Design’s Tribute to Roger Hughet
Dennis Wessserling’s June Retirees’ Newsblurb included photos of GM Design’s tribute to designer Roger Hughet. His work on display in Design’s Admin building.
Roger’s work has been featured on Dean’s Garage in several posts over the years.
How fabulous is this tribute to a designer!
I struggled a bit with my press relations role under Mitchell in the 1960s when he was uninterested in any publicity being given to his design chiefs and designers. Congrats both to this site and to changing times when designers are allowed to be credited and indeed celebrated.
Roger was so much fun. We named him Roger With Stars, someone played a trick on him when he left his shoes in the backroom. Who knows why he took them off. Someone glued chrome tape stars on top of them. He just wore them that way for months, much to everyones delight.
Parties were often held in those days and Roger and Patty danced. They were sensational, when they started dancing everyone just moved aside and watched. Noone else came close, they owned the floor.
He could draw with great precision and his sketches were demonstrations of automotive emotion. A terrific designer with a personality to match, his gravely voice will be missed as well as his humor. He was friends with everyone and always had something good and fun to say. He was so proud of his daughter.
Dick Ruzzin
Thank you Dick for the nice comments on Roger, & also our Dancing. Roger loved to talk to people, was fun to be with & loved to work at GM designing cars. As to the shoes with the Stars, Roger made those stars on his shoe’s. They were really cool & he loved them. I kept them for years & they fell apart so Roger had to throw them away.
Our daughter Laurie, who Roger called his shinning Star, wants to start a book with memories of what people remember about Roger & his life for his 2 Grandsons who are 5 & 2 – Ethan Hughet Hiller & Wyatt Hughet Hiller. Ethan still remembers his grandpa, but Wyatt was only 1 yrs old when Roger passed away. So I’m asking everyone who knew Roger to please write something, as much as you want. I’m hoping to set up some way people can send their memories to us.
There will be an memorial a day before or after when the GM Show of Roger’s 42 years of Designing for GM opens. Laurie & I were invited to a preview of that show, which was so emotional for us. It was really amazing how the staff did the show The DIA Detroit style show has a super rendering of Roger’s design. In August there will be another show of car design’s in Royal Oak & there will be a few of Roger’s Rendering that no one has seen before in that show.
I wish you could show every rendering close up.