Larry Shinoda Interview

Gary Moore features the Golden Sahara II by George Barris on I’ve Got a Secret

Studebaker Lark Daytona Wagonaire with sliding roof

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Commercial with Desi and Lucy

Source: From the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.

Larry Shinoda brought to Ford a sense of no-nonsense car-guy cool. His work on the 1969 and 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 is all the evidence that statement requires.

Ford Vice President of Design Eugene Bordinat gave the always-outspoken Shinoda his first automotive design job, in 1954, only to see the new graduate of L.A.’s Art Center School leave Dearborn within a year. After a brief stint at faltering Packard, Shinoda was hired by General Motors design boss Harley Earl and was soon working with Bill Mitchell, who soon succeeded Earl, on futuristic concept designs—and future Corvettes.

Shinoda followed GM president and longtime friend Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen in jumping to Ford, in 1968, but both were fired after less than two years in a widely publicized shake-up. Even so, both left their mark on Mustang, the designer most famously with the fast, tight-handling Boss models of 1969-71. Shinoda and Knudsen went on to form RV maker Rectrans, then parted company in mid-1975, when Shinoda opened his own design business. Shinoda died in late 1997 at age 67. Here, in Shinoda’s own words, is the story of his work on the Boss 302:

One of the first things I did on coming to Ford was straighten out the Boss 302. They were going to call it the SR2. They had all this chrome on it. They were going to hang big cladding on the side, big rocker moldings. It was going to be more garish than the Mach 1. They had a big grille across the back and a great big gas cap and fake cast exhaust outlets and big hood pins and a really big side scoop. I took all that off, went to the C-stripe decal and painted out the hood, did the rear spoiler and the window shades and front airdam. That vehicle ended up being a profit-improvement program. They only built a few, but they made money on each one.

Bunkie Knudsen and I knew that to capture some of the youth market you had to have street machines that would run like your race cars. Ford had never done that before, and obviously Knudsen wanted to beat the Z-28 Chevrolets at their own game. So that was my first task coming in there, doing show cars, and getting the Boss going. I knew what kind of horsepower the Z-28 had, where its strong points and weak points were. So I had to find out quickly what the Mustang was all about and what the new developments were.

Larry Shinoda at Ford.

And what they were working on was pretty much wrong. They had an engine with high horsepower but enormous ports, so the power was very, very peaky. They needed something with a much flatter torque curve. And they needed better vehicle dynamics. They were saying, “All it has to do is go fast.” I said, “That’s not really where it’s at. The Z-28 gets through corners well because it handles well. And it accelerates well off the corner because it got through the corner faster, so you think it’s got more horsepower than it does. Another reason it’s going through the corner faster is aerodynamics. It has enough downforce in front, balanced with downforce at the rear. Your car has some downforce at the rear with a little built-in spoiler, but not in the front. And the suspension isn’t quite right.”

They said, “What do you know about it? You’re a designer.” I said, “I’m a designer, but I’ve also got common sense, and I know a little bit about vehicle dynamics.” Ford at that point had never used their skidpad to check out dynamics. Their skidpad at the Dearborn test track was all torn up at the time. I got an appropriation to repave it.

I took some people in a company plane and flew them over the GM Proving Grounds. I said, “See that? It’s Black Lake.” “What’s it for?” I said, “You’ll see.” Sure enough, here’s Roger Penske’s Trans-Am Camaro, the Sunoco Camaro, running on a skidpad. I said, “That’s what you need. You play with aerodynamics, suspension, roll stiffness, and tires, and you find out what’s going to get around there the fastest. Of course, you’ll have to do some adjustments at the race track.” In those days, most of the people in Ford’s performance department didn’t understand vehicle dynamics, which was kind of sad. The people at Chevrolet and, basically, Frank Winchell, wrote the book on that.

And as I said, I removed all the inappropriate things they were going to put on the Boss, including the interior. I think it saved quite a few dollars when we counted it all up. Don Petersen, who was in product planning at the time, got a big kick out of that. He said, “You trying to do our job for us?” I said, “No, just trying to do the job, period.”

But there was only so much he could support. Unfortunately, I made bold statements. When someone asked me, “What are your ambitions?,” I said, “to be the first Japanese-American vice-president at Ford Motor Company. I don’t think Gene Bordinat liked that.”

