car design thread

Legendary. One of my instructors at Art Center.
TWO MAJOR DESIGN SYMPOSIUMS at the GM DESIGN DOME followed by a MEET & GREET at the GM HERITAGE CENTER
SATURDAY, JUNE 18
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SYMPOSIUM I: GM DESIGN DOME
The Influence of Strother MacMinn
and the story of the Le Mans Coupe
9:00-11:00am $50/person
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The story of the legendary Strother MacMinn, from those who knew him.

Noted for helping found Toyota's Calty Design Research studio in California, MacMinn's automotive design teaching career at ArtCenter in Pasadenaspanned fifty years, with students including J Mays, Chris Bangle and Wayne Cherry.

Said former General Motors VP of Design Chuck Jordan "if you are in a car today, Mac probably influenced its design."

An extremely rare and historically accurate replica of his renowned Le Mans Coupe, with a body made from the original mold, will be on display, and a central focus of the panel discussion, featuring:

Stu Reed, Head of Transportation Design, ArtCenter
Steve Pasteiner, ArtCenter alum and founder, Advanced Automotive Technologies
Peter Brock, EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Recipient, 2022
Dennis Kazmerowski, builder of the featured Le Mans Coupe

 

Anyone in town interested in Corvette Design
SYMPOSIUM II: GM DESIGN DOME
Stingray Racer to C-8, from a Design Perspective
Featuring the Kings of Corvette Design
1:00-4:00pm $100/person
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A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the behind-the-scenes challenges faced by the design community when bringing new Corvette ideas to reality.

Featuring Peter Brock, designer of the Stingray Racer and Shelby American's Daytona Coupe and more, along with four other legendary Corvette designers:
Randy Wittine, John Cafaro, Tom Peters and Kirk Bennion

For additional information, call Werner Meier at (248) 207-3037
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Meet & Greet
GM HERITAGE CENTER
6:30-8:00pm $40/person

An informal "Meet and Greet" will be held Saturday evening at the GM Heritage Center to enable attendees to meet many of the Symposium panelists, the individuals who've brought our motoring dreams to reality.
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SYPOSIUM AND MEET & GREET SPACE IS LIMITED.
Click the button below to purchase tickets now.
CLICK TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY

Thanks to the generosity of General Motors and our host Michael Simcoe, 100% of proceeds from these events will be donated to the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology.

 

MARIO REVELLI DI BEAUMONT
Home/Designers/Mario Revelli di Beaumont
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Of ancient Piedmontese noble origins, he was born in Rome on June 25th 1907 from Abiel Bethel, a well-known weapons designer, and by Lucia Bonomi.

He studied and graduated from the Military Academy of Nunziatella, in Naples, but at the same time he cultivated a passion for fine arts, supported by an aunt, a fashion designer. Passionate about mechanics and engines, at the age of seventeen he had collaborated with his brother Gino who ran a well-established mechanical workshop and motorcycle dealer in Turin (the Galloni company, active between 1919 and 1932) and later, having become an engineer, he followed in his father’s footsteps. He founded, in fact, together with a Genoese entrepreneur, Francesco Nasturzio, the anonymous company Revelli Manifattura Armaguerra of Cremona, for the production of the semiautomatic rifle of his conception mod. 39 and the ordinary repeating weapons mod. 91.

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With Gino, Mario designed a racing motorcycle,which he then successfully drove in increasingly important races. In September 1925, riding the GR (Galloni Revelli) 500, a competition motorcycle equipped with an English Jap engine of 499 cc, he won the Grand Prix of Nations at the national circuit of Monza, recently inaugurated. Promise of motorcycling, the “teenage champion”, as the chronicles called it, won the title of champion of Europe, in competition with well-known professionals like Achille Varzi, then passed to motoring. A series of severe accidents, however, forced him to abandon the motorcycle sport. He then dedicated himself professionally to the design of car chassises, a sector in which he excelled above all, adopting an innovative approach that tried, ahead of his time, to create a synthesis between form and function.

A highly original character, Revelli can be considered the first free-lance designer in the history of the automobile, the forerunner of a professional figure that would only spread during the second post-war period. His exceptional artistic talents, combined with a purely technical training, allowed him to propose himself to the Turin coachbuilders of his time as a refined and prepared designer, able to combine the industrial and construction needs with good taste and elegance required by the custom-built luxury cars.

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A Fiat 508S, designed by Revelli for Ghia.
Starting from 1925-26 he produced bodywork figures for the Farina, Garavini, Ghia, Montescani and Casaro plants, but it was with Vittorino Viotti that Revelli forged the closest ties and with whom he made many of his first masterpieces. Introduced by his father to Senator Agnelli, he was appointed by Fiat at the beginning of 1929 to design the luxury versions of almost their entire production:the 514, 521, 522 and 525 with spyder and royal coupe bodies.

In 1931, together with Viotti, he built it in series, the 525 SS, one of Fiat’s most extraordinary sports cars; he then collaborated with Giacinto Ghia for the definition of the Fiat 514 ‘Coppa delle Alpi’ (1930) and the even more famous 508 S ‘Coppa d’Oro’ (1933).

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After establishing himself as one of the best interpreters of sports lines during the 20s and 30s, Revelli became (along with Felice Bianchi Anderloni of carrozzeria Touring – read its story here) one of the strongest promoters of the aerodynamic evolution of the Italian bodywork. Drawing for Giovanni Bertone and for Viotti, he contributed significantly to the transition from the still extremely codified and mannerist forms of the early thirties cars to the dynamic and strongly modelled ones of the following era. In collaboration with the engineer Rodolfo Schaeffer (director of the centrostile Fiat), he created the 1500 (see the below picture), which in 1935 sanctioned the definitive passage of the Italian car to aerodynamic shapes, completing an evolutionary process begun in the previous two years with some realisations by Viotti and Bertone, above all on the Fiat 518 chassis ‘Ardita‘ and Lancia Augusta.

