GM Designer Bob Munson
I’ve been fortunate to have a career as a car designer at GM for 41 years.
It’s the only job I ever wanted since I was 5 years old. I took an unusual path to get there by majoring in mechanical engineering at GMI (Kettering University) as a co-op student sponsored by GM Styling. I’m so old that Bill Mitchell was there when I started.
Most of my career was in the Chevrolet and Cadillac studios. By far, the most fun I had was working on Cadillacs under John Manoogian. They’re so fun to draw. The 2010 CTS coupe design theme came from a drawing of mine selected by Mike Simcoe to turn into a scale model by Paul Scicluna which was blown up full size. Ed Welburn casually walked Bob Lutz past the full size clay model on the patio on his way to the Design Dome which sold Bob instantly and enthusiastically. The full size clay model became a concept car and ultimately a production car. The other notable design contribution of mine was the 2008 CTS sedan which I created by mocking up my theme on a full size clay model with clay colored paper. The CTS sedan spawned the coupe and wagon with V-Series versions of all three. Surprisingly, I see these cars on the road to this day.
I’ve been sketching cars for the League of Retired Automotive Designers using Photoshop since I retired 11 years ago.
Vizcom.ai
Recently, I’ve had so much fun sketching cars with Vizcom.ai that I decided to start a blog, munsoncardesign.com, to showcase my work and hopefully inspire others to do the same. With my blog, I take you through the process of how I created my designs. Artificial Intelligence is an exciting new development for rendering cars and has dramatically improved how a designer can express and communicate their ideas more effectively. I like using vizcom.ai, but it has its limitations. In my blog, I share with you tips on how to use Vizcom.ai to raise the level of your design work.
I still get tremendous satisfaction from creating new car designs. People ask me why I continue to sketch cars. My answer is that there are two kinds of people: those who love cars and everyone else.
Bob Munson
Cadillac CTS
Illustrations using Vizcom.ai and Photoshop from MunsonCarDesign.com
The CTS coupe is by far my favorite contemporary Cadillac design! It’s one of those rare designs that doesn’t have a bad viewing angle, and that’s saying a lot.
The proportions, surfacing, and detailing are second to none!
If there ever was a modern classic that CTS coupe is it.
I was so fortunate to have a chance to drive one close to the end of its production run. I would say that the chassis and drivetrain matched Bob’s design. The car had 535 hp and the ride was terrific, actually better than the previous sedan that I had driven. What a wonderful car, I would have loved to have had that car on the Autobahn in Germany, blowing by Mercedes and BMWs. I guess you could say that the car was a sketch, Bob did it and somehow it ended up out there on the road. There are quite a few of them over here on the east side of Detroit and I enjoy seeing them. They are beautiful.
I love Bob’s work as it is so professional, every surface is delineated clearly and well understood by whoever looks at it. His sketches have that spirit and drama that connects to driving a car for fun. I love the story about creating a car with clay paper in full-size. The 1992 Eldorado and Seville were both done that way, from zero to release in two weeks, each of them, I know how that works.
Congratulations Bob for great work that leaves an inspirational vision for every person who is a Cadillac and car enthusiast.
In 1948 Cadillac left its mark on the industry by breaking away from the corporate look of it family siblings. The densest dummy with a driver’s license couldn’t confuse a Cadillac with anything else on the road. With today’s governmental restrictions that lofty, but noble, goal is no longer possible.
Really nice Bob. Outstanding Artwork and Design! Len.
Looking at your new offerings you should come out of retirement!
Amazing designs Robert! AI what does that mean??
AI means “Artificial Intelligence.”—Gary
Are there any with right-hand steering???
As a recent GM retiree I’ve always loved the CTS coupe and managed to pick up a very nice 2012 model in 2020. I agree that it is a future classic and get many positive comments on it. I loved working at the GM Tech center along with traveling to the Assembly and Manufacturing plants during my career there.