CORVETTE MACO vs MAKO: SHARK ATTACK!

Posted on August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by MartynL

Arguably the most attention-getting, crowd-pleasing Concept Car of the 1960s, GM’s Mako Shark II caught the eye of Motion’s Joel Rosen, resulting in CORVETTE MACO vs MAKO: SHARK ATTACK! Neither Joel Rosen, above, nor I had ever met Bill Mitchell, top, General Motors’ VP of Design, or any of the stylists who contributed to the design of the first Mako Shark II Concept that broke cover at the 1965 New York International Auto Show. But we were familiar with their previous head-turning Conc...

IN DETAIL: GENIUS OF HARLEY EARL

Posted on April 22, 2020April 28, 2020 by MartynL

In these days of “Social Distancing” and “Stay at Home”, we have decided to offer our readers a new feature called In Detail. In these short-takes, we will examine cars (and sometimes their designers & engineers) up-close. These are cars our staff has found interesting. They may not always be mainstream as our staff is an eclectic lot with broad automotive interests, but they are cars they felt worthy of focusing on, starting with IN DETAIL: GENIUS OF HARLEY EARL. We hope you will find these...

BILL MITCHELL’S BUICK CENTURY X

Posted on February 9, 2020February 9, 2020 by MartynL

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...

ZORA DUNTOV & MID-ENGINE CORVETTE MYSTIQUE!

Posted on June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 by MartynL

Ken Kayser’s latest tome - Corvette Legend Or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence, Volume II, Zora’s Fabulous Mid-Ship Corvette History - is actually a 750-page, portable Corvette research library. If you consider yourself a Corvette aficionado and/or a student of American automotive history, your bookshelf should have Corvette-centric published works penned by Kenneth W. Kayser. A retired GM engineer, Kayser spent years at the Tonawanda Engine Plant (think big-blocks, L88, ZL1, etc) and la...