car design thread

"Bunkie" Knudson brought the Pontiac "beak" from GM to Ford. He didn't last very long.
Larry Shinoda was an additional victim.

 

Exhibition at Art Center: https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/g65534551/cruising-j-town-exhibit-at-art-center-pasadena-photos/

Larry Shinoda "hop rod"

 

Thanks for the heads-up - will have to swing by for a look. Bob Hirohata's Merc lives nearby, and currently parked at the Pete ...

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Today's Car-toon design entry: Proportions go out the window!

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And there's more: Perhaps this is the AI futuristic entry?

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At least both have black wheels and black bumpers!

 

Platypus vs ?

 

I'll stick to fuel delivery...

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The origin of the streamlined tankers - the Texaco Doodlebug - Project: Texaco Tanker General history.. turns out the couple who wrote this restored the only known 1938 Diamond T Texaco tanker truck in New Zealand.. worth a read if your computer can handle loading all those pictures.
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photo: Simon Crispe
Extra History: Heil coachbuilder

 

Stranger than fiction: From Ford to Pixar

How J Mays expanded his automotive career designing personalities into cartoon cars:

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I’ve worked with J Mays three times. Audi, SHR and Ford. He now is on our advisory board at Meyers Manx https://meyersmanx.com/ for the last few years. He’s the best design leader I’ve had the privilege of working with. You can see a huge difference in the products of Ford during his reign vs now.

 

Me, I love the Canoo fleet! Every time I see the van I remember the Brubaker Box!
I was quite sad to hear they went bust - Second coolest van ever!

 

The design story of the 1966 Olds Toronado:
https://**********.com/2025/07/the-1966-oldsmobile-toronado-design-process.html

 

I believe some AI bot has now thoroughly mapped the Canoo and Brubaker and doesn't give a hoot about plagiarism.

This old saying seems to rule:

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Me, too!

In fact, I have one of each of those sweet Art Deco trucks in my Oil Field Fleet:

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---------------------------The Spline in Car Design-------------------
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Holy Bat Man! Interesting Hagerty article about the spline in car design:

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https://www.hagerty.com/media/design/how-the-spline-shaped-some-of-your-favorite-classic-cars/?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MED_UN_NA_EML_UN_UN_DailyDriver_Thursday_v2&hashed_email=8e43f6a5abf43ff70e0771781e4993de6c08fd1510eadb1414b4ce6b84c34e12&dtm_em=8e43f6a5abf43ff70e0771781e4993de6c08fd1510eadb1414b4ce6b84c34e12

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Did AI make that all up??

 

What do you think?

 

Seriously?

 

Got Splines?

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Recently published book on the history of Car Design and GM Design.

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Neat. I'll put in a request for my local library to pick up a copy and see if I can find any others he wrote in the meantime.

I found a couple articles and the backgrounds on his work are so interesting and clash well. I can definitely see some GM designer similarities in some of your past work that you've posted.

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I returned to Detroit in late 1971 after spending six months with Opel in Germany. This sketch is a demonstration of my aesthetic and design philosophy at that time. The low, yellow, midengine car in side view and the very black and tall train engine present an image that is hard to justify visually. That was my point: the extreme contrasts of color and shape; the blocky and antique train engine as a backdrop to the new, low, sleek, and dramatic shape of a modern mid-engine, high-performance supercar." —Dick Ruzzin courtesy of Dick Ruzzin Hagerty article

 

Like the art world, car design sketches would go through different phases. Ford & Chrysler had their own styles, and the European had their signature styles. Before the Net we didn't always know what everyone else was doing. Today every designer around the globe knows what everyone else is doing.......in real time!
My signature was the big wheels in all my sketches. Long before they became a 'thing'.

 

Bella Mangusta is a good one ...

https://www.deansgarage.com/bella-mangusta/

 

Chevy powered Mangusta!

 

This one is not just a rumor unfortunately.

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1955 Dodge La Femme.

A car designed by men specifically for women. What could go wrong?


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Exactly!