To celebrate
its GM Design studio’s 85th birthday this month, GM has released
some images from its archives. And what a stunning series of images and cars
they reveal. These must surely rank amongst the most desirable of cars of all
times – for all the wrong reasons!


In 1949, GM
Styling introduced the first hardtops on Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile models
which eliminated the B-pillar roof supports and led to the Chevrolet Corvette
and the Cadillac Eldorado – eventual classics of American car design.
When Harley
Earl retired, William Mitchell became head of design and amongst his favoured
sayings was: “Trousers don’t look any damn good without a crease in them;
you’ve got to have an edge to accentuate form.”
No surprise
then when the first Corvette Stingrays were revealed then, eh? Mitchell had
purchased a retired, racing chassis from the corporation, which had ended its
participation in motorsport and retrofitted it with a body he called the ‘Stingray’.
The resultant race car inspired the design of the 1963 Corvette Stingray. His
experimental Corvettes, the Mako Shark in 1963 and the Manta Ray in 1969
continued his passion for sharp lines.
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Even the clothes were dead gallus |
Sadly those
days of ostentatious excess are long gone, but it may be surprising to know
that today GM employs 1,900 men and women in its 10 global design centres across
the world.
Computers,
CAD, fuel efficiency and Health & Safety have a lot to answer for.
P.S. Now we know where Simon Cowell got his dress sense inspiration, check out the trouser creases!
P.S. Now we know where Simon Cowell got his dress sense inspiration, check out the trouser creases!
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