Source: 60-page reprint from Car Styling Vol. 18, 1977: The something big turned out to be the resignation of GM Vice President Semone Knudsen in March, 1968. Knudsen passed over for the GM Presidency in favor of Ed Cole, was offered the Presidency of Ford Motor company by Henry Ford II himself and Knudsen accepted. Ironically, Knudsen’s later father had left Ford in favor of GM and had risen to the GM Presidency years earlier.

Shinoda and Knudsen had become close friends at GM and admired each other’s talents. It was correctly assumed in the industry that Shinoda would join Knudsen at Ford and together they would develop cars to challenge GM’s best, especially including the Corvette.

Ford Mach II

But things did not go well at Ford and Shinoda didn’t join Knudsen until May 1968. Once there Shinoda went all out. His position was Design Executive, Corporate Projects Design Office. He was responsible for the design of all high performance vehicles and show cars. In this position he designed the following:

HIgh Performance:
Mickey Thompson’s Autolite Special Landspeed Record Car
Autoline”Lead Wedge” Electric L.S. R. Car
Mickey Rupp’s Super Sno-Sport Ford V-8 Powered Snowmobile
Ford Drag Clinic Vehicles
TASCA “Street Boss” Mustang

Production:
Boss 302 Mustang
Torino Talladega
Cougar Eliminator
Cyclone Spoiler I

Show Cars:
Super Cobra, Torino
Saturn II, Thunderbird
Scrambler, Ranchero
Aurora II, L.T.D. Station Wagon
Cougar Eliminator

In February 1969, Larry was promoted to the position of Director of the newly formed Special Projects Design Office. He was responsible for the following: The design of all High Performance Production and Limited Production Vehicles. The design and build of all show vehicles. The design of the Displays and Exhibits for all major autoshows in which Ford participated. In this position, he directed the design of the following:

High Performance:
King Cobra, Torino Design Study
Cyclone Spoiler II
Mickey Thompson’s Drag Cars
Eddie Schartman’s Maverick
Torino Pace Cars (NASCAR)
Mustang Pace Cars (A.I.R.)

Production—1970
Boss 302 Mustang
Bos 429 Mustang
Cougar Eliminator
Cyclone Spoiler
1971 Pinto—Theme Model/Re-Direction
Mach II-C Mid Engine Corvette Challenger

Show Cars:
Maverick Runabout
L.T.D. Berline
Econoline Kilimanjaro Safari Van
Torino Wheely Drag Simulator
Mustang Milano
Mark III Phaeton—Dual Cowl/Theme Model for Mark IV Silver-Cranberry Interior Production Model

Displays & Exhibits for Auto Shows:
Dallas State Fair
Detroit Auto Show
Chicago Auto Show
New York International Auto Show

(Although) Shinoda was at Ford long enough to accomplish many goals, which included a Corvette competitor “the Mach II-C” mid-engined sports coupe, which was to be US built with US components, but was shelved for the political bought-off/ill-fated Pantera by De Tomaso.

The role played by Shinoda and Knudsen had significant impact on the Ford Production models for quite some time. Both men were fired in less than two years. Click here to read an interesting article from September 19, 1969 Time magazine about Knudson being fired from Ford.

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RecTrans and White Motors

From the Car Styling reprint: For the first time in their careers, Knudsen and Shinoda found themselves unemployed. But not for long. Knudsen headed for Florida to collect his thought and asked Shinoda to give some thought as to what kind of business they should set up. Soon, both agreed it would be motor homes as it was the recreational vehicle industries number one growth area.

RecTrans was formed in early 1970. By the autumn of 1970, the Discoverer 25 rear wheel drive on Dodge chassis and front wheel drive Oldsmobile powered Discoverer 27 ft. models were designed and prototyped and introduced at the R.V.I. sow in Louisville. Production of the Discoverer 25 on Dodge chassis started in early 1971.

In April 1972, Knudsen was appointed Chairman of the Board of White Motor Corporation. Rectrans was absorbed by White and Shinoda became Vice President on charge of Design. White, a Cleveland, Ohio based company wanted Shinoda to move to Cleveland, but he fought the decisions and started a design operation in Madison Heights, Michigan, a norhtern Detroit suburb. His reasonong was Detroit was the center of activity and the best talents and craftsmanship were available on most any basis. He used many moonlighters and part-time help to get the first projects off he ground. The first major unit was the “Road Commander.” White needed a new image and new products to bolster this image. The Road Commander was basically a facelift which transformed the old 7000 unit, which was referred to by the truckers as the “Chinese Freightliner,” as it was very heavy and had an antiquated look to it. Shinoda was asked to just change the grille panel for this new look, but he removed all the riveted on fiberglass panels and restyled them in clay giving the unit a whole new look. This was accomplished in two weeks. When White’s management first saw it they were dumbfounded. They, then asked how soon could it be prototyped and could a movie be made for it for their national sales meeting. The date of the review was February 1 and their meeting was February 22. The midnight oil flowed and the running prototype was completed on the eve of the 17th. The unit was a hit of the show and its sales increased 74.9% in the first six months of production. The Rad Boss conventional was next and also very successful.