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Attentive observer of every design aspect, Revelli didn’t stop himself, however, at the stylistic contribution. With Fiat 1500 – which was designed in absolute freedom starting from a white sheet – Revelli had, in fact, the opportunity to revolutionise the automobile even from the architectural point of view, with the first example of an aware approach to ergonomics. He moved the seats lower, setting a more reclined driving position, which guaranteed greater comfort and easier movements, at the same time allowing the car’s center of gravity to be lowered, thus improving stability. In addition to being a great designer, Revelli was also extremely fruitful in devising innovative concepts and systems in the automotive sector, which still amaze us for their importance and even more for the modernity of his ideas: in 1927 he invented and patented the opening deflectors of the doors , in 1931 the central locking, in 1933 the spiral-controlled window regulators, in 1940 the energy-absorbing steering wheel, the first futuristic approach to driver’s safety.

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In the second half of the 1930s he went even further with his studies in aerodynamics, collaborating with SIATA (Italian Society of Auto-Aviation Technical Applications) and again with Viotti, with whom he also created the record-breaking Maserati 4CM for engineer Giuseppe Furmanik , developed at the Experimental Aeronautical Research Center of Guidonia (1937).

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He also studied advanced guided architecture, which he theorised for a futuristic concept of taxis (similar vehicles would have been built only in the 1950s, see picture) and then applied them concretely on several buses of Candido Viberti and later on SIATA commercial vehicles, during WWII.

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In April 1937 he married Luciana Ansaldi, whom gave him their first son the following year, they called him Bethel Abiel, like his father. In 1941 their second born arrived, Michele. Extremely shy and always focused on the future, at the end of the 30s Revelli evolved his aerodynamic concept starting to propose models with a ‘ship’s bow’ front that found application at Fiat (1100 A and 1500 C, 1939) and, in a more refined way, in some creations by Viotti, Pininfarina and Bertone. He also designed several advertising vehicles, including some famous ones for the EIAR (Italian Organization for Radio Auditions), demonstrating how broad his design and creative vision of the car was; at that time Revelli enjoyed a his fame – in an age when the figure of the automotive designer or, more generally, of the industrial designer was still completely unknown – so much so that he was even commissioned by Italo Balbo (the governor of Libya ) to design a ‘caravan‘ for him (that is, a mobile home made from a bus with a trailer), then built by Viberti.

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During the war he also conducted some innovative studies on urban mobility, realizing in 1941 the prototype of an electric micro-vehicle (called electric scooter, see below picture), and then he devoted himself to military products, designing trailers, field kitchens and even a system that set in motion the wheels of the plane before landing, to assist in it.

After being briefly imprisoned in Turin by the German occupiers and freed by the partisans, when the war ended he resumed drawing cars. He collaborated with Ghia, Pininfarina, SIATA, CANSA (Costruzioni Aeronautiche Novaresi SA), Moretti and with the French body shop Figoni & Falaschi, contributing in an important way to the definition of the new post-war automotive style, more compact and ‘clean’ compared to the previous decade one.

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The most significant realization of those years was, however, was without doubt the ‘giardinetta’, a practical and economic bodywork, built in steel and wood (the metal was still difficult to find and its use was thus reduced to a minimum), which allowed to give a versatile and concrete answer to the great need for popular motorization of the reconstruction period. It was built starting from 1946 in many variations by Viotti and by the lesser-known Fissore di Savigliano, but soon it was imitated – most of the time without the authorization of Revelli – by almost all Italian coachbuilders and many foreigners ones.

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At the end of the 40s he began to collaborate with the French company SIMCA, designing the Huit 1200 (1949, an evolution of the Fiat 1100) and the Aronde (1951) and resumed its relationship with Fiat participating, with a non-prominent role, in the development of the 1400 sedan (1950). A consultancy with General Motors, which began in 1952, then held him back in the U.S. for two years, where he devoted himself to the study of compact city cars, and other futuristic research. Back in Europe, he resumed working with SIMCA, establishing a relationship that lasted for over a decade, from which the Vedette (1954), the 1000 (1961) – which is probably his last masterpiece, extreme synthesis of rationality and functionality – and the 1300/1500 (1963) were born. In the same period he also dealt with updating the style of French luxury cars Facel Vega.

Revelli’s collaboration with the Aermacchi motorcycle manufacturer is also known, for which he designed the futuristic body model Chimera (1956), a fully enclosed motorcycle with a 175 cc four-stroke horizontal single-cylinder engine, where mechanical and technical needs married in an original way with industrial design. The collaboration with SIMCA, now controlled by Chrysler, ceased in 1963 and Revelli operated in Grugliasco (Turin) and in Paris, intensifying the relations that had never ceased with US companies and research centers.

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On behalf of the Bridgeport Brass Company and the Copper Development Association, in 1967 he created the Exemplar I (built by Sergio Coggiola on a Buick Grand Sport basis) to show the potential of copper and brass in the automotive world; followed the 1972 Exemplar II (based on the Oldsmobile Toronado, build by Eurostyle), which dealt with the theme of the reconfigurable car with an unusual folding roof. He later devoted himself to teaching, also engaging in the creation of a worldwide automobile file and collaborating in the design course of the Art Center College of design in Pasadena and in the School of applied art and design in Turin.

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Coggiola – Exemplar I
He died on May 29th, 1985 in Grugliasco, where he lived and worked for some time.

 

LA DOLCE VITA: THE SPIAGGINA BEACH CARS
Home/Body Styles/La dolce vita: the Spiaggina beach cars
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A new way to enjoy the summer holidays
The birth of the Spiaggina Beach Cars (Spiaggia = Beach) takes place in the immediate post-war period at the initiative of some Italian coachbuilders which transformed small mass production cars in order to make them suitable for the needs of wealthy customers during the holiday period in the seaside resorts.

The changes, made on the client’s need, were the most varied and generally included the removal of the roof and its replacement with a fabric awning, the installation of canvas or wicker seats and the elimination of the lateral glazed surfaces. and access doors.

