietti

1951–1975

Gurney Nutting 1918–1948

Stabilimenti Farina 1919–1953

Vignale

Pininfarina

1934–1967

1930–2015

BMW Styling

Style Citroën

Centro Stile Fiat

Ford Europe Styling

1937

1936/1970

Daimler-Benz Stylistics 1950

1957/1961

1961

Bertone

1934–2014

First generation of manufacturers of auto bodies with design departments; special auto bodies, custom cars, production of small and mini-series Frua

Style Renault

1920–1984

1935–1955

1939–1982

1957

Fissore Carrozz.

Style Simca/Matra/ Chrysler 1960

Michelotti

1949–1975

Focus on design and prototype construction, manufacture of small series; status of an external design department at manufacturers without styling department

Rover Styling 1955

P. Charbonneaux 1947–1981

BLMC / BL

Opel Styling 1964

Ogle Design Giugiaro Italdesign

1954–1985

1968–2015

I.De.A Institute 1978

Corporate design departments mostly not established until after 1950 and often subordinated to body development departments; until 1980 also outsourcing of designs

Industrial designers who set up their own firms or studios and also, but not exclusively, worked for manufacturers

Manufacturer without design department (1950–1990)

193

Index of Designers

Ahrens, Hermann: 64, 114

Coggiola, Sergio: 86, 92, 103, 121, 164

Gale, Thomas C.: 106

Anderloni, Carlo Felice Bianchi: 35, 64, 179

Colani, Luigi: 86

Gallion, George A.: 106

Anderson, Edmund A.: 65, 176

Conrad, Michael: 30, 87, 138

Gallitzendörfer, Joseph: 107

Andreau, Jean: 52, 65

Coune, Jacques: 87

Ganz, Josef: 107

Arbib, Richard: 64, 66

Cressoni, Ermanno: 84, 88, 168

Gandini, Marcello: 58, 72, 92, 108, 110, 121 Geiger, Friedrich: 56, 64, 107, 109, 160, 186

Ash, L. David: 19, 66, 150 Axe, Roy: 67, 75

Dahlberg, Wesley P.: 32, 56, 68, 88 Damsels of Design: 43, 89, 182

Bache, David: 36, 67–68, 180 Bahnsen, Uwe: 32, 56, 68, 88, 131 Bangle, Chris: 69, 88 Barbaz, George: 69 Barthaud, Robert: 70 Beeskow, Johannes: 70, 99

Darrin, Howard: 89–90, 94, 116, 128, 181, 185 DeCausse, Franklin: 91 Delaisse, Carlo: 91 Deschamps, Marc: 73, 92 Deutsch, Charles: 86, 92,

Bel Geddes, Norman: 40, 52, 71, 173

Dienst, Josef: 93

Bertone, Carrozzeria: 33, 34, 58, 59, 71–73, 83, 90, 92, 108, 110, 116, 139, 142, 152, 167, 168, 170, 190

Dietel, Karl Clauss: 93 Dietrich, Raymond, H.: 82, 83, 94, 114, 119, 128, 136, 147, 157

Bertone, Nuccio: 71–73, 108, 167

Dryden, Helen: 95, 132, 184

Ghia, Carrozzeria: 33-35, 56, 70, 72, 76, 86, 100, 105, 108, 109–110, 121, 139, 142, 146, 150, 152, 156, 160, 163–165, 170, 172, 178, 183 Giugiaro, Giorgietto: 18–19, 34, 58–59, 72, 108, 110–111, 121, 142, 168 Goertz, Albrecht von: 112, 132, 148 Green, Mary Ellen: 112 Gregorie, Eugene “Bob”: 113, 145, 178 Grisinger, Arnott “Buzz”: 113, 185 Gropius, Walter: 22, 113 Gubitz, Werner: 90, 114, 136, 155, 181 Gurney Nutting, Coachbuilders: 20, 33, 76, 114

Bertoni, Flaminio: 7, 74, 149 Bertram, Georg: 75 Bionier, Louis: 75 Blakeslee, Arthur: 75

Earl, Harley J.: 17, 25–27, 31, 41, 43, 45, 54, 55, 81, 84, 89, 95–97, 115, 117, 128, 133, 136, 143, 156, 178, 184

