nice article from Deansgarage.com on Chuck Jordan, former GM VP Design, and Ferrari enthusiast/collector Remembering Chuck Jordan : Dean?s Garage
A very nice article. Of course kinda leaves out the Chrome Cobra portion. At Chrysler there was a designer that had gotten sideways with Chuck. By his account he unfairly got the short end but he still respected the man as the absolute best in the industry. One of his comments attesting to Chuck's ability was to walk up to a wall of sketches and renderings and immediately determine which had the best design. He could see right past all the rendering and presentation techniques to something that might have been the simple sketch. One thinks that this should, of course, be a required attribute of senior design management but the reality can be quite different. Jordan believed in the sanctity of Design. That is intentionally written with a "D" not a "d". If one was not moving Design forward then what was one doing? Hey Mark: Time to weigh in here. Jeff
I was trying to remember what the wood particularly between the two rear bucket seats reminded me of, and then I remembered, during my youth in Michigan 50 years ago where I was shown many a basement "rec room" featuring a lot of amateur woodwork where the builder would be proud of what he did with plywood. I notice in the new Volvo SUV in the commercials (looks great in the interior) where they also have this matched grain wood where diagonal grains of wood meet in the center, why are the Euros so obsessed with wood? Why don't they just make wood sculptures? They are way overdoing the wood in these cars as if they are compelled to show "look what we can do with wood."
It's all about the perception of 'Luxury'......inexpensive cars can't do this, so if it looks expensive, and difficult to do...then it must be 'high end'
You need to go spend some time looking at the cabinetry of the large corporate jets. Forget Gulfstreams as they lost the ability to show design talent by the late 1990s. Check out the BBJs, ACJs and bigger. These are the same clients as for the cars and yachts. It is a demonstration of fine craftsmanship. How the wood grains actually match up correctly. This is not an exercise in test tube plasti-wood. Does this RR go overboard, yes. But anyone can cover a panel with leather so showing the ability to do complicated items with wood and taking the care to compensate for surface distortion is notable. As for me, I would not have used some open pore ash or oak wood. Way too plebian. Jeff
I believe this will benefit Fiat/Alfa & Maserati, but we'll see: Top FCA designer to lead Alfa Romeo, Maserati design
As as probably discussed, automotive design brand siginture is an hughly important It will be interesting to see what he does with Alfa and Maserati design for the future. PS I dont like either at present especially the 4C ALFA
The latest issue of Auto & Design has a design story of the development of the 488 Image Unavailable, Please Login
This show is heavy on car designers, in fact open the website and you see who is scheduled to be there, from Syd Mead (sets for Blade Runner and many other entertainment projects) on to current day designers like Frank Stephenson. Story on who's who here: ART CENTER SHOW TO BE HEAVY ON FUTURE DESIGN | Car Build Index The only thing I hate is that you have to park remotely and take a bus up to the limited parking campus. And it used to be beastly hot there , they moved the month of the show but it could still be 85 deg. F
I saw one of these the other day. Can't say I like what they did with it. The 458 is better looking. And that high front end really looks strange and Porsche 918ish. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Couple more anecdotes here that weren't in the Dean's Garage story, love to hear more Mitchell stories though I guess Lamm and Holls covered a lot of that in their out of print GM design history. THE DESIGNER?S DESIGNER: Chuck Jordan | Car Build Index
nice article, but there was one error that really jumped out, and that was this statement: like Sergio Pininfarina, and even eventually assigned Pininfarina to do special one off concepts like the Two Rotor Corvette. That is totally false from the design perspective. The 2 Rotor as well as the 4 Rotor Vettes were done in Warren,Mi at GM Design. Pininfarina built one of the prototypes, bur had no say in the design. Mark Jordan is a member of F Chat, so if he chooses, he can add any additional 'corrections' I was fortunate enough to have worked for Chuck for almost 25 yrs. There was never a dull moment! on another note, at Chuck's funeral, it was said Chuck's only regret in life was that he didn't purchase more Ferraris. Ya gotta love that! You also forgot to mention he had an F40 at one point
The 2-rotor's design development was well covered in Style Auto. Lots if Kip's work featured. The Lusso and Daytona were both before he ascended to VP. Not sure on the Boxer and Testarossas vs ascension. In his day Jordan was not the only Ferrari person in Design around Detroit. Hank Haga had a 250LM, BB and 166MM. Dave Cummings at Chrysler had some serious Ferraris. Dick Teague had several Ferraris over the years although he was far better known for his classics and antiques. The stories I was told on Chuck's delay in ascending was that in spite of Mitchell making his recommendation to the GM board, the board wanted a pliable sort. Irv was their dutiful soldier. They got what they deserved which is not what they needed. Hopefully does comment.
Not that he's being a Testy Rossa in pointing that out, it's an important distinction. All the best, Andrew.
Accuracy so there is no confusion. Don't want anyone getting confused as they look so much alike. Just like a 250 & 330 GTO versus the 288 GTO and 599 GTO. Jeff
