Joe Bortz to Host Historic Dream Car Discussion Panel at 2012 POCI

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Joe Bortz to Host Historic Dream Car Discussion Panel at 2012 POCI JoeBortzPressRelease2_Layout 1 4/27/12 11:10 AM Page 1 JJooee BBoorrttzz ttoo HHoosstt HHiissttoorriicc DDrreeaamm CCaarr DDiissccuussssiioonn PPaanneell aatt 22001122 PPOOCCII In addition to being the son of the legendary Chrysler designer, Virgil M. CCoonnvveennttiioonn iinn Exner, Jr. is also a very accomplished designer in his own right, having worked with his father early in his career and later on his own. He will Designer Ray Koenig started at GM Styling in the "Class of '56." While there, be offering a unique view on Pontiac design- from the standpoint of a he worked under Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell, along with Chuck Jordan, competing designer. SStt.. CChhaarrlleess,, IIlllliinnooiiss Wayne Cherry, Larry Shinoda, Bill Porter and current head of GM Design, ream car collector and his- Ray Koenig started at GM Styling Ed Welburn. He also worked with John DeLorean, Pete Estes and Bill Collins. For Immediate Release: torian Joe Bortz has pre- in the "Class of '56" and remained ast, Hemmings Classic Cars, Car Bortz on the panel. Joe will then as- Contact: pared a special treat for there until 1977, when he left to D Collector and countless others. His sume the role of Master of Cere- Don Keefe participants at the 40th Annual accept an assignement at GM’s book GM's Motorama: The Glam- monies. He will then question the Pontiac-Oakland Club International International Group. While at GM Keefe Media International orous Show Cars of a Cultural Phe- panel and direct the conversation. Convention in St. Charles Illinois, Styling/Design Center, he E-mail: [email protected] nomenon, is unquestionably, the The Bortz Dream Car panel disus- this coming July 17-21. In addition worked under Harley Earl and Bill Phone: (585) 489-9826 definitive work on the topic and rep- sion will follow Don’s Department X to bringing his four historic Pon- Mitchell, along with Chuck Jor- resented more than six years of re- seminar on Pontiac concept cars tiac Dream Cars, he has also as- dan, Wayne Cherry, Larry Shin- Contact: Debbie Powless search. from 1980 to the end of the mar- sembled a panel, conisisting of two oda, Bill Porter and current head Bortz Auto Collection Rounding out the panel discus- que’s run. noted designers, a retired engi- of GM Design, Ed Welburn. He sion is noted Pontiac author and Be sure to plan ahead as, seating E-mail: [email protected] neer and two veteran authors to also worked with John DeLorean, POCI Smoke Signals Editor-in-Chief is already filling up for this historic Phone: (847) 433-7776 examine the topic of Pontiac’s Pete Estes and Bill Collins. Mr. Don Keefe. A veteran automotive event. To join POCI and/or register early concept vehicles. The panel Koenig retired in 1991 and was journalist, photographer and histo- for the convention, go to www.poci.org discussion will be held on Friday, profiled in the April, 2011 issue rian, Don will act as moderator for www.poci.org and fill out the conven- July 20th at 1:30 pm and is open of Collectible Automobile. www.takeyourcartoauction.com the first half of the discussion and tion application. to all POCI members. will then switch places with Joe POCII “As the seminar plans were Joe Bortz’s Dream Car panel discussion Bill Collins’ reputation as an engi- being laid out, it sort of developed seminar will be one of the “must-see” neer at Pontiac is nothing short a life of its own,” Bortz said. “Pretty attractions of the 2012 POCI Convention of legendary, having worked soon, a simple one-man presenta- in St. Charles, Illinois. closely with General Managers tion had evolved into a panel dis- Most auto enthusiasts are aware Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen, El- cussion with some of the biggest of the elder Exner’s storied history liott M. “Pete” Estes and John Z. names in the business- I couldn’t be with Chrysler but few people are DeLorean. He was part of the team happier.” He added that, “This panel aware that he was also the lead de- that brought the Super Duty Catali- is comprised of not only those who signer at Pontiac in the early nas and Tempests to fruition in the were in the design and engineering 1930s. Even fewer know that he early 1960s, as well as having de- fields at the time, but also two au- rose to that position before the age veloped the race-only PowerShift thors with vast research experience of 30! transaxle. After GM pulled out of on the subject.” Virgil Exner Jr’s career began racing in 1963, he went on to help working with his father. Gradually, develop the 1964 GTO and the XP- Virgil M. Exner, Jr., son of the leg- he came into his own, having 833 Banshee, among others. endary “Forward Look” designer worked as a design consultant for Bill Collins is a retired GM Engineer and part of the “Dream Team” that de- and a renowned designer himself, Ghia, Pininfarina, U.S. Steel and Riva David W. Temple is a veteran auto- veloped such legendary vehicles as the early ‘60s Super Duty Catalinas Mr. Exner will provide a unique per- Boats before beginning a long ca- motive historian and journalist, David Temple is a noted automotive historian and is the author of GM's Mo- and Tempests, the GTO and of course, the XP-833 Banshee. He is also the spective to the Pontiac discussion, reer with Ford, both in the U.S. and whose bylines have appeared in torama: The Glamorous Show Cars of a Cultural Phenomenon. He will be in original owner of the lone Banshee roadster. the view from the competition. with Ford of Europe. such magazines as Pontiac Enthusi- St. Charles for the POCI Convention and the panel discussion. .