Häcker, Walter: 114 Haynes, Roy D.: 115, 137

Enever, Sidney: 97

Herlitz, John Eric: 115 Hershey, Frank: 97, 115, 137, 141, 146, 176

Boano Carrozzeria: 35, 76, 164

Engel, Elwood: 30, 56, 83, 98, 101, 150, 181, 184

Hickman, Ron: 116

Boano, Felice Mario: 57, 76, 109, 165, 170

Envall, Björn: 99

Hofmeister, Wilhelm: 75, 90, 116, 156, 175

Boneschi, Carrozzeria: 35, 77

Erdmann & Rossi: 20, 33, 70, 99

Holls, David: 117

Bonetto, Rodolfo: 77

Exner, Virgil sen.: 31, 79, 83, 98, 100–101, 109, 132, 151, 170, 176, 186

I.De.A Institute: 117, 172

Bourke, Robert, E.: 79, 125, 151

Fantuzzi, Medardo: 35, 101

Italdesign: 34, 36, 58, 110–111, 117, 152, 190

Bouvot, Paul: 79, 92, 186

Farina, Battista: 101, 152

Boyer, Boyke: 79

Farina, Giovanni: 101, 152

James, Norman, J.: 55, 118

Bracq, Paul: 36, 56, 58, 80, 109, 116, 134, 156, 160, 186

Farina, Stabilimenti: 20, 76, 101, 105, 139, 142, 152, 157, 182

Jaray, Paul: 22, 51, 52, 118, 122, 123

Brock, Peter: 81

Feeley, Frank: 101 Figoni & Falaschi: 84, 102, 163

Johnson, Andrew F.: 43, 119

Brovarone, Aldo: 40, 81, 139 Buehrig, Gordon: 8, 82, 128, 132, 137

Fioravanti, Leonardo: 81, 102, 139, 155

Bugatti, Jean: 82

Fiore, Trevor: 103

Burzi, Ricardo: 82, 125

Fissore, Carrozzeria: 36, 103

Blatchley, John Polwhele: 76, 114, 125

Bordinat, Eugene: 19, 78, 98, 184 Boué, Michel: 78

Flajole, William: 64, 104 Cadwallader, Robert: 83, 173

Flowers, Allan: 104

Caleal, Richard: 83, 98, 125, 132, 150, 184

Franay, Carrosserie: 20, 33, 104

Castagnero, Pietro: 83

Frua, Pietro: 19, 34–35, 105, 110, 142, 152, 170

Cattoni, Ernesto: 84 Charbonneaux, Philippe: 40, 70, 80, 84, 121 Cherry, Wayne: 85

194

Fuller, Richard Buckminster: 106

Jeffries, Dean: 119 Jones, David: 119 Jordan, Chuck: 44, 106, 120, 169 Juchet, Gaston: 78, 84, 121, 149, 150, 154 Kady, Wayne: 121 Kamm, Wunibald: 22, 52, 118, 122, 123 Kapitza, Klaus: 122 Karen, Tom: 123, 148 Klie, Heinrich: 123, 154 Kodama, Hideo: 124 Koenig-Fachsenfeld, Reinhard v.: 123

Komenda, Erwin: 124, 154

Northup, Amos: 147, 184

Schäfer, Herbert: 168

Koren, Vilhelm: 125

Nozaki, Satoru: 112, 148

Schnell, Erhard: 124, 136, 169

Koto, Holden “Bob”: 79, 83, 125, 132, 151, 184

Ogle, David: 123, 148

Seer, Hans: 170

Ogle Design: 123, 148, 175

Segre, Luigi: 76, 98, 100, 109–110, 164, 170

Olbrich, Josef Maria: 148

Shinoda, Lawrence Kiyoshi: 127, 156, 171

Opron, Robert: 8–9, 92, 121, 149, 188

Schlör, Karl: 22, 171

Oros, Joe: 19, 66, 83, 98, 150, 177, 184

Spada, Ercole: 117, 134, 172, 188

Ousset, Jacques: 70, 150

Spear, Gil A.: 173

Lagaay, Harm: 126, 144 LaGassey, Homer: 126 Lapine, Anatole C.: 126–127, 144, 171 Lawson, George S.: 127, 181 Leamy, Alan H.: 128 LeBaron Coachbuilders: 33, 94, 114, 128, 157, 180, 181

