The Names Behind The Car: Top Designers You Should Know

February 16, 2023

The automotive world has given us many works of art over the last century. While we often laud the companies that produce such machines, the people behind the designs that become cultural icons are often overshadowed by the work they produce. So, in honor of the men and women whose work we see every day, we’re throwing back the curtain and taking a look at the people whose designs have changed the aesthetics of our roadways.

Susan Lampinen

Susan Lampinen may not be a household name, but her designs are. As a group chief designer leading the Color & Material Design for Ford, it’s almost guaranteed you’ve come face to face with her decisions. As someone with both influence and a social conscience, Lampinen is pushing Ford to move towards more eco-friendly fabrics that are at least 25% recycled material and hopes to raise that to 40% in the next few years. Her color and design schemes are seen in every Ford and Lincoln model since she reached her position in 2005.

While most of us have at least looked inside a Ford in the last decade, not many of us will be familiar with this next designer's creations.

Gordon Murray

You won’t see Gordon Murray’s name on any vehicles we’re likely to buy anytime soon, but you will see it on the race track. Murray worked for Brabham designing Indy cars before leaving for Mclaren in the late 80s. It was here that Murray made his real mark, leading the design of the then record-setting Mclaren F-1, as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLR Mclaren. Since designing the iconic supercar, Murray has run his consultancy, working with companies in the realm of compact cars and has also been recruited by the British charity, Global Vehicle Trust to design a low-cost vehicle that can be flat-packed called the Ox.

Even Murray’s fastest creations can’t compete with some of our next designer’s canvases.

Raymond Loewy

Anyone in any industrial design department should know the name Raymond Loewy - his designs permeated the American landscape for the better part of a century. Loewy is responsible for several locomotive designs through the late 1930s, the post-1974 Exxon logo, the USPS eagle logo and also worked with NASA to develop the Skylab space station, as well as gave Air Force One its Blue, White, and Chrome color scheme. Before taking to orbit, however, Loewy was responsible for the Studebaker Champion that beat the big manufacturers to the market with a new design in the post-war markets. He also created the recognizable lazy ‘S’ logo for Studebaker, and half a decade later he would also produce the Studebaker Commander. His designs went on to influence and alter the styling of cars for decades afterward.

Up next is a man that worked with Loewy, but didn’t see eye to eye with the prolific legend.

Virgil Exner

Exner climbed ranks quickly, becoming head of Pontiac’s styling department by age 30. In 1938 he joined with Loewy and Associates working on wartime Studebaker models. In 1944, Virgil was fired by Loewy and subsequently hired directly by Studebaker, where he continued to work with Loewy. While Exner was the final designer of the Studebaker Starlight, Loewy’s name went on it. Because of this rivalry, Exner left Studebaker and took up employment with Chrysler. With Chrysler, Virgil was able to make his mark on vehicle design. He wrestled control of style from the engineers who had continued to make outdated and boxy cars and implemented the now iconic fins that demark Chryslers of the ‘50s. His list of achievements is long and include classics such as the Dodge Coronet, the Plymouth Fury, and the original Chrysler 300.

Our next featured stylist has had plenty of airtime to make his name.

Chip Foose

This article would be remiss to neglect one of the most influential minds in modern car design. Aside from Foose’s television show, Overhaulin’, his career is both varied and staggering, including providing car designs for movies such as Gone in 60 Seconds and Blade Runner.He has also worked on the development of electric vehicles for use by the MLB and NFL - not bad for a guy who started at just seven years old, working in his dad’s hot-rod shop. While Foose’s work is mostly custom work, his designs have accumulated several lifetimes worth of accolades, including four Ridler Awards and eight Most Beautiful Roadster Awards.

Chip may make fantastic custom rides, but our next is a bespoke specialist.

Jason Castriota

Jason Castriota is relatively new on the scene but has made significant moves. Mostly working with Pininfarina, Castriota has taken part in several high-end creations. His designs include the Ferrari P4/5 and the Maserati GranTurismo. Jason also had his hand in designing some concepts such as the Rolls Royce Hyperion and The Maserati Birdcage 75th. While his list of achievements is short in comparison to some of the others on this list, the weight of the designs he has worked on in his first 20 years makes Castriota a force of the auto design world.

Our next designer may have been one of the few people to be able to afford one of Castriota's creations.

Helen Dryden

Not a whole lot is known about the once highest paid woman artist in America. She began her career designing magazine covers, then moved into costume design for Broadway productions. By 1934 she had been hired on by Studebaker, working alongside Raymond Loewy with a reported annual salary of $100,000, which is equal to a little over $1.7 million today. Dryden’s most iconic design for Studebaker is most likely the 1937 President, though no one is quite sure what role she played. Her name was attached to the vehicle to draw female buyers since Dryden’s fame was profoundly connected to her articles focussing on women’s fashion.

Our next designer has gone toe to toe with a few big names while designing iconic rides.

Henrik Fisker

Fisker’s list of accomplishments is far too long and complicated to fit here. Unafraid of conflict, Fisker has gone toe to toe with several big names in the auto industry, including Aston Martin and Tesla. After a fruitful career working with BMW, Aston Martin, and Ford to produce models such as the Z8 roadster and the V8 Vantage, Henrik ventured out on his own. In 2007, Fisker was hired on by Tesla to do some initial design work. That same year, Henrik founded Fisker Automotive and announced they were building a luxury electric car called the Karma. The Karma was the first plug-in hybrid with only 50 miles of electric range, after that, it drove like a regular car. The timing of Fisker Automotive’s founding after having worked with Tesla landed Fisker in court with the electric vehicle pioneer, though the courts ruled in Henrik’s favor and Tesla ended up paying over a million dollars in court costs.

Our next designer also worked with Aston Martin, as well as another luxury brand.