Recommended publications
  • The New Mopar Super
    very generation seems to have one; following them, everyone else picks up on men who were not only designers, but also or sometimes two or three. what they’re doing and runs with it. We’re engineers; two fields that go hand-in-hand E Throughout the history of mankind, not talking about fashion designers for outside the world of clothing. It’s not design has been pushed forward largely women’s clothing, more precisely to our enough to make something that looks dif- through the efforts of a handful of men, and particular subject, we’re talking about the www.moparcollectorsguide.com 81 Martin, he became the design director for Aston. Most of those spectacular Aston Martins you’ve seen for the last fifteen years have varying amounts of Fisker’s handiwork in them, with the gorgeous Aston Martin DB9 being his creation entirely. He left Ford in 2004 to form his own design company, Fisker Coachbuild, which specialized in creating exotic bodies and interiors that could be fitted to existing chassis and drivetrains – much the same thing that notables such as Fleetwood, Murphy, and Saoutchik had done back in the prewar golden era of luxury car making. Then came the desire to build his own car from the tires up, which resulted in the Fisker Karma, and since leaving that ven- ture in 2012, Henrik Fisker has hardly been sitting around doing nothing; that’s not the kind of guy he is. Several years ago, Henrik was ferent, it has to be functional, and it has to Looking more like a Lamborghini than a looking at a Dodge Viper and pondering be better than whatever it’s intended to cracker box roller skate electric car, the just how much potential the car had for replace.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Delorean DMC-12
    The History of The DeLorean DMC-12 Delorean Introduction The DeLorean DMC-12 is a two-seater sports car that was manufactured by the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the US market from 1981 to 1982. It featured gull-wing doors with a fiberglass underbody to which non-structural brushed stainless steel panels were affixed. Manufactured in Northern Ireland it is most commonly known simply as the DeLorean, as it was the only model ever produced by the company. The first prototype appeared in March 1976, and production officially began in 1981 (with the first DMC-12 rolling off the production line on January 21) at the DMC factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. Over nine thousand DMC-12s were made before production stopped in December 1982. Today, about 6,500 DeLorean Motor Cars are believed to still exist. It is perhaps best remembered when it shot to worldwide fame in the Back to the Future movie trilogy starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. The car was transformed into a time machine by the eccentric scientist Doctor Emmett L. Brown - the company had ceased to exist before the first movie was ever made in 1985. DeLorean History In October 1976, the first prototype DeLorean DMC-12 was completed by William T. Collins chief engineer and designer (formerly chief engineer at Pontiac). Originally, the car's rear- mounted power plant was to be a Citroën Wankel rotary engine, but was replaced with a French-designed and produced PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) fuel injected V-6 because of the poor fuel economy from the rotary engine, an important issue at a time of world-wide fuel shortages.
    [Show full text]
  • V I S I O N H O N O R E D
    HOMEDETROITAUTOSHOWCARSHOW VISIONHONORED SUPPORT V I S I O N H O N O R E D The EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award Vision Honored Gala 2017, honoring Syd Mead. JOIN US AT VISION HONORED A black tie event to celebrate the accomplishments of Ed Welburn College for Creative Studies—General Motors Auditorium Friday, June 15, 2018. 6:30 p.m.—11:00 p.m. Reservations: $195/person; $1700/table of ten. Includes Silent Auction. For tickets and information, contact Judi Dara at (313) 824-4710 or email [email protected] ED WELBURN TO RECEIVE 2018 EYESON DESIGN LIFETIME DESIGN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD A group of top automotive designers has selected Ed Welburn as the recipient of the 2018 Lifetime Design Achievement Award for his outstanding career in vehicle design. The award, given annually by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO), is unique in that the selection is made by the previous winners of the award. This group includes Chris Bangle, Nuncio Bertone, Wayne Cherry, Walter de’Silva, Willie G. Davidson, Tom Gale, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chuck Jordan, Robert Lutz, Syd Mead, Shiro Nakamura, Patrick le Quement, Sergio Pininfarina, Stewart Reed, Peter Schreyer and Jack Telnack. Called “the man who brought beauty back to GM,” Welburn was just the sixth head of design for General Motors. He was also the first to lead the division on a global level, placing him in the same company as such design legends as Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell. During his 44-year career, he oversaw many designs, including those for the Corvette, Cadillac Escalade and the revived Chevrolet Camaro along with such concept cars as the Oldsmobile Aerotech, the Cadillac Ciel and the Buick Avista.