Shinoda’s design activities continued to grow in scope and importance, and designs for a new concept lightweight combination truck and low cab forward model Road Xpeditor 2 followed. These were prototyped and put into production. Around this time there was a move to a larger facility, shared by the design group and Advance Products Division. The facility had a very nice setting and was located in Farmington, Michigan (northwest Detroit).

But the economic situation after the oil crisis gradually worsened, and White Motors found themselves in financial difficulties as the slump hit the heavy truck industry, and the company closed down or sold off units considered expendable. So, Shinoda’s corporate design staff and the research group were closed down.

May, 1976, and Shinoda was out of work again, but it also meant his independence.

Shinoda Design Associates Incorporated

From the Car Styling reprint: He started up his own business, called Shinoda Design Associates, Inc., with a staff of five, in Livonia, Michigan, west of Detroit. Now he has a staff of 14: designers, clay modelers, technicians, fabricators and engineers. His first client was the Emcor Division of GF Business Equipment. the aaignement was tough, to redesign a group of electronic enclosures without any structural changes, but it was done to the client’s satisfaction. The next client to turn up happened to be his former employer, White Motor Corp. The truck business was turning the corner and heading up. The Farm Group of the company also contracted Shinoda as a design consultant for their product lines.

The Shinoda Design Group is also doing work in the light truck/van field, and designs for motor homes class A, B and C.

Shinoda says the future is wide open and that his group is ready for anything: ski equipment/clothing, sail boats, power boats, electric commuters, kit cars, motorcycles, golf equipment and whatever needs the proper design approach to lure the buyers and show profitability for his clients.

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Other Photos from the Car Styling Reprint

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1990 Corvette C4 Shinoda/Rick Mears Special Edition Corvette

I only saw Larry Shinoda once at the SEMA show in the early 1990s. I have this poster I picked up at the show of the Shinoda/Mears Special Edition C4 Corvette.

From Illustrated Corvette Series website. The Rick Mears Special Edition came out of an interesting mix of talents. Mears, a three-time Indy 500 winner, was the front man, Corvette designer Larry Shinoda was the stylist, and Jim Williams was the businessman. While this certainly wasn’t the first body kit for a Corvette, it was one of the cleanest. Mears was at the top of his racing game by the early ’90s. Rick won the Indy 500 in ’79, ’84, ’88, and ’91! He was the Indy 500 “Rookie of the Year” in ’79, and racked up six Indy 500 pole positions. Mears retired from racing in 1992 with 29 CART wins and 40 pole positions.

Larry Shinoda is generally known as the designer of the 1963 Stingray. While this is correct, the actual Stingray shape was first drawn in 1957 by Pete Brock and Bob Veryzer as a concept study called the “Q-Corvette.” Shinoda took the sketch and made it into a real car. Larry would go on the design the Corvair Monza show car, the Mako Shark, and the Boss 302 Mustang.

Jim Williams was the president and CEO of Golden State Foods, a food preparation company that services all of the McDonalds restaurants. In the late ’80s, GSF was an associate sponsor of the Penske racing team.

Shinoda showed some sketches to Williams and Mears at the Long Beach CART race in 1989. Both men liked the design and agreed to go into business. Shinoda-Williams Design, Inc. was formed and started making kits in 1991.

Shinoda’s design wasn’t just another make-over kit. The front and rear spoilers, along with the sculpted side panels lowered drag coefficient from .34 to .30! As a throwback to his old Mako Shark days, Larry gave the side panels some “coke bottle” style. All of the parts were barrier crash tested and designed so the the stock Corvette tire jack could be used. Except for the front chin spoiler, the factory ramp angles were maintained.

The kit was made up of 11 pieces that would attach to any ’84 to ’91 coupe or roadster. The panels were made from primed, semi-rigid polyurethane material. Also included were front fog lights, black finished stainless steel exhaust tips, floor mats with the Mears logo, a “Shinoda Design” badge, a “Rick Mears Special Edition” badge, and fasteners. Assembly time was 25 hours. The kits were designed to use common garage tools, used stock mounting points, and required little drilling.

