A Century of Car Design

This beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated book presents a detailed history of the automobile--but describes cars entirely in terms of design, with attention to the innovative artists who created auto bodies for the world's finest vehicles. The car is arguably the most important design icon of the past hundred years, and though its changes in appearance owe something to engineering developments, the most beautiful cars are proof that leading auto designers have been and continue to be true artists. This volume profiles major designers, with photos showing examples of their masterworks. Here, for instance are Raymond Loewy, designer of the revolutionary 1947 Studebaker . . . Giorgetto Giugiaro, designer of the Lotus Esprit and several superb models for Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati . . . Harley Earl, creator of General Motors' most innovative designs . . . and Ferdinand Porsche, creator of the original Volkswagen and several of the world's classic sports and racing cars. Here too are many of the finest examples of earlier classics from Daimler-Benz, Bugatti, Ford, Packard, and other auto makers. Today's most prominent designers are also discussed, and their cars shown. They include Bjorn Envall at Saab and Uwe Bahnsen at Ford, among many others. Comprehensive and clearly focused, A Century of Car Design will be valued by serious students of twentieth-century design, as well as by the millions of people for whom a love affair with cars has endured as a century-old preoccupation. Approximately 600 photos, 450 in color.