Ian Callum

Ian Callum began his career with Ford designing steering wheels and working on the Fiesta and Mondeo, as well as the RS200 and Escort RS Cosworth before being shuffled to the Ghia Design Studio to work on concept cars. Callum left Ford in 1990 to help found TWR Design. By ‘91, Callum was appointed Chief Designer and General Manager. With TWR, Callum worked on several iconic designs for Aston Martin, including the DB7, the Vanquish, the DB7 Vantage as well as the Project Vantage concept car. After the death of Jaguar’s lead designer Jim Lawson, Callum was appointed to the position and is credited with bringing the aging professional class carmaker into the present. Callum didn’t get to truly break out from under his predecessor’s influence until the 2006 XK. At the time, Callum was also leading the design of the DB9 from Aston Martin, and he received criticism that his Jaguars were similar to the Aston Martin stylings, which Callum chalked up to a result of safety standards. Since then, Callum’s work at Jaguar has included the XJ, F-Type, XE, F-Pace, and I-Pace. Callum has been graced with several awards including the Royal Designer for Industry award from the Royal Society of Arts.

Our next designer is adding a bit of color to the market.

La Shirl Turner

La Shirl Turner is the current Head of Exterior and Interior Color and Materials, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Her mark goes into and onto every Dodge car that gets sold. Dodge’s recent revival of High Impact Paints and their unusual names is a move by Turner to reignite the excitement of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s muscle cars in their customers by adding more color to the lineup. Taking cues from the worlds of fashion and architecture, La Shirl is responsible for the much more lively and modern appeal of the recent lineup, including the Renegade’s sporty interior highlights.

Up next, a man who truly helped shape the auto industry today.

Bill Mitchell

Bill Mitchell is a legend in the realm of auto design. Having made it to Chief Designer for Cadillac at just twenty-four years old, Mitchell shaped the future of automotive stylings. Partly responsible for the tailfin craze of the ‘50s, Mitchell pulled a fast one on then General Manager Jack Gordon, who wanted smaller fins. Instead of lowering the fins, Mitchell and his team would raise the opposite fin of the one they were supposed to be lowering, resulting in fins that were higher on the ‘51 model than its predecessor. Bill Mitchell’s list of achievements is long, spanning his three-decade career as head of design for General Motors. He provided us the classic Cadillac sedan from the 50s, as well as the “coke-bottle” styling of ‘60s model Corvettes and Corvairs, on top of a laundry list of others that debuted under his tutelage.

Coming up, the man who started one of the most influential brands in the world.

Enzo Ferrari

Enzo began his automotive career as a test driver for C.M.N., a small manufacturer in Milan, eventually making his way up to race driver. In 1920, Enzo joined Alfa Romeo’s racing division as a driver. When his son was born in 1932, Ferrari retired from racing and shifted his attention to managing the Alfa factory and assembling a race team under the name Scuderia Ferrari, and raced for Alfa Romeo. Alfa Romeo pulled their support for Ferrari’s racing team after financial issues forced their hand in 1933, a decision that was turned around thanks to the intervention of Pirelli. Over the next few years, Alfa would again sponsor then drop support of Ferrari’s race team before Enzo finally began crafting for himself and producing two vehicles to run the 1940 circuit. In 1943, Ferrari was forced to switch to war production for the Mussolini government. It wasn’t until 1947 that Enzo would put his name on his vehicles, however. While Ferrari would encounter financial difficulties resulting in a 50% buy out by Fiat in 1969, their racing and performance reputation would be solidified, and Enzo’s constant push towards faster and sleeker vehicles would forever shape the automotive world.

Our next designer's work can be seen on almost any street.

Michelle Christensen

Michelle Christensen’s reputation as a designer was solidified when she became Acura’s first female exterior designer. Christensen proved that designing high-performance vehicles was not just a job for men, as her design for the second generation of Honda NSX shows. After an internship with Volvo, Michelle joined Acura in 2005. After a brief move to GM in 2010, she returned to Acura as Lead Principal Designer at Honda R&D. She’s had a hand in designing some of Acura’s more distinguishing models, including the RL facelift in 2011 and it’s replacement, the RLX.

Our next story is one that has become a legend in its own right.

Ferruccio Lamborghini

The history of Ferruccio has become the stuff of legends. After starting a garage and tinkering with his vehicles, mostly small Fiats that he turned into competitive racers, Lamborghini took parts from wartime vehicles and began manufacturing tractors. As his wealth grew, so did his taste in cars. He drove Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, and Jaguars before eventually buying a Ferrari. After finding the clutch systems inferior and requiring too many services, Lamborghini raised his complaints with Enzo, who was notoriously proud of his vehicles and dismissed Ferruccio. Ferruccio also felt the Ferrari’s were too closely related to their racing counterparts and were too loud and rough in the ride to be proper road cars. The tractor Barron modified one of his own 250 GTs, so it outperformed the stock models, which gave him the impetus to begin his own company, and thus, Lamborghini was born. This spat between Enzo and the man who would become his greatest competitor has become a sort of mythos in the auto community.

Without our next name in the history books, the auto world would have been set back entire generations.

Harley Earl

Few people have helped shape the automotive landscape more than Harley Earl. He was the initial Head of Design at GM and pioneered several techniques used in vehicle design that persist today, including freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models. He also gave us the “concept car,” both as a marketing tool and as a stage in the development process. Without Harley Earl, we never would have received the plethora of iconic models and styling schemes that have come out of GM, including kicking off the tailfin craze and modeling the original Corvette. Harley also introduced the concept of model years and the planned obsolescence of outdated models.

Earl’s legacy is one of pushing boundaries and beating the market to innovations; a legacy that reminds every car designer that there is always room for improvement and growth.

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