O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle March 21

Another classic>

Thanks, Richard.  Your updates are awesome.

Great stuff, Richard!  I'd have to throw Bill Mitchell into the discussion, as well.  He also worked for GM, was their VP of styling and I think, was a bit later than Harley Earl.  I met him during my employment with Studebaker in the early 1960's up at Elkhart Lake, WI - Road America.  This was in 1962 when we brought our Avanti prototype up to the June Sprints to get a reading on what people thought of the car.  Mitchell approached me and asked if I could take him for a ride in it.  I probably made a mistake when I let him drive it, but after going around the track a couple of times without damaging the car he seemed rather impressed. 

GM had several of their design experiment "dream" cars up there, including the "Mako Shark" the prototype for what became the Sting Ray.  Later that evening I saw Bill Mitchell in town near where the special cars were on display.  I said, "****, Bill, I let you drive the Avanti; the least you could do would be to take me for a ride in the Shark.  What I didn't realize, at that time, was the he had been into the sauce pretty heavily before I saw him and then when we got into that supercharged monster car, was really in no condition to drive.  But off we went, as the crowds scattered from our path, on to the Wisconsin country roads and up to speeds of well over 100 mph!  What probably saved my life or at least embarrassing myself was that on the trip, the car developed a short circuit somewhere under the dash.  We actually had smoke in the cockpit and the lights started to dim, so we quickly turned around and headed back to town.  But it was an unforgetable memory for me and I was certainly glad I survived!

And speaking of designers, Brooks Stevens being the designer for most of Studebaker cars, (except the Avanti which was a Raymond Lowey design) became a close friend of mine and after my careers with Stude and then Oldsmobile I became Sales Manager for Excalibur. but that's another story.

Note how many of these famous Industrial Designers did both automobiles as well as trains?  Of course, a lot of other manufactured items as well.

Paul Fischer

Loewy, Exner, and Buehrig were great designers and some of their cars truly iconic.  I think Harley Earle was quite good - the Buick Y-Job he built in the mid '30s and drove through WWII and into the postwar years was way ahead of its time, etc.  But he was much better at being a player inside GM and influencing it greatly for decades.  Anyone who really likes this topic might like Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars, by Paul Ingrassia.  It has chapters that cover Exner, Earle, etc. and is fantastic - I learned alot and enjoyed every bit.  This is Earle's Buick Y-Job

Other designers I admire as much or more are:

Battista "Pinin" Farina - his 1947 Cisitalia 202 set the form for fast GTs and parts cars for four decades and has been a permanent part of the MoMa collection just about since.  And, of course, all those Ferraris . . . . and his styling house today.

Giiorgetto Giugiaro - he designed many cars that were truly elegant and pure and iconic including the Alfa Guila Sprint and the Maserati Ghible - those alone make him deserving of his being named Car Designer of the Century in the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1999.  

Peter Brock has not been given nearly enough credit as a stylist.  While a designer who let function define form, he had a way to do it elegantly.  The Cobra Daytona coupe is maybe the most famous but there were many others.    Fantastic

Henrik Fisker.  Yes, he is a lousy car-manufacturer - his Fisker Karma is, well, terrrriiible and the company close to incompetent in my view.   But as a stylist, he  was/is brilliant: he did the BMW Z8, one of my favorites, and the Aston Margin Vantage - which some people, including me, think is as close to perfectly styled automobile ever produced - I had one for several years and miss it a lot, if I had anywhere to keep one I would get another.

Who designed the 1966-67 Charger?  I bought one new and it remains my dream car.

If you could get one with a modern, fuel efficient engine, I'd buy another.

One of my favorites is Figoni, the French designer of the 1930's. His streamlined body for the Talbot Lago may be the ultimate Deco streamlined car.

Richard - Your comments this week are very interesting.  I look forward to your thread every week.

Art