MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG

After setting records for two years in Baldwin-Motion’s A/MP Camaro, in 1970 Bill Mitchell shrinks the Supercar and continues his winning ways driving the MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG. New model introductions for 1970 reinforced Detroit’s accelerating love affair with performance.  It was a new decade and carmakers continued seducing buyers with the most powerful Ponycars and Supercars yet.  It was a boom year for Motown Muscle.  And it was a record year for Baldwin-Motion and Motion Perfor...
Read More

BILL MITCHELL’S BUICK CENTURY X

BILL MITCHELL’S BUICK CENTURY X
BILL MITCHELL’S BUICK CENTURY X, created at GM Styling, will make its international Concours debut in the Amelia Concours d’Elegance’s on March 8, 2020. Bill Mitchell was Harley Earl’s handpicked successor at GM Design and Styling. Their association seemed to go beyond the standard boss-employee dynamic. Many called it a father-son relationship. Mitchell was just 23 when Earl appointed him chief designer of Cadillac. His design of the ‘38 Cadillac 60 Special was a landmark. But Mitchell was a “B...
Read More

’59 STINGRAY: TRIBUTE TO A MASTERPIECE!

It’s “the Sting of Inspiration’ blogs CarGuyChronicles’ Jim Palam, who succumbed to the magnetic appeal of the Fiberfab Centurion. Bill Mitchell's real XP-87 Stingray, top, photographed with two other Corvette legends - SR-2 and the iconic Grand Sport coupe - by Marty Schorr at the GM Proving Ground. Jim Palam's photo of the Fiberfab Centurion, above. In 1959 GM design chief Bill Mitchell  wasn't buying into the ban on manufacturer-sponsored racing proposed by the Automobile Manufactu...
Read More

CORVETTE STING RAY: GENESIS OF AN AMERICAN ICON!

Renaissance man Peter Brock has been there and done that; his new award-winning book takes you into the styling studios that created the Corvette Sting Ray. Peter Brock, a totally consumed car guy who never wanted to be a car designer, yet, he was drawn to one of the top design colleges in the country - Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. In order to come up with enough money to attend, Brock sold his custom chopped and channeled, ’49 Cadillac powered ’46 Ford hot rod, El Mirage,...
Read More

STINGRAY VS STING RAY: NAME GAME!

My trivial pursuit of truth in branding cuts through some of the confusion surrounding one of the most beautiful and iconic Corvettes ever. It all started with an innocent note I sent to a friend, Frank Markus, Technical Director at Motor Trend. Essentially I called his attention to what I thought was a typo – referencing Bill Mitchell’s legendary ’59 Corvette Racer (XP-87), above, as Stingray - in the 55 Years of Stingray article in the September 2013 issue. When Mitchell had the Corvette b...
Read More