The name “Spiaggina” was introduced with the 1958 Fiat 500 Boano Spiaggina, built on the Fiat Nuova 500 platform and mechanics and designed by Mario Boano. This car, despite being built in only two specimens, became famous in magazines all over the world for being photographed with its owners, Gianni Agnelli and Aristotle Onassis. Probably, it contributed to the affirmation of the term “Spiaggina”, also in reference to the folding beach chairs (which in italian are called in fact Spiaggina) used in bathing establishments, so this kind of cars were often referred by journalist as “beach furniture”.

From the second half of the fifties, various models of Spiaggina cars were built in small series by the main Italian coachbuilders until the early nineties.

With the definitive closure of the coachbuilder era, which mainly worked on Fiat production chassis, the term “Spiaggina” fell into oblivion due to safety regulations. But these cars will always have a special place in the heart of car enthusiasts and remain protagonists in many Concorsi d’Eleganza and world auctions reaching high prices.

So lets dig into deeper and see (in alphabetical order) the italian coachbuilder creations:

Boano
The first documented Spiaggina was built by Carrozzeria Boano on the Fiat 500 chassis. Two speciments were built. Boano also made the Torpedo Marina which was based on the big sister Fiat 600, this version allowed to carry more people, basically a family version of the Spiaggina.


Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina
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Fiat 500 Spiaggina Boano

Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina
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Fiat 500 Spiaggina Boano
Castagna
Since the rebirth in 1994, the historic Carrozzeria from Milan relaunced the trend of the Spiaggina on various modern platforms. The most notables are the Mini based “Tender” and various interpretations on the Fiat 500, like the “Capri” and the “Tender2“.


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Fissore
The first example of Spiaggina made by Carrozzeria Fissore was this Fiat 600 Marinella. It features a two-tone yellow, brown paintwork, wood slatted bench seating, Coir carpeting and a Surrey top. Fissore made also its larger version based on the Multipla: the Fiat 600 Multipla Marinella which features semi-circular passenger seating, boat-style wood embellishment in the interior and a fixed roof. More than 20 years later a new interpretation followed on the Fiat 127 base: the Scout. Its body was made of fibreglass and had an almost off-road vibe.


Fiat 127 Scout

Fiat 600 Marinella

Fiat 600 Multipla Marinella

Fiat 127 Scout

Fiat 600 Marinella
Photo courtesy of Stuart Parr Collection

Frua
The first Spiaggina made by Pietro Frua was unveiled at the 1957 Salone dell’Automobile di Torino. Based on the Fiat 500, this motorboat look-a-like one-off features an unusual position for its headlights: under the windshield. In 1977, Frua tried his luck again, this time (like Fissore) on the Fiat 127: the Dinghy.


Fiat 127 Dinghy

Fiat 500 Spiaggina Frua

Fiat 127 Dinghy

Fiat 500 Spiaggina Frua
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia was the first Coachbuilder which mass produced the Spiaggina. With the Fiat 600 Jolly, designed by Sergio Sartorelli, Ghia gave basically birth to the iconic beach car. While the 600 Jolly was all about fun, its big sister, the Fiat 600 Multipla Jolly was more practical. More than 100 speciments in many versions were hand-built by Carrozzeria Ghia. Variants were also built on other brands like Renault and Autobianchi.


Autobianchi Bianchina Jolly

Fiat 600 Jolly
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Fiat 500 Jolly

Fiat 600 Multipla Jolly
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Renault 4CV Jolly

Autobianchi Bianchina Jolly

Fiat 600 Jolly
Photo courtesy of Hyman Ltd / Erik Fuller

Italdesign
The 2011 Volkswagen Up! Azzurra Sailing Team was created by Italian designers Giorgetto Giugiaro and Walter de Silva for Italdesign as a modern interpretation of the Spiaggina car. The Up! makes use of high-tech and highly stylish materials in the interor, all of which are completely waterproof, and they intentionally resemble the fittings of a luxury yacht. These features include the four seats in white-blue leather, numerous chrome components and a dashboard in mahogany with maple wood inlays. Its surfaces are coated in a synthetic resin.


Volkswagen Up! Azzurra Sailing Team
Michelotti
Probably one of the most famous Spiaggina Cars is the 1966 DAF Kini Beach Car. Designed by Giovanni Michelotti for the dutch car brand, it was made as gift for the royal family which used it at their summer residence in Porto Ercole. The 1968 Fiat Shellette in other hand, carries a lot of similarities with the Kini Beach car. Born in collaboration with Yacht designer Phillip Schell, it was based on the Fiat 850. About 80 were built, only less then 10 are still in existance.

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Fiat Shellette
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DAF Kini Beach Car
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Fiat Shellette
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DAF Kini Beach Car
Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Moretti
Moretti, which was born as car manufacturer, and later became a coachbuilder was also involved in the realizzation of Spiaggina cars. In 1958 it built a Spiaggina based on the BMW Isetta. Of course there were also some interpretations on Fiat chassis like the 1960 Multipla Mare and again, on the Fiat 127 chassis, the Midimaxi.


Fiat 127 Midimaxi
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BMW Isetta Spiaggina

Moretti Multipla 750 Mare

Fiat 127 Midimaxi
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BMW Isetta Spiaggina
Pininfarina
Unveiled at the 1956 Turin Motor Show, Pininfarina’s debut of the Spiaggina cars was this Fiat 600 Multipla Eden Roc. Henry Ford Jr. bought this speciments on the first day of the show, and a second one was made for the Avvocato Agnelli. In 1969 Pininfarina presented the Teenage: a Spiaggina built on the Fiat 128 chassis which features a folding windshield and walkie talkies. No doors of roof were available. In 2001, to celebrate the 80’s birthday of Gianni Agnelli, Pininfarina built the Fiat Multipla Spider, a modern interpretation of the Spiaggina, which was followed in 2018 by the Fiat 500 Spiaggina 4.0, made in collaboration with Lapo Elkann, chairman and creative director of Garage Italia.


