Renderings by Geza Loczi and Charley Gatewood
Grand AM Development from How Stuff Works
The 1973 Pontiac Grand Am started out in the development stages as a GTO. But the muscle era was drawing to a close and, very much aware of that, Pontiac decided to change the car’s character. Instead of continuing to make the GTO [...]
Chalk and marker rendering by Tom Semple
The day Tom Semple and I nearly did each other in.
I became interested in motocross motorcycles in the ’70s, and rode in the woods with several GM designers and sculptors including Larry Brinker and Bernie Smith. One Saturday several of us met up around Mt. Grampian ski area in [...]
To have worked in an environment with so many creative designers was an extraordinary experience. For one reason or another sometimes that creativity needed to vent in the form of cartoons. There were several designers that were very gifted at creating fantastic caricatures. These are the cartoons I have in my file, but I’m sure [...]
The Designing and Icon Exhibition is being held at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston, Entrance 18, 4200 Elgin Street, Houston, Texas.
This exhibition highlights the creativity of the American automobile designers of the 1960s and 70s, a period that stressed exotic styling and high performance. The exhibition opens Thursday, September 24, 2009. There [...]
by Bill Porter
When I first went into Pontiac production studio in the winter of 1959 I had just come from over a year’s experience in Bob McLean’s Styling Research Studio, working alongside Norm James and Stefan Hapsburg, a couple of creative geniuses. They had been responsible for the turbine powered Firebird show cars. Norm designed [...]
Illustrations accompanying the New York Times article published August 26, 2007. It was about the show entitled Designing an Icon, Creativity, and the American Automobile that was held at the Louisville Visual Art Association in Kentucky. Bill Porter was interviewed for the article, and the sketches were published online. You can read the article [...]
These photos were sent to me as sketch samples around 1964 by General Motors.
Al Flowers, late ’70s.
By Bill Porter
I found a couple of my old Pontiac Studio sketches from the late ’50s–early ’60s era that were not selected for the Designing an Icon show that will be opening at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston on September 24, 2009. I believe the show will run for about [...]