Seehaus, Wolfgang: 169

Spring, Frank: 115, 137, 173 Paulin, Georges: 151

Stevens, Clifford Brooks: 29, 113, 174

Pietsch, Theodore Wells: 151

Stevens, Peter: 175, 187

Pininfarina, Battista: 64, 77, 152

Szymanowski, Peter: 116, 175

Pininfarina, Carrozzeria: 33–34, 40, 43, 55, 57, 59, 64, 67, 72, 76, 81, 83, 97, 102, 110, 139, 142, 152–153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 167, 170, 175, 178–179, 186, 190

Teague, Richard A.: 112, 121, 136, 176

Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander: 129, 154

Thatcher, Betty: 45, 150, 177

Luthe, Claus: 57, 79, 122, 134, 156, 172

Porter, Bill: 154

Tjaarda, John: 125, 178

Lyons, William: 135

Prost-Dame, Claude: 154

Tjaarda, Tom: 178

Macauley, Edward: 136, 176

Rabbone, Adriano: 155

MacKichan, Clare: 36, 120, 124, 136, 141, 144, 146, 149

Ramaciotti, Lorenzo: 155

MacMinn, Strother: 39, 137, 141

Rennen, Manfred: 75, 156

Le Corbusier: 129 Ledwinka, Hans: 22, 118, 129 Lepoix, Louis Lucien: 130 Lobo, Claude: 130 Le Quément, Patrick: 131 Loewy, Raymond: 17–18, 25–26, 40, 54, 79, 83, 100, 112, 125, 132–133, 160, 184

Mann, Harris: 115, 137, 139 Manzoni, Piero: 30, 138 Marcks, Bob: 138

Reinhart, John M.: 136, 155 Renner, Carl Heinz: 136, 156 Revelli di Beaumont, Mario: 103, 157

Martin, Paolo: 19, 135

RLA: 18, 79, 82–83, 95, 100, 112, 125, 132–133, 137–138, 151, 155

Martinengo, Franco: 139, 161

Roberts, Ralph: 125, 128, 157, 181, 185

Matano, Tsotomu: 140

Rother, Helene: 45, 64, 158

Matsuo, Yohishiko: 140

Rumpler, Edmund: 22, 158

McRae, Duncan: 83, 140

Rybicki, Irving: 159

Mersheimer, Hans: 137, 141

Telnack, Jack: 177

Touring, Carrozzeria: 33, 35, 55, 65, 101, 152, 173, 179–180, 188 Towns, William: 180 Tremulis, Alexander: 12, 54, 56, 127–128, 157, 180–181 Vanderbilt, Suzanne: 45, 89, 182 Vignale, Carrozzeria: 35, 76, 77, 142, 182–183 Vignale, Alfredo: 142, 182–183 Volanis, Antoine: 183 Walker, George: 56, 78, 83, 98, 115, 150, 184 Warkuß, Hartmut: 168, 185

Meyerhuber, Wilhelm: 141, 175

Sacco, Bruno: 80, 107, 109, 160, 186

Weissinger, Herbert: 185

Michelotti, Giovanni: 18, 34–36, 57, 75, 105, 110, 116, 139, 142, 152, 157, 164, 182

Sakhnoffsky, Alexis de: 161

Welter, Gérard: 186

Mitchell, William: 44–45, 81, 89, 120, 143, 156, 159, 171

Salomone, Francesco: 161

Wilfert, Karl: 80, 160, 186

Samsen, John: 162

Wilsgaard, Jan: 187

Saoutchik, Jacques: 33, 162–163

Winterbottom, Oliver: 187

Möbius, Wolfgang: 144 Mollino, Carlo: 144 Muth, Hans A.: 145 Najjar, John Ferzely: 19, 66, 145 Nesbitt, Dick: 146 Neumann-Neander, Ernst: 146 Nickles, Ned: 146 North, David: 147

Sapino, Filippo: 163 Sartorelli, Sergio: 110, 160, 164

Zagato, Carrozzeria: 83, 172, 188

Sason, Sixten: 165

Zagato, Ugo: 188

Savonuzzi, Giovanni: 110, 160, 164–165 Sayer, Malcolm: 135, 166 Scaglietti, Carrozzeria: 166 Scaglione, Franco: 72, 167 Scarnati, Giuseppe: 84, 167, 168

