The sketches created by car designers usually end up in the wastepaper bin or shredder. That’s no surprise. After all, they are supposed to be top secret.

Luckily for us some still exist, either in original form or in photos.

Whether they took only a few minutes to bring into being or were the result of days of careful work, they are wonderful examples of modern art, drawn by talented people to illustrate their ideas.

This is the first in an occasional series that celebrates the art of the automotive designer.

TF/KF Mitsubishi Magna/Verada

Two quick 1995 sketches by Chrysler/Mitsubishi design manager, Dennis Nicolle, showing formal and semi-fast back roof lines ideas.

1969 LC Torana

Here are two by John Schinella, who, along with Peter Nankervis, was influential in the creation of the distinctive pointed front end of the LC Torana. These sketches still exist, and are being preserved. I’ve seen both. The blue sketch was the first imagining of the aggressive grille incorporating a body-coloured horizontal divider.

1973 Leyland P76

This is one of the ITAL Design’s unsuccessful proposals for the Leyland P76. It hangs on my office wall.

1969 HT &1970 HG Holden

Holden designer, Phillip Zmood, proposed this SS sports sedan for the HT range (above). Phillip also worked on various rear-end ideas for the HT.

Let’s not forget that car interiors are also styled. One of Australia’s best interior designers is Ken Folletta. Two of his ideas for the HG Holden steering wheel are seen below.

1960 FB Holden

Holden’s first chief designer was Alf Payze. Many of his distinctive sketches were created with black backgrounds. These ideas for the 1960 FB Holden are instantly recognisable as his work.

48-215 Holden

More from Alf Payze. This time it is a dashboard and two door sedan version for the 1948 48-215 Holden.

1960s Buick, 1970s Cadillac & 1980 Cadillac Seville

Wayne Kady began at GM in 1961 along with Leo Pruneau. Both were classmates at the Art Centre College of Design located in Pasadena, California. In the Shannons Design to Driveway series Leo talked how impressed everyone was with Wayne’s skills.

“Wayne was a terrific sketcher. He could sketch in watercolour, and he would just absolutely knock everybody’s teeth out (with his sketches).”

Two of Wayne’s water colours for an early 60s Buick sports car and 1970s Cadillac are above and below.

Joan Klatil-Creamer was GM’s first female exterior designer. She shared her story on the Shannons Club in the March 2022 edition of Retroautos^®. There is a link at the end. Here is one of Joan’s proposals for the 1980 Cadillac Seville.

2002 Chrysler Magna/Verada

An idea to give the Mitsubishi Magna/Verada a Chrysler appearance and badge. They are in the National Motoring Museum collection.

1973 Opel Kadett

The designers are unknown, but these renderings are ideas for the 1973 Opel Kadett T-car, which was GM’s first world car, and called Gemini in Australia.

1963 Pontiac

David North’s sketches for the 1963 Pontiac. The red rendering, created on 13th January 1961, shows David’s idea of stacked headlights, which became a Pontiac trademark in the 1960s. Also for 1963, was this rear end design proposal.

1974 VJ Valiant

Two drawings that endeavoured to provide a big, bold face for the VK Valiant.

1951 Kaiser-Frazer

Famed American industrial designer, Brooks Stevens, consulted to many automotive companies. Here’s our suggestion for the 1951 Kaiser Frazer.

1966 Studebaker Lark

Another Stevens’s proposal, this time for Studebaker, who were wanting to revise their compact Lark. Studebaker went broke before this design made it off the drawing board.

1980’s American Motors Hornet

Stevens again. Here he suggests how the 1971 Hornet can be made to look like a car from the 1980s. Stevens popularised the term planned obsolescence, using it in a 1954 speech to explain that he believed the role of an industrial designer was to convince consumers to “own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary.” Stevens did not invent the term. That honour goes to Bernard London in his 1932 essay Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence. It was one of three he wrote on the subject.

1968 HK Holden

In 1965, GM’s Overseas design studio suggested this shape (above) for the 1968 HK Holden. It is a coloured tape drawing.

1979 Ford Mustang

The design of the ’79 Mustang was a tussle between those who wanted to go “aero” and those who thought the traditional upright front ends of Fords should continue. On the traditional side was Henry Ford II. Championing aero was Jack Telnack. Jack won that one. Not long after he was promoted to the top job in Ford’s design department

1978 WA Holden

Chris Emmerson’s beautiful renderings for the never released WA Holden are now preserved by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology design school. These are two of many which were exhibited during the Automotive Historians Australia annual conference in 2019. 

Art works

Two works of art. The red sports car is by John Kiprian (Kip) Wasenko, who was assistant design director of Holden from 1977 to 1980. Wasenko signed this artwork on 15^th November, 1972. He was Cadillac’s design chief in the 2000s and still competes in his 1988 racing C4 Corvette.

The other artwork is by Dick Ruzzin, and it dated October 1972. Ruzzin worked at GM in Pontiac, Cadillac, Opel and as design boss of Chevrolet before retiring in 2000.

And standing next to the artworks is Leo Pruneau. Leo recalls the photo being taken in 1974 at GM’s US styling studios not long after he’d been posted there after a couple of years at Holden. However, Leo was never sure of the purpose of the photos, just that he was asked to stand next to them while the shot was taken. In 1975 Leo returned to Holden as its Design Director, and was in that role when Kip Wasenko was appointed assistant design director. Kip was succeeded by Phillip Zmood.

Future editions of Retroautos^® will showcase more of these evocative sketches.

More reading: Joan Klatil design pioneer.

Special thanks to John Kyros at GM Heritage Centre. Retroautos^® is written and published by David Burrell with passion and with pride. Retroautos^® stories and images are copyrighted. Reproducing them in any format is prohibited. Retroautos^® is a registered trademark. Reproducing it in any format is prohibited.