Fiat 500 Spiaggina

Fiat Multipla Eden Roc

Fiat 128 Teenage

Fiat Multipla Spider

Fiat 500 Spiaggina

Fiat Multipla Eden Roc
Savio
The less known coachbuilder Savio with its Spiaggina versions on the Fiat 600 and 500 basis designed by Boano followed in the 70’s by the 127 Albarella and the 126 Jungla.


Fiat 126 Jungla

Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina

Fiat 500 Elegance

Fiat 127 Albarella

Fiat 126 Jungla

Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina
Vignale
Carrozzeria Vignale made various Spiaggina cars based on the Fiat Multipla and all designed by Giovanni Michelotti. Its worth mentioning the 1956 Fiat 600 Multipla Spiaggia exhibited at the 1957 Geneva Motor Show, and the 1963 Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina.


Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina

Fiat 600 Multipla Spiaggetta

Fiat 600 Torpedo Marina

Fiat 600 Multipla Spiaggetta

 

Ferrari clay modelling
Ferrari_Factory_Clay_Modellin
Film Editor: Oliver McIntyre
In the previous two episodes of Inside the Factory we explored the Foundry and Mechanical Machining Department, two cornerstones of the Ferrari production process where aluminium and steel are smelted, tempered and reworked into intricate performance components.


Located within the Centro Stile design centre, the Modelleria is where mathematical designers, modellers and colour and trim specialists work together on a fundamental stage in the construction of a new Prancing Horse. Using 3D mathematical designs created from 2D drawings and sketches, a full-size physical model of the car is built, made from clay.


It’s a rigorous, delicate process, with experienced sculpting modellers working within tight timing schedules to reach a result that corresponds with the hypotheses formed through the original sketches and the 3D digital modelling process.











02:11 02:11


Take an exclusive look at a Ferrari coming to life in the Modelleria




A single cycle, from sketch to finished car takes seven weeks, however there’s an average of at least two development cycles using clay modelling, with the option of redefining individual parts in line with the various engineering phases.


The first stage involves building a frame from metal (and sometimes wood components) on which the clay is applied and worked. What follows is a constant dialogue between modellers and designers as the car assumes its near definitive shape through a series of successive phases of manual correction, reverse engineering scanning and automatic milling


For the construction of individual parts, modern stereolithographic reproduction techniques and dedicated moulds are be used, with ‘hard parts’ being made from a special high density polymer material is more resistant and less likely to respond to temperature in the same way pliable clay does


Once finished, the clay is cleaned and a thin light film is applied to the body sections, before being placed under LED lights. This process shows the ‘highlights’ – how light is reflected across the body – and is an integral part of the design process. Light must run uniformly across the car, and if it doesn’t the film is removed and the team adjust the clay by hand until it does. A final scan is then made to produce the A Class data from which the production model will be based.


It’s artisan work and proof that no matter how good the technology gets, hands, eyes and human judgement remain the most valued assets at Ferrari’s factory in the 21st Century.


15 March, 2022

 

I just had to post this recent experience.

A long, long time ago, 1977 to be exact, I did a sketch while assigned to the Oldsmobile Studio of a proposed 2 seater Olds. One of countless sketches, and nothing ever came of it.
Several years ago, I posted the sketch as part of my portfolio on Behance.net, a site for artists and designers to display their work. Recently I received an email from a gentleman in Poland asking if he could use that sketch to develop a digital model. I told him I would be honored and left it at that. Today he sent the 2 digital views he developed. I was absolutely blown away at the results of his work. While there are opportunities for improvement, i.e. plan views, fender sections, moulding sections, etc. , I believe he captured the essence of the design. I am just flabbergasted at his rendition with very little to go on.
So I thought I'd post his work. Mieszko Sobolski is his name.
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Yes it is!

 

Thanks!

 

Return to News
Joan Klatil-Creamer: Car Design Pioneer



Retroautos
By DavidBurrell - 29 March 2022

In July 1966 Joan Klatil had graduated with a Fine Arts/Industrial Design degree from the renowned Cleveland Institute of Arts. She was offered a designer job at GM. Just six months later she was promoted into the production styling studio of GM’s most prestigious brand: Cadillac.

Not everyone got to work in the Cadillac studio. Not everyone was allowed to shape GM’s Standard of the World. It was a swift rise in a very short time by any measure. Even today, such a career trajectory would identify the individual as a high potential and someone any smart corporation would want to retain.

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Joan, clay modeller extraordinaire David Rossi (centre) and senior Corvette designer Bob Veryzer, discuss a futuristic Cadillac concept. The late Rossi is universally praised for his ability to transform 2D sketches directly into 3D clay models.
Back in 1967, Joan’s appointment was even bigger news. It was pioneering. Here’s how the Cleveland Institute’s newsletter described Joan’s new job, in a tone that was so common of the times.

“The photogenic Joan, first woman designer assigned to a production passenger car exterior design studio in the United States, has been written up in feature articles in several major dailies, including The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press, and The Cleveland Press. Accustomed to ‘firsts’, she joined Cadillac Styling Studio of General Motors Corporation in July last year, after being the first woman to receive the institute’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a major in Industrial Design. While many women have worked on interior design and styling of Detroit's major product since World War II, not until now has a female designer worked on automotive exteriors.”

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One of a series of GM publicity photos taken as part of a publicity campaign when Joan was appointed as GM first exterior designer. That’s Cadillac design chief Stan Parker at the back. Parker has a strong link to Australia, having shaped the EH Holden.
Joan recalls the media attention given to her.

“It was the PR people at GM who wanted to publicise the job. Newspapers interviewed me. All I wanted to do was design cars.”

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One of the many city and suburban newspaper feature stories about Joan.
Only two of the newspaper stories refrained from commenting on Joan’s appearance. Descriptions used by the others included “attractive”, “tall slim blonde”, “dark eyed” and “a pioneer in high heels.” It makes for cringeworthy reading now, but back in 1967 such descriptions were commonplace.

The publicity had flow on effects, Joan told me.

“A few of the men in the various studios were jealous of the publicity.”

Joan was not GM’s first woman designer. Helene Rother was hired in 1943 by Harley Earl, GM’s then design supremo. Her work was restricted to interiors. She left GM in 1947.

