Design History

Jonathan Wells, head of design for Morgan Motor Company, counts through his most enduring models over the decades.

Clark Lincoln’s jaw-dropping illustrations were an inspiration to me in terms of technique, composition, and design. I spent many years in Buick Exterior I studio, and it was there that I believe we worked together for a short time.

Once some folks start dreaming up car designs, they can’t stop. That was evident at a recent gathering of more than 20 retired designers in the Detroit inner-ring suburb of Royal Oak, Michigan. We button-holed a half-dozen, nearly at random, and asked them to discuss their imaginings as rendered in ink, chalk, pencil, paint, and […]

It’s hard to tell whether industrial design professor Jacques Ostiguy was crazy or a genius, or both. Either way, he’s almost definitely the most eccentric French-Canadian car designer you’ve never heard of.

The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild contest was promoted by GM Design genius Harley Earl as a way to seek out young talented car designers. Young men from 11 to 20 years old were challenged to build 1/12 scale car models of their own design. The reward for the best designs were college scholarships and a […]

The 1930s was a great time for the expansion of railway systems across the World. Air passenger transport was just starting to become a possible alternative but it was expensive and the range was still limited by ‘fuel capacity versus weight’ equations, which meant that it was not possible to offer the quality of service […]

Less well known than many of the famous Italian automotive designers Franco Scaglione was responsible for some of the most original designs of the 1960s and 70s. I plan to prepare a separate piece about his work in the future. I was recently asked for my opinion about the design of the 1967 Alfa Romeo […]

Here is the second part of interview with Mr. Toshio Yamashita, who is a designer of Nissan 300ZX[Z32]. In Part 1, Mr. Yamashita talks about Nissan Cedric project which he got awarded for his rear window design. In Part2, we asked a story of development for 300 ZX [Z32].

Men’s fashion magazine GQ announced “The Most Stylish Cars of the Past 50 Years” in 2010, and Nissan 300ZX was listed as one of them. After 20 years since the release, I wonder how and what enables a designer to create a car that is praised by the whole world. Through this interview, the man who created this […]

When I first came across Syd Mead’s work back in the late sixties and early seventies it was popular to strongly criticize his illustrative abilities as being all about the background and not about the design. I think that the truth was that all us young designers were so overwhelmed by his spectacular technique that […]

from Hot Rod magazine, July, 1973.

Like father, like son: with such legendary cars as the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato and the Alfa TZ, Ercole Spada has helped to write design history. Today he is still creating cars – together with his son Paolo. We met the two creative minds in their Turin studio for a chat…

Design of the Opel Bitter CD at Opel Design in Russelsheim, Germany Opel Design in November of 1971. To understand the importance of Opel Design in the early seventies, it should be known that Opel produced more cars per year than Chrysler did in the United States. All of the design came out of one […]

I was new and experiencing my first design program of note. It was all like magic, as sketches, words and imagination all converged on the project and influenced what was going on in the studio. I clearly remember my participation and that of others in the room which follows. I was really impressed with the […]

[…] My desire to design cars for General Motors started at the age of eight. Like many other kids with the same goal, I was fortunate to actually see my dream come true. Employment came by way of Chuck Jordan in 1966 during my last week at Pratt Institute in New York. During my 35 […]

[…] Born on 7 August 1938 in Garessio, northern Italy, he started his career with Fiat in the mid-1950s, aged 17. Joining Bertone in 1959, his first signature cars included the 1963 Alfa Giulia Sprint GT and 1964 Alfa Canguro concept. After a brief stint at Carrozzeria Ghia from 1965, he co-founded Italdesign with Aldo Mantovani […]

Our designer friend and colleague, Elia ‘Russ’ Russinoff, has provided a portfolio of his work to feature on Dean’s Garage, shown on behalf of the Automotive Designers Guild and The League of Retired Automotive Designers, of which Russ is a fellow member. Included among the 40+ sketches/photos is an image of a gold-colored 3/8ths scale […]

Four design center heads from Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, Renault Samsung Motors and GM Korea and three automotive experts — Global AutoNews Editor in Chief Charley Chae, Daelim University College Professor Kim Pil-soo and Hanbat National University Professor Koo Sang — picked five most important models and Business Focus compiled the chart. — ED.