S Gil Spear studied design at the Pratt Institute and, in 1937, started to work for GM. He went to Norman Bel Geddes in 1938, and worked at the GM Futurama exhibit for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. After that, Spear joined Chrysler and worked under Robert Cadwallader. In 1942, he joined Briggs, the auto body supplier. In 1947, Spear became designer at
Ford. There he was responsible for the production of the 1949 to 1951 models; after that, he took charge of the reorganization of the Ford advanced studio for future studies. At the beginning of the 1960s, Spear became head of the international Lincoln/Mercury studios and, in 1967, Chief Designer at Ford England for the design of the Capri. Spear retired in 1974.
Gil A. Spear 1915–2009 Bel Geddes Chrysler Ford 1942 Chrysler 1950 Ford Ford Capri 1
Chrysler, 1942
Ford Muroc Study, 1952
Ford Capri 1, 1968
Spring studied engineering at the Paris Polytechnic and later took his first employment with a car company in Ohio. From the early 1920s, he was a designer with Murphy coachbuilders, where he became Managing Director in 1924. In 1931, he went to Hudson as head of auto body engineering. Spring wanted to push through a low roof line as early as 1937, but was
thwarted by the conservative management. It was not until 1947 that the revolutionary “step-down” Hudson models were launched, which made the company a style leader for a short period. In 1954, the Hudson Italia sports car was launched, which was designed under Spring’s management and was built by Touring.
Frank Spring 1893–1959 Hudson Hudson Commodore Hudson Italia
Hudson Commodore, 1949
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