Retro Stories by David Burrell Who styled the 48-215 Holden? We should all know the answer. But somehow it has been glossed over, ignored even, for many years. If you look to Holden’s corporate history for the answer you will find very little. Popular wisdom puts General Motors (GM) styling supremo Harley Earl in the […]
A chat with Peter Davis
by Peter Robinson Peter Davis, the American designer who helped create one of the most controversially styled cars of the past 50 years, was guest speaker at the AMHF earlier in the year. Briefly, Peter’s career as a car designer began at Opel in 1983, before a move to Fiat in 1989. Later he rejoined […]
ZA Fairlane from Design to Driveway
Retro Stories by David Burrell The ZA Ford Fairlane was released in March 1967 and created the market segment, and the template, for locally built, long wheelbase luxury cars that endured until 2017, when the last Holden Statesman was built. How Ford Australia developed the ZA Fairlane is one of those great stories which showcase […]
How GM and Ford produced the same size engines
by Peter Robinson This is a coincidence that stretches beyond the imagination. In late 1950 and early 1952, General Motors and Ford – sworn rivals as the world’s two biggest car makers – launched totally new four- and six-cylinder engines with identical bore and stroke measurements and, therefore, precisely the same capacity. A fluke of […]
Sketch to Street: David Bentley and the Austin Tasman/Kimberley – Part 5
by David Burrell This is final instalment of the Australian Motor Heritage Foundation’s (AMHF) series which showcases the automotive design work of David Bentley when he worked in the styling studios of BMC Australia (BMCA) and BMC in the UK during the 1960s. He has generously given the AMHF access to his private collection of […]
GM: Thinking for Design
by Peter Robinson Thinking time: that vital period when a CEO or senior manager is free to reflect, to contemplate the future, and hopefully come up with strategies that drive a company forward. Sadly, too many leaders ignore the importance of thinking time. They fill their entire weekly schedule with endless meetings, answering questions, solving […]
Ford L’Avion: Could have been a small 1950s Mercury?
Retro Stories by David Burrell The startlingly shaped L’Avion could have been Ford’s first compact sized car in the USA, two years before the Falcon. It was championed by Lewis Crusoe, who was vice president in charge of all of Ford’s car and truck divisions. In 1955 he commissioned the L’Avion as a small Mercury. […]
Sketch to Street: David Bentley and the Austin Tasman/Kimberley – Part 4
by David Burrell This is part four of the five-part series from the Australian Motor Heritage Foundation (AMHF) which celebrates the automotive design work of David Bentley, and his close involvement in shaping the Austin Tasman and Kimberley. This instalment focuses on the never built station wagon. The sketches and drawings you see here are […]
XA Falcon coupe. Design to Driveway
Retro Stories by David Burrell Australian automotive folklore says that the shape of the 1972 XA Falcon coupe, with its bulging rear fenders, was first drawn by Ford Australia’s design manager, the late Brian Rossi, in late 1968, on a napkin while he was having dinner at a Melbourne restaurant with his boss, design director, […]