Earl then recruited ten women in 1955. Widely publicised by GM’s PR department in publicity films, magazines and newspaper stories as the “Damsels of Design” their work was also confined to interiors. There are many recent magazine and online stories that delve into the careers and impact of these talented women. All tend to end with the same observation: when Bill Mitchell succeeded Earl in 1958, the advancement of women in GM’s design studios was curtailed.

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Harley Earl and six of GM's "Damsels of Design," photographed in 1955. From left: Suzanne Vanderbilt, Ruth Glennie, Marjorie Ford Pohlman, Jeanette Linder, Sandra Logyear and Peggy Sauer.
GM was not alone in having these attitudes. Sexism was ingrained in most industries in the USA and across the world. Joan now laughs about a Michigan law that prevented women from working beyond midnight, but in 1967 companies could be fined heavily for a breach.

“That Michigan law meant that I could not work all-nighters, as sometimes happened in the design studios.”

So, what drew Joan to automotive design in the first place?

“I played with cars when I was young. My dad bought me model cars and my mother bought me dolls. The dolls remained untouched. I still have a remote-controlled car my dad got me one time. I also constructed plastic car kits. I guess you could say I was the little girl who liked cars.

My parents wanted me to have a university degree. I was good at drawing during high school so I was able to get into the Cleveland Institute. That’s where I really blossomed. “

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Selected to participate in GM’s 1965 summer intern program, Joan is seen her working on her commuter car project.
It was GM designers Chuck Jordan and David North who first identified Joan’s talent. They would visit design schools and offer three-month summer internships to the most promising students. Joan was in the fourth year of her five-year degree at the time.

Joan recalls that summer program.

“GM took me into their summer intern program in 1965. I designed a small electric powered commuter car with a slide out motor at the rear. It must have impressed them because when I graduated in June 1966, I was hired.”

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At the end of the program Bill Mitchell participated in the evaluation of each intern’s work. Joan is showing Mitchell the wired frame scale model, which was part of her presentation.
During her internship, Joan became aware of Bill Mitchell, GM’s boss of design, and his profanity. It did not bother her. What she was not aware of at the time, however, was that Mitchell did not want women working in “his” styling studios.

Ignoring Mitchell’s opinion, Jordan offered Joan a job and she accepted. “I wanted to work with the best, which was GM”, she told me.

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Joan’s clay scale model gets Mitchell’s full attention. It was proposed as a four-seater, with no A pillars.
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This rendering highlights the slide in/slide out rear storage area for the batteries and electric motors of Joan’s commuter car. The overhead photo reveals its dramatic styling.
Like all new recruits to GM’s styling department, Joan was assigned to the design development studio for the first six months. It was managed by North, who also had responsibility for running GM’s designer recruitment and training programme. By January 1967 North believed Joan was ready for an assignment in a production studio. He recalls discussing it with Jordan.

“I said to him that Joan was ready for an exterior studio and suggested Cadillac. Stan Parker, who ran the Cadillac studio, was in agreement. Chuck approved the move. We really didn’t tell Mitchell.”

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Cadillac front ends were always big and bold. Joan’s sketches from 1967 follow that design theme.
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Thanks to the research work of the archivists at GM’s Heritage Centre and GM design studios, a number of Joan’s renderings have been located and preserved.
Joan’s work in the Cadillac studio focused on the 1970 and 1971 cars. She remembers those early days.

“The job was not without its challenges. There were male restrooms in each studio, but no female restrooms. So, I had to walk outside of the studio to find one. It was like the scene out of the movie Hidden Figures. GM also had a policy which prohibited women from wearing long pants.”

What?

“Yes, can you believe it? GM’s dress code compelled me to wear a skirt. Because the designers’ drafting tables were positioned up high, the clay modellers worked slightly below us. To prevent them from being ‘distracted’, they fixed a plastic skirt around my table.”

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Joan says that for these quick sketches she used magic markers and Prismacolor pencils.
I asked Joan if there was any reaction from the male designers.

“I think it was harder for them to get used to me, than for me to get used to them. Some did not like a woman being there, ‘invading’ their territory, but most were ok. Often when it was necessary to get down on all fours to work with certain materials, one of the men might rush to my ‘aid’. While this was very kind, I was taught to do these things in school and never found any aspect of the job beyond my physical capabilities."

One thing Joan did do was sign her designs and sketches as ‘Klatil’, to remove any bias when her work was being presented.

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“Because there is no background art work, I could do many of these in a day,” Joan says of her work at GM.
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Dramatic rear end design proposals for Cadillacs in the 1970s.
When Joan began in the Cadillac studio GM was riding high. The 1967 Eldorado had been released to rave reviews. The Camaro and Firebird were finally challenging the Mustang. Pontiac was still a performance brand and the Chevrolet Impala was America’s top selling car. Yes, GM was the place to be for talented designers and Cadillac was the most coveted studio in which to work. Mitchell had run Cadillac design and so had Jordan. Only the top talents were allowed to work on GM’s luxury cars and Joan was involved across the Cadillac range, from the Eldorado to proposals for 1971 and beyond.

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These two photos highlight Joan’s liking of aggressive colours to emphasise design proposals.
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A menacing grille and headlights that look almost like machine guns feature in this sketch.
But, if you thought Mitchell had come to terms with a woman designing “his” cars, then you would be mistaken. One day in early 1968 Mitchell was in the Cadillac studio and launched into a profanity laded criticism of a proposed design. Joan was within hearing distance.

Joan explains what happened next.

“He forgot I was there. As soon as he realised that I was there and had heard what he’d said, he was intensely embarrassed. He went bright red in the face and angrily stormed out of the studio. It did not bother me what he was saying. I was an adult and had heard it all before. I found out later that he ordered Stan Parker to tell me that I was being moved immediately to the Oldsmobile interior design studio, where there were other female designers.”

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A wide-open grille dominates the front end.
Stan Parker, who thought Mitchell’s decision was unfair, could not bring himself to tell her of it. Joan explains what happen the next day.

