D-523, The First “Cougar”
The D-523 Cougar—From Styling Study to show car to movie star.
Wayne Kady’s Watercolors
Wayne Kady shares some of his superb watercolors.
Imagine—Automobile Concept Art
A great collection of five decades of studio art.
The Continental Mark II Retractable Hardtop
The back story to the Continental Mark II retractable hardtop.
The Origins of Ford’s Retractable Hardtop
Gil Spear’s Retractable Hardtop Presentation and resulting Sytris 3/8-scale Model.
GM Sculptor Ray Hildebrandt
Dick Ruzzin remembers a remarkably talented studio sculptor, engineer, and artist.
Who Designed the 1949 Ford?
The controversy over who designed the 1949 Ford.
George Walker and the 1964 Lincoln Continental Mark IX
Corporate politics and the aborted Mark IX.
The 1957 Ford Mystere Story
The mystery of the Mystere revealed.
Tom Peloquin
My good friend Tom Peloquin is gone.
The Lincoln Futura/Batmobile, Part 3: Interview with George Barris
George Barris answers questions about the acquisition and development of the Batmobile in a 1995 interview.
The Lincoln Futura, Part 2: The Batmobile
The story of how Futura, the belle of the ball, turns into Creuella, the Batmobile.
The Lincoln Futura, Part 1
Inspired by a Bahama’s fishing trip with Bill Mitchell. Bill Schmidt came back with an idea for the Futura; Mitchell with an idea that lead to the XP-755.
The Styling Section Music Committee
Another of Stan’s and Robert’s attempts to steer GM’s juggernaut. By Stan Mott.
McNamara’s Interchangeability Study
McNamara had clay models created to test parts interchangeability between car models (like GM).
The ‘59 Chevrolet and the Ford Quicksilver
“On seeing the ‘59 Chevrolet clay model, Ford designers soon convinced themselves that GM had somehow caught on to what Ford was doing and was purposely trying to mislead them.”
Lincoln in a Box
Some 900 new 1936 Lincoln-Zephyrs also went overseas—shipped in crates.
Ford Mustang Mach 2
The Ford Mach 2 and the short careers of Knudsen and Shinoda at Ford.
Ford Designer McKinley W. (Mac) Thompson, Jr.
Highlights of the career of Mac Thompson—Ford Designer from 1956–1985.
Herbert Hoover’s Dog House
Gil Spear (designer at Ford and the subject of the last post), while working for Norman Bel Geddes, was commissioned to create a dog house for Herbert Hoover. Here’s the story.
Ford Designer Gil Spear’s Idea Sketchbook
Fascinating images from Ford designer Gil Spear’s idea and innovation sketchbook.
Lincoln Design Heritage: Zephyr to LS (1936-2000)
Lincoln Design Heritage: Zephyr to LS (1936-2000) is an exhaustively and throughly researched book that chronologically records the development of the Lincoln mark. Great book review. Many photos.
Automotive Designers Showcase—Pontiac, Sept 16, 2021
A photo essay of the Exhibit at the Pontiac Creative Art Center featuring design sketches and renderings from production and advance Pontiac Studios.
Detroit Style—Car Design in The Motor City—11/2020
Detroit Style—Car Design in The Motor City. Photo assay by Ryan Gertner.