The cost of the kit was $5,200, plus $2,500 to $3,000 for installation. Paint was another extra. The total cost for entire kit project was around $10,000. That’s why not many kits were sold. In the early ’90s, all regular Corvettes were under the shadow of the ZR-1. Extra money usually went under the hood. Shinoda pitched the kit to Chevrolet as a 1992 RPO option. They passed.—K. Scott Teeters

Larry Shinoda Rendering from Packard, 1956

Thanks to Brett Snyder (Andrew Johnson Gallery)

His time at Ford, White Motors, and as an independent designer will be featured in Part 2.

More information about the Monza GT, including the brochure, is under the GM Brochures link.

Text, images and captions on this post come from a 60-page reprint from Car Styling Vol. 18, 1977. I saw Larry Shinoda only once, at the SEMA show in the early ’90s.

Forty-seven year old Larry Shinoda is one of a number of Sourthern California native sons who have carved out successful careers in the automotive industry in Detroit. Few men have so dominated the field of transportation design from passenger automobiles, land speed record cars, Indianapolis and Can-Am racers, to motor homes, heavy-duty trucks, dragsters, snowmobiles, go-karts, farm tractors, farm implements, garden tractors, portable hi-pressure washers, and even lawn mowers, Larry Shinoda has lent his legendary touch.

Lawrence K. Shinoda. A child prodigy raised in the west coast world of racing. A man who blew apart or conceptions of what a car should be. A stylist/designer whose career has been as controversial as many of his designs.

Shinoda is outspoken, candid, humorous, and firmly believes in what he is doing. And what he is doing is creating some of the most exciting machinery and products seen on or off the road.

Shinoda spent twelve and one half years with General Motors. By the time he resigned his position as Chief Designer for Special Vehicles in 1968, he had left his imprint on every 1963 production and special show Corvette of the era, not to mention every special show Corvair, including what he feels is one of his personal most favorite projects and best contributions in design, the Monza GT show car, some of the Wide-Track Pontiacs, Z028 Camaro, the Astro series of show cars, and a fistful of others.

He was an artistically gifted child. A giant painting he did while in the third grade was displayed at the Los Angeles Country Fair, and later in the Los Angeles Art Museum for several years. But for Shinoda, the road to auto styling/design was through racing.

Nisei Shinoda was born in Los Angeles, California, March 25, 1930. He attended grade school in highland Park and Junior High School at Luther Burbank Junior high.

The Second World War saw Larry and his family evacuated to the Manzanar Concentration Camp in early 1942. This camp was in the cold, dusty, Owens Valley of California, situated between the Sierra Nevada/Mt. Whitney range and Inyo-Kern/Death Valley range. Larry’s father, the late Kiyoshi Shinoda, died when Larry was only three years old. His father’s family founded the San Lorenzo Nursery Company in San Lorenzo, California (near Oakland) in the early 1900s.

On graduation from Eagle Rock High School in 1948 and two years at Pasadena City College, Larry was called to active duty in the Air National Guard/Air Force fot two years which included a 16 month stint in Korea. He decided the nursery business was not his cup of tea and was drawn to the automotive industry through racing and by enrolling in Art Center School (Art Center College of Design).

While attending Art Center, Shinoda was racing his ’29 Ford roadster at the drag races turning the quarter mile at 138.88 MPH with an Oldsmobile V8 engine. In 1953 he was at the SCTA Bonneville Nationals with a Chrysler powered roadster that earned him the Class D record with a two way average of 166 MPH. He was also eligible for top eliminator at the first NHRA Nationals at Great Bend, Kansas in 1955. He won the Fuel Roadster class with an Ardun overhead adaption for the Ford flathead V8 engine. The Ardun heads were originally designed by Zora Arkus Duntov (the engineering father of Corvettes) while he worked for the Allard Motor Car Company in England. Duntov was to become a good friend and highly repsected person for Larry in later years at General Motors.

Business with Ford

In late 1954 Ford Motor Company came to California to interview candidates for the Ford Styling Group in Detroit. The top executive of the group was Gene Bordinat, presently the Vice President of Design at Ford. Shinoda had studied at Art Center, and considered himself amply qualified. He was called by the late John Coleman and told to get his stuff together and come in for the interview. Dressed in pegged denim Levis, a Howard Racing Cam T-shirt, and an outlandish Hawaiian shirt, and armed with some race car renderings and car sketches (many of which he had just completed the evening before and while he was waiting for the interview), Shinoda was ready for the Ford brass.