“Irv Rybicki informed me. Chuck Jordan was then at Opel in Germany and could not intervene in the decision. I reluctantly went to Oldsmobile.”

When speaking with Joan it is clear that Mitchell’s decision still rankles with her. And so it should. It is an example of the guy’s character that, for me, will always detract from his reputation as a designer. She was moved not because of her work, but because of her gender. Behaviour like that these days would most likely see the offending manager dismissed and an abject apology issued.

In the Oldsmobile studio Joan designed seats and interior trim, which was not what she’d been trained to do.

“With my industrial design training I knew how to design for hard metals, for exteriors. Soft interiors were not my thing. I loved to design for reflections.”

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Pure 1970s! Oldsmobile front seat ideas.
Behind the scenes a number of the senior design managers, including Rybiki, Jordan and North, were looking for ways to return Joan to exterior design. The PR department, realising they could no longer involve her in publicity activities, also started to apply pressure for a return to exterior design.

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More seats for Oldsmobile.
In late 1968 Joan was quietly transferred to Jerry Hirshberg’s Advanced Buick studio, which was working on the boat-tail 1971 Riviera. Hirschberg had graduated three years ahead of Joan from the Cleveland Institute.

To protect her from Mitchell when he’d visit the studio, Hirschberg’s team often placed large wheeled display boards in front of Joan’s work area to ensure she was not in his eyeline.

Such a situation could not last forever, and Joan, more than anyone, knew her automotive design career was at the whim of Mitchell’s day-to-day mood swings. Not wanting to work in that sort of environment she had already begun looking around for a more female-friendly workplace. In 1969 GE offered her a role. It was GM’s loss and GE’s gain. Said Joan:

“GE wanted me on their design team but I really did not want to go. But I thought that if Mitchell gets upset again, then I’d be back to interiors. That was the end of my career with GM.”

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One of Joan’s sketches when she was in the Buick advance studio, where the early work on the 1971 Riviera was being done, hints at a boat tail.
After Mitchell retired at the end of 1977, Irv Rybicki, his successor, began to hire women in design roles.

Joan never returned to the automotive industry after leaving GM. She was with GE for eight years, designing consumer appliances. After GE she worked at Textron as a product manager and then was the design director at picture frame maker Burnes of Boston. In 1987 Joan opened her own design and product development consultancy focused on the consumer gift, jewellery and stationary arts. There is a link at the end of this story to her website.

In 2003 Joan was commissioned to create the decorative Easter eggs for the First Lady of the USA, Laura Bush. Joan also has authored and illustrated a book series for children called the Magic Sceptre.

A few years ago, Joan was invited to join the League of Retired Automobile Designers. Each year this group meets and each member designs an updated car of a selected marque. They start with the original design then envision it for the 21st century.

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For the Retired League of Designers 2019 project, Joan re-imagined a Stutz for the 21st Century. Joan and Ed Welburn discussing the shapes and lines of the classic cars at the Audrain Auto Museum Concours.
Joan is also in demand as a judge at classic car events. In late 2021 she was at the Audrain Auto Museum Concours de Elegance, on Rhode Island, with fellow judge, Ed Welburn, GM’s retired design vice president. More recently she has judged at the Boca Raton Concours in Florida and the Greenbrier Concours in West Virginia.

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Another of the Joan’s re-imaginings for the League is the Duesenberg of actor Clark Gable.
The senior leaders at GM design studios are well aware of Joan’s unique role in the company’s history. While at the 2021 Eyes on Design car event in Michigan, Joan was sought out by current GM design boss Mike Simcoe and given a personal tour of the design studios.

“It was great to be back at the Tech Centre and to see so many women designers.”

Looking back on her years at GM, Joan recalls the passion of the teams she worked with and her own passion for automotive design.

“I loved it. I can’t tell you how much I wanted it.”

Retroautos is written and published with passion and with pride. All content is the copyright of Shannons, Retroautos, GM Media and Joan Klatil-Creamer. Reproducing this content in any format is prohibited. Thanks to David North who introduced me to Joan. Thanks also to John Kyros at the GM Heritage Centre for researching Joan’s drawings.

Joan Klatil-Creamer retroauto prints

Joan Klatil-Creamer design

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DavidBurrell

 

A CLOSER LOOK16 FEBRUARY 2022 BY ENCYCAROPEDIA
1968 ALFA ROMEO CARABO CONCEPT BY BERTONE, THE TIME MACHINE


/A closer look/1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo Concept by Bertone, the Time Machine

The origin


The 1970s was the period of radical cars such as Lamborghini Countach, Aston Martin Lagonda, DMC DeLorean and some other iconic supercars that were not like what people expected a production car to be like, each different in some way but all following a wedge body trend which was a revolution in car designing.

The idea came from 1968 Paris Auto Show, where Alfa Romeo Carabo was exhibited by Bertone and shined like a star, inspiring courageous designers to break with tradition.


Marcello Gandini was assigned to design a car to be built on one of the Alfa Romeo P-33 Stradalechassis sent to Bertone for a concept car, the chassis no. 750.33.109. Once again he created a masterpiece, a wedge shaped body with a blade nose, edgy style and sharp lines, forming a harmonious figure, as low as 99cm, finished in iridescent green, trimmed with black and an orange stripe around the nose.

It featured scissor doors which gave the car an impressive look, and later became Gandini’s signature on Lamborghini cars. Regarding the color and the way its doors opened, the car was named after Carabidae beetles.

Technical specifications
Carabo was not just a show concept, but a real performance car weighing around 1000kg, using a mid-engine layout and it was powered by a DOHC 2-valves & 2-parks/cyl naturally aspirated 1995cc V8 @ 90° dry-sump longitudinally mounted engine, fed by Spica fuel injection, able to produce 227hp @ 8800rpm & 183Nm @ 7000rpm of power & torque respectively, which was transmitted through a 6-speed manual gearbox by Colotti to the rear wheels propelling the car to a top speed of around 250km/h with a 0-100km/h acceleration time of around 6 seconds. It featured an aluminum body, all ventilated disk brakes and Double wishbone suspension system with coil springs.

