General Motors created many specialized brochures. Featured in this post is a 8.5″ square, 8-page grayscale brochure of GM Design Staff from the early 1960s. The photos are captioned, but if others know of the names of other people in the photos that I don’t recognize, let me know and I will update this post.
Exterior of GM Styling Staff at the General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Michigan.
Clockwise from the top left: Stairs in the Administration Building. The main entrance lobby can be seen on the ground floor. The upstairs on this end of the building had a gallery area at the top of the stairs. The Administration Building cafeteria is to the right, and to the left were several executive offices. Bill Mitchell’s office suite was at the end of the hallway. Other photos: Color Room, Styling Auditorium, and a night shot of Styling with the Styling Auditorium dome in the background.
Introduction by William L. Mitchell
Clockwise from the top left: Cadillac Studio (Wayne Kady is seated on the right). Fridgidare Studio, dummy in seating study fixture, Cadillac scale model, Chevrolet Studio working on the Monza GT (Bernie Smith on the right), an interior studio shot (center).
Brief description of the different departments at Styling.
Clockwise from the top left: Full size ’66 Toronado airbrush rendering, Dave North sketching with a Tornado production model in the background, Tech Stylist working on Tornado packaging, design review of a GM showcar (Bernie Smith second from left, and Bill Mitchell is in the center), full size production clay model of the ’66 Toronado.
Description of the design process.
Back cover. Mitchell’s Corvette Mako Shark II show car.
In the late ’50s and early ’60s at the age of 15 or so I would write to GM, Ford and Chrysler about my interests in automobile design and got many replys. GM was the best, they sent me so many beautiful colored brochures and some where large colored books on design and the GM design studio. I came home from the service and my Mother tossed all of my books and letters and I think about it now and then, but really try to forget it. I always wanted to be a automobile designer, but ended up being a designer for a electric company. The only reason I am writing this is if anyone else has ever seen this elaborate design book from GM.
Do you have a scores on employee new vehicle books? I remember they had all the new cars and options. My dad would bring them home and my brothers and I would dream.