195

Index of Models

Abarth: 72, 76, 87, 142, 167, 188

Citroën: 7, 9, 53, 54, 60, 71, 72,73, 74, 75, 92, 103, 108, 121, 149, 183

Hillman: 67, 133, 155

Cord: 8, 82, 128, 137, 161, 180, 181

Hotchkiss: 91

Crosley: 112, 181 Daewoo: 117, 152

Hudson: 64, 65, 66, 83, 125, 137, 150, 151, 173, 177, 179

DAF: 130, 142, 164

Hupmobile: 26, 54, 132, 147

Daihatsu: 117, 142

Hyundai: 104, 110

Datsun: 112, 140

Imperial: 94, 128, 138, 162, 185

ATS: 101, 167

De Tomaso: 101, 103, 108, 109, 110, 178, 183

ISO: 87, 108, 110, 129

Auburn: 82, 128, 161, 180

Delahaye: 84, 91, 102, 104, 162, 163

Jaguar: 60, 68, 104, 125, 133, 135, 144, 166, 175, 187

Audi: 37, 110, 111, 118, 134, 185

DeSoto: 83, 100, 162

Jeep: 151, 171, 174, 146

Austin: 34, 56, 67, 68, 82, 125, 132, 137, 138, 148, 152, 161

DKW: 53, 56, 93, 103 Dodge: 60, 98, 106, 126, 185

Kaiser-Frazer: 83, 89, 90, 113, 115, 116, 140, 174, 180, 181, 185

Duesenberg: 82, 128, 157, 180, 181

Kia: 104, 110

Ferrari: 34, 64, 67, 76, 81, 101, 102, 108, 139, 142, 152, 153, 155, 161, 163, 166, 182, 183

Lagonda: 101

Bentley: 30, 33, 76, 99, 104, 114, 125, 151, 162 BMW: 21, 36, 46, 52, 53, 56, 57, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 79, 80, 87, 90, 105, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 116, 118, 122, 123, 126, 132, 134, 137, 140, 141, 145, 156, 169, 172, 175, 179

Fiat: 53, 56, 57, 59, 69, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 83, 88, 102, 103, 105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 117, 134, 138, 139, 142, 149, 152, 155, 157, 164, 165, 167, 170, 172, 178, 182, 183

Lancia: 34, 35, 57, 58, 59, 65, 71, 72, 73, 77, 81, 82, 83, 86, 105, 108, 109, 117, 133, 139, 142, 152, 153, 155, 161, 164, 172, 178, 179, 188

Borgward: 105

Ford: 9, 12, 19, 23, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, 41, 53, 56, 57, 60, 66, 68, 69, 76, 77, 78, 79, 82, 83, 88, 94, 98, 100, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 112, 113, 115, 116, 122, 123, 125, 126, 130, 131, 137, 138, 140, 145, 146, 148, 150, 151, 152, 155, 159, 162, 163, 164, 165, 169, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 184, 185, 191

Ley: 51, 118

Adler: 22, 107, 113, 118, 158 Alfa Romeo: 30, 51, 55, 65, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 81, 84, 88, 102, 105, 108, 110, 111, 139, 142, 149, 152, 153, 157, 159, 164, 166, 167, 168, 172, 179, 188 AMC: 10, 64, 121, 127, 151, 171, 176 American Bantam: 180, 181 Aston Martin: 64, 101, 172, 179, 180, 188

Auto Union: 43, 93, 124, 168 Bedford: 119

Bugatti: 82, 130, 135, 185 Buick: 54, 55, 94, 96, 97, 104, 106, 112, 117, 120, 121, 126, 127, 137, 143, 146, 147, 154, 159 Cadillac: 17, 22, 25, 55, 85, 96, 97, 115, 117, 120, 121, 143, 146, 147, 150, 156, 157, 159, 176, 177, 182 Checker: 94 Chevrolet: 19, 22, 27, 57, 60, 69, 78, 81, 82, 84, 85, 95, 96, 117, 120, 136, 143, 146, 156, 159, 171, 182 Chrysler: 9, 31, 33, 34, 43, 53, 54, 67, 75, 83, 86, 94, 98, 100, 101, 104, 106, 109, 110, 113, 115, 126, 128, 130, 138, 146, 151, 157, 162, 165, 170, 173, 176, 181, 185