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Alfa Romeo Carabo was and remains one of the most avant-garde, inspiring and advanced concept cars ever produced. It’s currently owned by FCA Heritage and is on public exhibition at “Museo Storico Alfa Romeo”, titled as “La Macchina del Tempo”, which means “the Time Machine”.

 

A Tale of Two Mercurys—Turnpike Cruiser and the XM-800
April 6, 2022Leave a commentJim Farrell
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A Tale of Two Mercurys
By Jim and Cheryl Farrell

In September 1945, Henry Ford II became president of Ford Motor Co. The next month, he made Lincoln-Mercury a separate division of Ford, and in January 1948, Henry’s younger brother, Benson, was named the head of L-M Division and a Ford vice president.

Benson loved being the boss of L-M Division, and, by most accounts, he did a good job. By1952, Mercury had doubled its sales. Lincoln was also in good shape and had just introduced a hot new overhead-valve engine. Bill Schmidt was head of the L-M design studio. Before he left for Packard in early 1955, Schmidt and Benson were good friends who saw each other almost daily at Ford’s Design Department. Benson chose all the L-M concept cars produced during this period, including the Lincoln XL-500, the Lincoln Futura, the Mercury XM-800 and the XM-Turnpike Cruiser. He was also the person who got Lincolns involved in the Mexican Road Races.

The June 1952, the Davis Committee Report recommended that Ford build a new top-of-the-line model that became the Mark II, plus a new mid-sized model to better compete with GM’s mid-sized cars. That mid-sized car was to be the Mercury Monterey. It was to share its platform with Mercury, but be longer and sell for more than Mercury but less than Lincoln.

In 1952, Benson authorized the design of a new Mercury show car called the Javelin. It was designed in the Mercury Preproduction studio, and its primary designers were studio manager John Najjar and Elwood Engel, an employee of consultant George Walker. Neither Engel nor Walker were very well liked by most L-M designers. Najjar and Engel, however, got along well, which sometimes caused Najjar problems. Rather than choose from competitive designs, Walker talked Don DeLaRossa, the studio exec, into mating a roof line proposal developed by designer Bob Jones onto the design done by Engel and Najjar so their car would be chosen, which it was. After the Javelin was completed, it became the Monterey and was approved for production starting in the 1956 model year just as the Davis Committee recommended.

Benson wanted the Monterey to have a retractible roof model, so he asked Gil Spear, head of Ford’s Advanced studio, to prepare a sketch of the Monterey with a retractible roof. Unfortunately, the roof structure had to be moved seven-inches forward, so it didn’t look much better than the ’57 Ford retractible eventually wound up looking. But, a retractible roof model for the new Mercury Monterey was not to be because it was decided the Mark II would offer Ford’s only retractible roof.

The finished clay model of the Javelin was made into a plaster model in Ford’s shops and then created in fiberglass by Creative industries, a local job shop. Even the bumpers were fiberglass. Casting imperfections in the car were covered by thick rubberized paint. The car’s 312 CID engine and Merc-O-Matic transmission were inoperable. None of the car’s instruments worked either. At the time, the Javelin, with its 119-inch wheelbase was the lowest Ford car ever proposed.

When it was decided to manufacture the Javelin as the new Monterey, the name was changed to the XM-800. The show car was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto show on February 24, 1954. Press releases referred to the car the XM-800 Mercury Monterey, and the public was also told if there was enough demand the Monterey would be produced.

In the meantime, one of the Whiz Kids, Jack Reith, a protege of Ford Division head Lewis Crusoe, was sent to manage Ford of France, which was in trouble financially. Reith unloaded Ford of France to Simca and returned to Dearborn a hero. In the meantime, in April 1954, Najjar, as manager of the Mercury Preproduction studio, proposed another new Mercury show car. Benson Ford approved the project, so Najjar made five proposals for the new show car. Engel fell in love with one of the proposals that had Jato (Jet Assist Take Off) bottles on the rear sides of the car, although they were discarded during the design process. Engel also came up with the name XM-Turnpike Cruiser for Benson Ford’s new concept car.

Designers began designing two competing models for the new XM-Turnpike Cruiser show car, with Engel and Najjar in charge of designing one of the competing proposals. By fall 1954, Reith, just back from France, had discovered the Turnpike Cruiser Engel and Najjar were designing, and he started spending a lot of his time in the Mercury Preproduction studio “helping” design Engel and Najjar’s Turnpike Cruiser proposal. Larry Shinoda, a recently hired Ford designer, came up with the “bookend” rear lights for the car, but most of the other design ideas came from Engel or Najjar—and all were “approved” by Reith. It’s not hard to figure out what car was chosen as the XM-Turnpike Cruiser, but by that time, Reith wanted it built as a fully operable street legal car. So for $80,000, Ghia did just that at their Turin, Italy, facility.

At Ford’s February 7, 1955, Product Planning Committee meeting Reith made a “surprise” proposal: scrap the approved Mercury Monterey planned for production that fall as a new1956 model; build the Turnpike Cruiser as the new ’57 Mercury; separate Lincoln and Mercury into separate divisions; add another division and market another new car (eventually named the Edsel and Edsel Division); and increasing the $100 million allocated for the Monterey to $250 million for his entire proposal—including the Turnpike Cruiser —and the Edsel. Benson Ford was the only member of the Committee who voted against Reith’s proposal. He claimed he was blindsided, and he may have been. But it was obvious many members of the Committee had foreknowledge of the proposal, and supported it. Within months, Crusoe recommended that Benson was removed as head of L-M Division. He was, and was given a make-work job with dealer policy. Not surprisingly, Reith replaced Benson as head of Mercury Division.

As the new ’57 Mercury, the Turnpike Cruiser body style didn’t sell as well as Reith forecasted, and on August 30, 1957, he was forced to resign. Crusoe was also out and was replaced by McNamara, who really disliked the Edsel, but that’s another story. Lincoln and Mercury were soon recombined again, and for a short while the recombination included Edsel (until Edsel was terminated) as MEL Division, with Ben Mills as head of MEL and then L-M Division.