    [Show full text]
  • 1954 Oldsmobile F-88
    REAR-VIEW MIRROR: 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 08.08.2005 By Michael Lamm, special to Consumer Guide® Mysterious Ways: The Long, Strange Trip of the 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 This article is excerpted from the Throughout the Fifties, the grandest expressions of General Motors' October 2003 issue of Collectible visions of the automobile's future routinely went on display at the corporation's Motorama shows. But once out of the spotlight, GM's "dream cars" were supposed to be destroyed. This is the story of one that beat the odds--and its odyssey through the world of car collecting. Automobile.® It was co-winner of the 2004 Carl Benz General Motors in the Eighties was awash in policies, plans, and Award, which was presented by projects as it tried to maintain its equilibrium in a rapidly changing the Society of Automotive industry. But with a management shake-up, divisional reorganization, Historians for the best costly nonautomotive acquisitions, and the start of the Saturn project Automotive history article capturing the attention of the business and automotive press, it was published in a periodical. If you perhaps understandable when another new policy took hold with little like this article, please take the notice. time to see what other fantastic automotive history you can Like the F-88 currently in collector uncover by subscribing to Gordon Apker's collection, the Collectible Automobile® by Motorama car was painted gold. An clicking here. elliptical grille opening and round parking lights built into the fenders [Ed. Note: The Oldsmobile F-88 provided the show car with some visual show car was sold for $3.24 links to the look of Oldsmobile's million at last January's Barrett- mainstream production cars.
    [Show full text]
  • A Pictorial Essay
    The Significance of Watkins Glen to the History & Heritage that is Corvette. The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival: a Pictorial Essay By Mike Waal: March 2021 The year is 1929, two young brothers and a third young man meet while attending Yale. They are all car enthusiasts, and like racing cars. The two brothers are Miles and Sam Collier. The third young man is Briggs Cunningham. They all come from ‘well-to-do’ families. Collier family was in advertising and media sales [Collier Advertising Agency, NYC], and land development in Florida, Collier County, thru Legislative act, named for the family. Briggs Cunningham was an heir to Swift / Amour meat packing, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, and his father was an original investor in a little company started by a couple of guys named William Proctor & James Gamble. With a few of their friends, they started the Automobile Racing Club of America, ARCA [the same NASCAR ARCA of today] in the early 1930s, while Sam Collier becomes a distributor for MG cars. A Collier Advertising Agency young employee is handling the advertising, obviously, for Sam’s car distributorship: layout; design; and illustrations. And while at that, the employee is assigned the task of also handling the ARCA Newsletter: layout; design; and illustrations. They all become very good friends, these, now, four young men, with contacts in Detroit via racing activities. Auto Execs in Detroit were not living in a vacuum when it came to racing activities. One particular Auto Exec found the work of the Collier Advertising Agency young employee for Sam’s car distributorship and the ARCA Newsletter to be quite good.
