RE: Happy 85th, GM Design
RE: Happy 85th, GM Design
Thursday 14th June 2012

Happy 85th, GM Design

General Motors' own design department marks its 85th birthday (and status as a pioneer in the field) with some pretty pictures



These days General Motors might not sit on the cutting edge when it comes to automotive design, so it's easy to forget that GM was the first major manufacturer to single-out design as a discrete discipline.


But The General won't let us forget, because this month GM Design celebrates its 85th anniversary and, to mark the occasion, it's published photos of a selection of its most notable creations for the likes of us to gawp at.

GM Design has certainly come a long way, too. It was created back in 1927 when the Executive Committee of General Motors approved the creation of a new department to "study the question of art and colour combinations in General Motors products" and hired the legendary Harley Earl, a custom coach builder from Hollywood, as its chief. Among Earl's achievements were the development of concept cars, the yearly model changeover, the vehicle tailfins of the 1950s, the travelling Motorama auto shows and the development of the iconic Corvette.


Today, GM Design employs 1,900 people in 10 design centres across seven countries and is responsible for the design development of every GM concept and production car and truck globally.

So enjoy this selection of GM history. And perhaps indulge us in a bit of a pop quiz - the pictures haven't been captioned with model names and, although some are obvious, others are way beyond the PH editorial team's ken. There's a mystery prize to whoever comes up with a complete list of names...*

*the mystery might just be that there is no prize...
















Author
Discussion

2volvos

Original Poster:

660 posts

219 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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That Mako Shark Stingray is stunning.

tommy vercetti

11,587 posts

181 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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I wish Cadillac made the Sixteen, would have been awesome.

GTRene

19,938 posts

242 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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do I miss a picture of the fantastic cadillac cien?
or is that not GM (not sure)


300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

208 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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"These days General Motors might not sit on the cutting edge when it comes to automotive design"

Really? confused

Riggers

1,859 posts

196 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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GTRene said:
do I miss a picture of the fantastic cadillac cien?
or is that not GM (not sure)

I don't think it was in the selection. But any photos people might want to chuck in of absent GM cars, please feel free. I feel a photo-fest coming on! biggrin

GTRene

19,938 posts

242 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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750hp or so? anyway lovely car and shame they did not make it to production.


Riggers

1,859 posts

196 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
"These days General Motors might not sit on the cutting edge when it comes to automotive design"

Really? confused
Well, I know that The Volt/Ampera is a cracking engineering feat, and there are some very pretty GM offerings (Camaro, for example) but I can't really think of any GM brands that are currently moving the game on in terms of design and general aesthetics. But happy to be proved wrong. smile

B10

1,346 posts

285 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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Should read 'styling' not 'design'.

MarJay

2,179 posts

193 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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The very bottom left pic looks rather like the prototype Stratos...


myhandle

1,292 posts

192 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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IDrinkPetrol

132 posts

176 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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MarJay said:
The very bottom left pic looks rather like the prototype Stratos...

And yet it's the Vauxhall SRV. Also 1970...

Up one and to the right is 1954s Buick Wildcat II

IDrinkPetrol

132 posts

176 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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And main banner pic, obviously Firebirds I,II and III from left to right...
And the Granddaddy of all concept cars is the Y Job below the gold C4

Edited by IDrinkPetrol on Thursday 14th June 14:22

M666 EVO

1,129 posts

180 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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Er I have to take a stand, I own the rights to the 2nd picture down and the cars design!

I definitely designed that when I was 12 on the back of my school book!!!

Its awesome and I love it

Straff99

135 posts

190 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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It is, indeed, a Vauxhall. And, believe it or not, it's got four doors.

IDrinkPetrol

132 posts

176 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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Straff99 said:
It is, indeed, a Vauxhall. And, believe it or not, it's got four doors.
Which were shamelessly copied for the RX8...

Krikkit

27,600 posts

199 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
quotequote all
2volvos said:
That Mako Shark Stingray is stunning.
Probably my favourite concept out of that lot - the paintwork is just perfect for that car!

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

283 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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2volvos said:
That Mako Shark Stingray is stunning.
I've heard that they had to paint the concept car the same colours as the shark, and that they even had a stuffed shark so they could get the colours right. The story goes that the couldn't get a match so they sneakily painted the shark to match the car before getting it signed off.

No idea if it's true, but I hope so.

Also love the shark on the end of the Corsa glovebox. Nice work guys.

rohrl

8,984 posts

163 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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Love it, love it, love it. Though to be honest I wouldn't have it in that colour.

Obviously it's about the size of four regular UK parking spaces and would take 30% of my disposable income in petrol but just look at those fins.

toys

242 posts

277 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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[redacted]

59Impala

62 posts

169 months

Thursday 14th June 2012
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IDrinkPetrol said:
And yet it's the Vauxhall SRV. Also 1970...

Up one and to the right is 1954s Buick Wildcat II
One up and to the right is actually the LeSabre concept, powered by an all aluminium supercharged and apparently injected V8. Harley Earl drove it quite a lot as a sort of very exotic daily driver!