196

Franklin: 91, 94

Horch: 64, 70, 99, 114, 175

Lamborghini: 64, 71, 72, 73, 105, 108, 167, 179

Land Rover: 67, 68 Lincoln: 19, 23, 30, 56, 66, 68, 69, 78, 82, 88, 94, 98, 113, 125, 126, 145, 146, 150, 155, 173, 177, 178, 184 Locomobile: 91 Lotus: 58, 116, 175, 187 Magirus: 130, 138

Goliath: 70

Maserati: 57, 65, 72, 77, 81, 101, 105, 108, 110, 111, 142, 144, 149, 152, 155, 166, 179, 182, 188

Gordon Keeble: 110

Mathis: 65

Graham: 71, 147, 184

Matra: 92, 183

Greyhound: 127, 133, 137

Maybach: 52, 99, 118

Hanomag: 130

Mazda: 59, 140, 145

Henschel: 130

McLaren: 122, 145, 175

Glas: 105

Mercedes-Benz: 34, 36, 43, 50, 53, 56, 58, 60, 64, 80, 87, 99, 107, 109, 114, 116, 118, 123, 124, 143, 158, 160, 162, 171, 174, 185, 186

Panhard: 15, 16, 75, 92, 105, 151

Steyr: 122, 124, 129, 130, 186

Pegaso: 162, 163

Studebaker: 18, 79, 82, 83, 95, 100, 112, 125, 132, 133, 138, 140, 151, 155, 162, 171, 174

Peugeot: 20, 34, 50, 52, 57, 65, 75, 79, 80, 81, 87, 92, 105, 139, 151, 152, 153, 163, 183, 186

Sunbeam: 67

Plymouth: 94, 98, 115, 162,

Talbot-Lago: 91, 102, 104, 135, 151, 162

Monteverdi: 103, 105

Pontiac: 25, 85, 86, 115, 143, 147, 154, 156, 159, 171

Tata: 117

Morris: 27, 34, 56, 82, 115

Reliant: 123, 142, 180

Nardi: 142, 144

Toyota: 112, 137, 148, 175

Renault: 34, 70, 72, 78, 84, 86, 91, 92, 103, 105, 108, 109, 121, 131, 149, 150, 154, 170, 183

Trabant: 93

Riley: 82

Tucker: 127, 161, 180, 181

Rolls-Royce: 24, 33, 69, 76, 99, 105, 114, 139, 151

TVR: 103, 187

Oldsmobile: 65, 83, 85, 137, 140, 147, 156, 159, 176

Rometsch: 70, 86 Rover: 67, 68, 100, 137, 175, 180, 188

Volvo: 32, 71, 72, 73, 86, 87, 100, 105, 108, 109, 110, 140, 187

Opel: 19, 32, 36, 43, 69, 70, 72, 84, 85, 93, 99, 105, 106, 115, 117, 120, 124, 127, 136, 137, 141, 144, 148, 169, 170

Saab: 32, 86, 99, 165

Wartburg: 93

Salmson: 84, 91

White: 161

OSCA: 77, 103, 105, 182

Shelby: 81

Willys: 147, 174

Packard: 44, 66, 79, 82, 83, 89, 90, 94, 112, 113, 114, 115, 125, 128, 136, 140, 151, 155, 161, 171, 176, 181

Simca: 66, 72, 75, 80, 102, 110, 126, 130, 131, 149, 157, 183

Mercury: 19, 66, 78, 94, 98, 113, 125, 145, 146, 173, 177, 181, 184 MG: 34, 71, 97, 105, 137, 143, 175

Nash: 34, 44, 65, 104, 132, 150, 152, 155, 158, 161, 184 Nissan: 59, 104, 112, 131, 140, 148, 152, 167 NSU: 57, 72, 87, 105, 134, 167

Tatra: 49, 53, 118, 129, 182, 183

Triumph: 57, 137, 139, 142, 180

Vauxhall: 85, 119

SsangYong: 107

197

References

Banham, Reyner. “Vehicles of Desire” In: Modern Dreams. The Rise and Fall and Rise of Pop. London 1988: 65–70. Banham, Reyner. “A Throw-away Aesthetic” In: Design by Choice. London 1981: 90–93. Banham, Reyner. “Design by Choice” In: Design by Choice. London 1981: 97–107. Banham, Reyner. “The End of Insolence” In: Design by Choice. London 1981: 121–123. Banham, Reyner. “The Machine Aesthetic” In: Design by Choice. London 1981: 44–47. Barthes, Roland. “The New Citroën” In: Mythologies. New York 2012: 196–198 Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London 1986. Brino, Giovanni. Carlo Mollino. London 1987. Garner, Philippe. Sixties Design. Cologne/ London 2001. Gartman, David. “A History of Scholarship on American Automobile Design” In: http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Design/Gartman/D_Casestudy/Tough.htm retrieved: 05/25/2016.