    [Show full text]
  • Pontiac Hood Ornaments: Chief of the Sixes
    so prominently in the news since Pontiac’s ornaments are among the most striking from the fl amboyant era of the American automobile. In the early 1930s they were shaped in the form of a Native American head adorned with feathered headdress, but by the 1950s they had morphed into the memorable confi guration of jet plane with the head of Chief Pontiac at the helm. These beautiful and iconic designs caught the public imagination then and now, but, when contextualized to their own day, their signifi cance expands. They can be understood as ciphers of industrial strength in the face of the complex and troubled situation for the Native American in postwar America. The fl ying mascot’s sleek body trailing behind the bold, simplifi ed features of Chief Pontiac is replete with glistening surface and tapering forms. Its swept wings were modeled after the jet aircraft of the period and in that regard symbolized the military might embodied in the Cold War fi ghters and bomber planes. In the words of one designer, “We liked jet airplanes, we liked fl ashiness, we liked power.”1 At work was a language of corporate power and machismo linked as much to planes as to tropes of the Native American male body.2 As the Indian body converts into its technological other, Pontiac’s ornament appropriates the raw power of the myth of the savage body so associated with the Indian warrior, and transforms it into a streamlined extension of the car’s force as moving energy. Indeed, the cultural stereotype of the Pontiac Hood Ornaments Chief of the Sixes By Mona Hadler General Motors’ recent announcement of the impending closing of its Pontiac division made a stir across America where the car had been a staple for generations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Henry Ford Collecting Innovation Today
    THE HENRY FORD COLLECTING INNOVATION TODAY TRANSCRIPT OF A VIDEO ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH ED WELBURN CONDUCTED DECEMBER 22, 2011 GENERAL MOTORS DESIGN DOME WARREN, MICHIGAN ©THE HENRY FORD 2011 INTERVIEWER: BARRY HURD PRODUCER: JUDITH E. ENDELMAN 1 01 - CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT BARRY HURD: 01:00:34;07 …who you are, what do you do in these hallowed halls or hallowed dome we're in, what happens here. ED WELBURN: 01:00:37;23 Okay. I'm Ed Welburn. I'm General Motors' vice president for our global design organization. And we're here at the Design Center in Warren, Michigan, in the design dome to be exact. And this is really the center point for our whole entire global design organization. It's a very special and holy place for us designers. BARRY HURD: 01:01:01;28 So this is where top management sees the new designs for the first time you were saying? ED WELBURN: 01:01:05;28 Well in fact, designers have revealed to our, or presented to the leaders of the company and to the board of directors every new General Motors product since the '56 Chevrolet. This is a very important place to all of us in design. 2 BARRY HURD: 01:01:23;06 And just for the record just tell me briefly about the car that's behind us. ED WELBURN: 01:01:26;25 Well the car that's in the background is the Stingray concept. We developed it a couple years ago. It wasn't a part, attached to any production program.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Look ... the Same Old Bird
    The UCSD Guardian University of California, San Diego / Volume 48, Number 8 / Thursday, January 27, 1983 A new look... By THOMAS RANKIN I:!I":~~~~~~,.....-~~.....,.----., ... , per UOlt, in essence transfer· News Editor ing profits under the table and Under the towering ceilings keeping the ledgers In a neat. of the Hotel Del Coronado's profit and loss context. Crystal Continental Room Citibank even went so far as (once the site of a meeting to keep two sets of books, one between then·president to show government auditors. Richard Nixon and the and the other (known as the president of Mexico),John S.R. MPR, or Management Profit Shad spoke last Friday at a Report) for use in·house to get luncheon sponsored by UCSD an accurate representatIOn of Extension's Securities which branches were actuallv Regulation Institute. pulhng a profit. - Shad, chairman of the Edwards, after futile effort Securities and Exchange to alert top· level management Commission (SEC), discussed and institute a return to above the commissions's recent board operations. compiled a performance and briefly packet of memos, letters and touched on the increasingly other eVidence of infractIOn complex interplay of financial and pre ented it to the SEC. services offered by banks, ~ Nothing happened. S&Ls, thrifts and brokerage Thomas von Stein, an SEC houses. lawyer who had worked on the A bizarre sidelight to his commis ion's case agamst speech was the filming of the Robert Vesco, took on the TV series Hart to Hart in the Citibank case and found hotel's lobby. The series' evidence of parking, as well as stars, Robert Wagner and numerous other violations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Failure: an Analytic Narrative of the De Lorean Debacle
    Back to the failure: an analytic narrative of the De Lorean debacle Brownlow, G. (2015). Back to the failure: an analytic narrative of the De Lorean debacle. Business History, 57(1), 155-181. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2014.977875 Published in: Business History Document Version: Peer reviewed version Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Business History on 13 Feb 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2014.977875. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected]. Download date:26. Sep. 2021 ‘Back to the Failure: an Analytic Narrative of the De Lorean Debacle’ (Forthcoming Business History, 2014) Dr Graham Brownlow, Lecturer in Economics and Research Associate of Queen’s University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH), Queen’s University Management School, Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT9 5EE.