The XM-800 was removed from the show circuit in late ’55 or early ’56, and for a few months it was used as a Ford safety car. In December 1956, it was given to the University of Michigan as a teaching aid, but was eventually sold off by them as surplus property. For a while it just sat outside. In the early 1980s it was eventually saved from a trip to the dump by a car collector, who later resold it to another collector. It has now been restored into a running automobile.

The Turnpike Cruiser was productionized by DeLaRossa, who really didn’t like the show car or the ’57 Mercury. As “Reith’s car” the XM-Turnpike Cruiser soon became an outcast, and was eventually sold for $300 to get rid of it. The car went through several owners, deteriorated, and eventually wound up in storage in southern California. It has since been resold, and is now being restored.

What happened as a result of the Edsel disaster is well known. A more interesting question is what would have happened if Ford had taken a different path, followed the Davis Committee recommendations already adopted and built the XM-800 as Benson Ford’s new 1956 Monterey.

Photos: Ford Design

Turnpike Cruiser and the XM-800
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Ex-Ferrari and BMW Designer Says China Went From Copycat to Top Notch Cars

1 Apr 2022, 21:35 UTC ·
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China has risen from the laughingstock of the automotive world to an industry giant in the last couple of years. Frank Stephenson analyzes how the Asian country managed to rapidly evolve in the last three decades and shows which are the genuinely innovative creations that he likes the most.
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It is truly fascinating when you think about it. China's auto industry has developed so fast that it now seems like it always has been this way. But if we look back in time, we'll find the Asian country not having even a car market in 1960, let alone an industry! While America and Europe were competing against each other in this important sector at the time, China was taking inspiration from soviet Russia. Their neighbor helped with licensing, but people didn't have money or any interest in motor vehicles.

The Chinese auto industry started rapidly expanding since 1990. After ten years of assiduous trial and error, copying designs, trying all sorts of stuff out, the 2000s came and marked a very important change. The Asians wanted their own identity expressed while also keeping the costs of manufacturing and design down. They ended up getting a lot of European influence, but that's about to change.

Fast forward a little over two decades, and here we are: China’s the most sought-after car market in the entire world. American and European carmakers are battling for more boots on the ground by signing partnerships or investing in models that are made exclusively for the Asian country.

Frank Stephenson is one of the most important names in car design. He worked with Ferrari, BMW, MINI, Maserati, McLaren, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo. Now he’s saying that China has one of the “most interesting” approaches when you look at the EVs that are manufactured in the country.

The famous designer also points out “copycat design still exists,” but recognizes that China’s automotive players are starting to find their own identities. He even argues that the last 20 years were the most important for the country that now is leading the way in terms of numbers.

Now watch as he shows what China did wrong, what it learned, how its actions affected other key players in the industry, and how it will grow to surprise us all at some point.

 

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Matteo Licata
Dec 8, 2021





The Greatest Automobile Designer You’ve Never Heard Of
What if I told you there’s been someone who styled an incredible 1200 different cars almost singlehandedly?
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The late Giovanni Michelotti (c. unknown)
I think it’s fair to say that, between the 1950s and 1980s, Italy has “owned” car design more than any other nation.

Most enthusiasts know well the names most associated with Italy’s mastery of the discipline: from the great houses of Bertone and Pininfarina to Giugiaro’s Italdesign. But what if I told you there’s been someone who styled an incredible 1200 different cars almost singlehandedly?

The Most Prolific Designer
That man was Giovanni Michelotti and, on the hundredth year from his birth, Turin’s National Automobile Museum dedicated a long-overdue homage to his work and legacy. Michelotti could create such a disproportionate body of work thanks to a combination of sheer talent and hard work, but also thanks to unique circumstances.

After years of work at Stabilimenti Farina, Giovanni Michelotti opened his own studio in Turin around 1949, and there couldn’t have been a better time and place to do so. Dozens of small coachbuilding firms each year showed their wares at Turin’s motor show, and many took advantage of Michelotti’s talent, like Vignale, Bertone, Allemano, or Ghia. This meant that Michelotti often had several cars he designed on display contemporarily each year at the Turinese show.

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A Maserati bodied by Vignale and styled by Michelotti (picture from the Author)
However, the average visitor would have been none the wiser, as Michelotti’s involvement was rarely publicized by his clients, who were much more interested in putting their own names under the spotlight. Nevertheless, Michelotti’s name soon became well-known within the automobile industry, leading to long-running collaborations with several automakers, like DAF, BMW, and Hino, a Japanese firm acquired by Toyota in 1967.

International Success
For BMW, Michelotti styled two models that would become hugely important for the Bavarian marque: the 700 and the 1500. These two models laid the foundations for the company’s successful expansion in the latter part of the 20th century, and some of the 1500’s styling cues would be carried on for decades on subsequent models.

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The BMW 1500 (picture from the Author)
But if there’s an automaker whose image and fortunes have been inextricably linked with Michelotti, it is undoubtedly Triumph.
Michelotti styled the British marque’s most renowned vehicles, like the Herald and the roadsters TR4 and Spitfire, plus its sexy coupé derivative, the GT6. I wish the exhibition could have included a Stag, but those are rare south of the Alps, as the model wasn’t officially imported in Italy.

Personal Favorite
According to a 1978 magazine interview, Michelotti’s favorite among his creation was indeed a Triumph, the Spitfire. Having owned one myself many years ago, I can definitely see why: it may have been slow and shoddily constructed, but boy, it looked gorgeous. My favorite details on the car were the bonnet catches bearing an embossed “M” for “Michelotti,” in a delightfully subtle homage to the model’s creator.

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The Author’s own Spitfire, back in 2006 (picture from the Author)
Perhaps fittingly, the last car Giovanni Michelotti ever worked on, before his habit of going through up to sixty cigarettes per day finally caught up with him in 1980, was another British roadster, the Reliant Scimitar SS1.