198

Gartman, David: “Tough Guys and Pretty Boys: The Cultural Antagonisms of Engineering and Aesthetics” In: http://www. autolife.umd.umich.edu/Design/Gartman/D_Casestudy/Tough.htm retrieved: 05/25/2016. Giedion, Siegfried. Mechanization Takes Command. New York 1969. Guzzo, Terry. “Le mythe revisité par Roland Barthes” In: Retroviseur #208 1/2006: 20–23.

Malossi, Giannino (Ed.). This was Tomorrow. Pop from Style to Revival. Milan 1990. Margolius, Ivan. Automobiles by Architects. London 2000. Nicholson, Timothy Robin. Passenger Cars 1905–1912. London 1971. Nicholson, Timothy Robin. Passenger Cars, 1913–23. London 1972. Pevsner, Nikolaus. The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design. London 1968.

Hauffe, Thomas. Design. Hauppauge, NY 1996.

Tumminelli, Paolo. Car Design America. Kempen/New York 2012.

Haug, Wolfgang Fritz (Ed.). Critique of Commodity Aesthetic. Cambridge, UK 1986.

Tumminelli, Paolo. Car Design Asia. Kempen/New York 2014.

Katona, George. “Automobiles and Housing for the Masses” In: The Mass Consumption Society. New York 1964. Kieselbach, Ralf (Ed.). The Drive to Design. Stuttgart 1998. Lamm, Michael/Holls, Dave. A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design. Stockton, CA 1996. Loewy, Raymond. Never Leave Well Enough Alone. New York 1951.

Tumminelli, Paolo. Car Design Europe. Kempen 2011.

Internet Sources

http://americanhistory.si.edu http://blog.hemmings.com http://carsablanca.de/Magazin/automobildesign http://deansgarage.com http://design.designmuseum.org http://europe.autonews.com http://mastersofcardesign.blogspot.com http://renaultconcepts.online.fr http://www-old.idsa.org http://www.allpar.com/corporate/bios http://www.andrewfjohnsongallery.com

http://www.autodesignclub.com http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu http://www.automobilemag.com http://www.automotivehalloffame.org http://www.bmwism.com/bmws_designers.htm http://www.carstyling.ru http://www.coachbuilt.com http://www.harleyjearl.com/timeline http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com http://www.italianways.com http://www.karmannghia.it http://www.kustomrama.com

http://www.mercedes-fans.de http://www.motorcities.org http://www.raymondloewy.com http://www.retronaut.com http://www.simoncars.co.uk http://www.studiotorino.com http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com http://www.viaretro.com http://www2.artcenter.edu https://mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com https://opelpost.com https://www.mercedes-seite.de

General Motors Co. Jaguar Cars Ltd. Lamborghini S.p.A. Land Rover Ltd. Lotus Cars Ltd. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C Markus Caspers Maserati S.p.A. Mazda Motor Corp. NASA Adam Opel AG Peugeot Citroën PSA Porsche AG Raymond Loewy Foundation Renault S.A.S Saab AB

Skoda Auto Svenska Tekniska Museet Toyota Motor Corp. Vauxhall Motors Volkswagen AG Volvo Cars Wikipedia/WikiCommons

List of Illustrations

Archivio Storico Alfa Romeo Archivio Storico Bertone Archivio Storico Lancia Archivio Storico Pininfarina Aston Martin Cars Ltd. Art Center College Pasadena, CA Audi AG BMW AG British Leyland Heritage Center Chrysler Co. Daimler AG DLR Deutsches Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrt Göttingen Ferrari S.p.A. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Ford AG Ford Motor Co.

Additional pictorial material has been sourced from the author’s archive (historic brochures, advertisements, promotional material). It was not always possible to establish the original sources and copyright holders of all pictorial material.

199