To his way of thinking, Ford would be getting the better part of the deal. Shinoda would have to leave sunny California, his ten dollar a week room and board set-up and a better paying job as a commercial artist at Douglas Aircraft for cold, expensive Detroit and less initial pay. Shinoda wanted Ford to pay trip expenses for him (and his race car) to Detroit for a six month trial. If everything worked out, fine. They would pay him his asking price. If not, he was heading back to Los Angeles at his own expense. Shinoda recalls saying, ”You guys need me more than I need you.”

Despite the young man’s outlandish appearance and outrageous demands, (or maybe because of them), the Ford people were impressed by Shimoda. They agreed to give him a try and Larry Shinoda was on his way. Although the Ford Motor Company was later to have a dramatic impact on his career, Shinoda only stayed a brief year.

During that year he worked for John Najjar in an Advanced Design Studio. Designing portions of the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser show car. He was then transferred to Lincoln Studio and worked for Elwood Engle (who later went to Chrysler as VP of Styling), and George Walker, Ford’s VP of Styling). He worked on the ill-fated 1958 (bigger is better?) Lincoln.

Shinoda moved over to Studebaker-Packard in January 1956. But after thrashing for three months on the new Packard models, The Clipper/Predictor series, and a Studebaker Hawk show model for William M. Schmidt, VP of Styling, Dick Teague, Director of Styling, and his own boss Duane “Sparky” Bondstedt, he realized Packard was doomed as the models were shopped back from the tooling source with a “crash first” notice. While at Packard Shinoda worked with Dick MacAdam (now Chrysler VP of Design), Toshi Sakow (now heads up his own design firm in Teaneck, New jersey) who designed the interior of the European Air Bus airliner and had design many othe rwidely diversified products. John Z. DeLorean, was also at Packard as Chief Chassis Engineer. He and Shinoda left quickly to join GM in September that same year.

Larry at GM

DeLorean to Pontiac as assistant Chief Engineer, under E.M. “Pete” Estes. Shinoda to GM Styling. Shinoda was interviewed by Jules Andratti and Mr. Harley Earl. Mr. Early hired him personally.

After some design work for Chevrolet on the 1959 models,he moved to Pontiac where he helped design the 1960-61 wide track models. Shinoda then moved to an advanced design studio and had his first involvement with Zora Arkus-Duntov on a very early attempt at designing a midship engine Corvette. Ron Hill was the studio assistant and then Chief Designer. Another move to a body development studio, taxed Shinoda’s patience, so he designed Buicks, Cadillacs, and limousines with racing numbers, mag wheels, stripes, and other goodies which upset his boss, to say the least.

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He was finally transferred to the studio which was right for him. Soon some of the most exciting automobiles of the decade began coming out of the special Bill Mitchell/Shinoda studio, which was under the lobby in the basement. The Stingray, the 1963 Corvette, the Mako Shark I and II, the Corvair Super Spyder, the Monza GT and Monza SS. The Monza Jr. (Chevrolet Jr.), The Cerv I and II (Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicles) for Duntov. The Astro I and the mid-engined Astro II, the XP-819 rear engine Corvette for Chevrolet Research and Development. The theme model for the 1968 Corvette production model, and a raft of specials for Chevy R & D. The Chaparral 2C and 2D race cars.

Shinoda had been promoted to Chief Designer of Chevrolet Studio 3 and moved to the warehouse (bowling alley) studio prior to the Mako Shark II and 1968 theme Corvette.

He was them promoted to Chief Designer for all special vehicles, which included coordinating efforts for engineering staff (Frank J. Winchell) and the corporate R & D groups. During this period he designed a three-wheeled commuter vehicle for Engineering Staff and a four wheel commuter car for Chevy R & D called the “Flint-stone.” It was a small front wheel drive four cylinder Corvair powered unit, which was bootleg modeled at Chevrolet Engineering. Shinoda worked with Vince Piggins and his product performance group on the 1967 Z-28.

Byt 1968 Shinoda was growing restless. Although he maintained his ties with racing, through working on Indy 500 crews, designing some items for Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, and the snowmobile line for Rupp Manufacturing and its others products (go karts, mini-bikes, and the off-road Ruppster). Shinoda was looking for new challenges. He was considering an offer from Toyota of America, but some of his friends told him to cool it—something big is in the wind.