    [Show full text]
  • Special Memories of My Career at General Motors
    SPECIAL MEMORIES OF MY CAREER AT GENERAL MOTORS JOSEPH M. COLUCCI RETIRED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GENERAL MOTORS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER JUNE 27, 2017 1 GM RESEACH LABORATORIES JOURNEY FROM DAYTON TO THE GENERAL MOTORS TECHNICAL CENTER 1909 - 1955 Charles F. Kettering’s first laboratory, 1909-1911, in a barn in Dayton, Ohio. This was the birthplace of an improved automotive battery ignition system and the electric self- starter. Charles “Boss” Kettering First home of GM Research Corporation, Moraine City, Ohio, 1921 2 In 1929, GM Research moved to Michigan, in the Argonaut Building on West Milwaukee Avenue in Detroit. In 1955, GM Research moved to the newly established GM Technical Center in Warren, MI. The iconic spiral staircase in the lobby of the GM Research Administration Building Pictures from: “75 YEARS OF INSPIRATION, IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION,” JUNE 1995 3 SPECIAL MEMORIES OF MY CAREER AT GENERAL MOTORS I was blessed to have had an extremely interesting and satisfying career at General Motors, mostly spent in the Fuels and Lubricants Department of the GM Research Laboratories. The people I worked with made it a pleasure to go to work. Their technical accomplishments were outstanding and helped make GM, the auto industry, and the world a better place. Their accomplishments have been documented in “The GMR-GM R&D Fuels and Lubricants Department – Its History and Accomplishment,” SAE Paper 2016-01- 0176, April 4, 2015, and rewarded with the 2017 SAE Arnold W. Siegel Humanitarian Award. In addition to their accomplishments, the people, and others to whom my position gave me access, provided many memorable and often humorous stories that are the basis for this memoir.
    [Show full text]
  • The Geographical Factors on the Failure of Bricklin Canada Limited
    THE GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS ON THE FAILURE OF BRICKLIN CANADA LIMITED BY SHAWN M. WILLIAMSON A Research Paper Submitted to the Department of Geography in Fulfilment of the Requirements of Geography 4C6 McMaster University April 1991 ABSTRACT This research paper investigates the factors on business failure in the Maritime region of Canada via a sample study of Bricklin Canada Ltd. This sample illustrates· the effects of regionalism and geographic location on the manufacturing industry. This company's failure will be examined as how it arose from reasons including geographic isolation, regional disparities, externalities, scale economies and external forces. A study of this particular industrial failure will lend insights regarding the needs of future regional policy. Although businesses from these marginalized regions of Canada have realized success, there are still a great many steps yet to take. A means must be found to re­ introduce a self-sustaining economy to these regionalized areas of Canada where it is lacking. i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity ,to thank all those who have contributed to this paper. My sincere thanks to Dr. Liaw, my staff advisor, who took the time and effort to guide me through my work in the past year. I would also like to thank the following gentlemen for their assistance, expertise and time. Dr. Ralph Matthews of the McMaster University Sociology Department for being my "East Coast Correspondent". Dr. Archie Hamielec of the McMaster University Chemical Engineering Department for ·being my witness and expert on the Bricklin situation. Marvin Ryder of the McMaster University Business Department for his insights and information on the Canadian automotive industry.
    [Show full text]
  • Packard}3Electric MARK-OF EXCELLENCE
    GM Packard}3Electric MARK-OF EXCELLENCE L L/VE W/RE% dirwion of General Motors Corporation Vol. 3 1, No. 2 i« ' , ' · j WARREN, OHIO January, 1970 1969 Suggestion Awards Approach Quarter Nlillion Mark Payroll Increase $12.3 Million t Five Wind Up '69 With Suggestion Awards 1969 A Record Year 12*1. =*"7-r-rSZ'-TY'L '1 -·3 UE An increase in excess of $12 million in pavrolls and add- . -:..I ..f.'. ' fir . ::,1 ed employment of more than 1200 people highlighted a rec- ord year during 1969 at General Motors' Packard Electric Division, General Manager Bert Olson announced. r..4- rfei Li '. *®'. pay Forchecks1969,totalingan average$95.6 million,of 10,770up fromemployes9500 employesreceived ' L,44<4 and $83.3 million in payrolls during the Division's previous ,/i: all . -, 't. A /1 + I.- ' ..1 record year of 1968. 6.6., W awi¢lw , Electric continued its active spon- , ' Construction of 121,000 square sorship of two Warren Junior -'*", : · feet of floor space was completed Achievement "companies," and hi. at the "Live Wire" Division's its financial support of the Jun- Ff 1 North Industrial Park, while ior Achievement program. Mary Delucto 421// ,£./ Act/ /: another 407,000 square feet of With its co-sponsor, the War- Dept. 1274 new construction $2484 Angelo Palmer - ......-1 was started ren Tribune Chronicle, the Divi- Lee Smith sion initiated Dept. 949 Bob Ballentine during 1969. the Green Pennant Dep*. 949 John Smi*h School Safety Campaign for the $1344 Dep*.522 In announcing the year-end $722 Deph 973 $2292 ninth successive year.
    [Show full text]