VIRGIL EXNER
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Virgil Max "Ex" Exner, Sr. was an auto-mobile designer for numerous American companies, notably Chrysler and Studebaker.He is known for his "Forward Look" design on the 1955-1963 Chrysler products and his fondness of fins on cars for both aesthetic and aerodynamic reasons.
Early Life
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Virgil Exner was adopted by George W. and Iva Exner as a baby. Virgil showed a strong interest in art and auto-mobiles. He studied art at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana but, in 1928, dropped out after two years due to lack of funds. He then took a job as a helper at an art studio specializing in advertising. In 1931 he married Mildred Marie Eshleman, who also worked for the studio and, on April 17, 1933, they had their first child, Virgil Exner Jr.By that time, Exner Sr. had been promoted to drawing advertisements for Studebaker trucks.
They had a second son in 1940, Brian, who died of injuries after falling from a window.
General Motors
His first work in design was for General Motors, where he was hired by GM styling czar Harley Earl. Before age 30, he was in charge of Pontiac styling.
The company was the largest auto-mobile manufacturer from 1931 through 2007. General Motors Corporation was formed on September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company controlled by William C. Durant, owner of Buick. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were fewer than 8,000 auto-mobiles in America, and Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint before making his foray into the automotive industry. GM's co-founder was Charles Stewart Mott, whose carriage company was merged into Buick prior to GM's creation.GM acquired Oldsmobile and in 1909, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland, and several others. Also in 1909, GM acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac. In 1911vDurant started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in the U.S. Durant then reorganized General Motors Company into General Motors Corporation in 1916, merging Chevrolet with GM.
Loewy and Associates
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| Raymond Loewy |
In 1938, he joined Raymond Loewy's industrial design firm Loewy and Associates, where he worked on World War II military vehicles and cars, notably Studebaker's 1939-40 models, and advance plans for their revolutionary post-war cars." But working on Studebaker designs… Exner struggled to get the attention of his boss, who had to sign off on every facet of the designs. Exner was encouraged by Roy Cole, Studebaker’s engineering vice president, to work on his own at home on backup designs in case the company’s touchy relationship with Loewy blew up".
Exner at the Studebaker Corporation
In 1944, he was fired by Loewy and was hired directly by Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana. There he was involved in the design of some of the first cars with all new styling to be produced after World War II (Studebaker's slogan during this period was "First by far with a post war car").
Studebaker prepared well in advance for the anticipated post-war market and launched the slogan 'First by far with a post-war car'. This advertising premise was substantiated by Virgil Exner's designs, notably the 1947 Studebaker Starlight coupé, which introduced innovative styling features that influenced later cars, including the flatback 'trunk' ('boot' if you're English) instead of the tapered look of the time, and a wrap-around rear window. Exner's concepts were spread through a line of models like the 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight coupe. The new trunk ('boot') design prompted a running joke that 'one could not tell if the car was coming or going'.
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| 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe |
As acknowledged by Robert Bourke, Virgil was the final designer of the acclaimed 1947 Studebaker Starlight coupe, though Raymond Loewy received the public acknowledgement because his legendary name was a major advertising attraction. Exner is actually listed as sole inventor on the design patent. Rivalry and bad feeling between the two resulted in Exner having to leave Studebaker, whose engineering chief Roy Cole provided personal introductions for him to Ford and Chrysler.
Studebaker (1852–1967) was an American wagon and auto-mobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the military. Studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles, all sold under the name "Studebaker Automobile Company". The first gasoline auto-mobiles to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912. Over the next 50 years, the company established a reputation for quality and reliability.
After years of financial problems, however, in 1954 the company merged with luxury car-maker Packard to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation, however, Studebaker's financial problems were worse than the Packard executives thought. The Packard marque was phased out, and the company returned to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. The South Bend plant ceased production on December 20, 1963, and the last Studebaker auto-mobile rolled off the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, assembly line on March 16, 1966.
Exner at the Chrysler Corporation
In 1949, Exner started working in Chrysler's Advanced Styling Group, where he partnered with Cliff Voss and Maury Baldwin. There he also worked with Luigi "Gigi" Segre, of Italian coach builder Carrozzeria Ghia S.p.A. The men created a strong personal bond, which helped link the companies closely throughout the 1950s. The alliance produced the Chrysler Ghia designs, such as the 1952 Chrysler K-310, the mid-1950s Dodge Firearrow series show cars, as well as the Chrysler d'Elegance and DeSoto Adventurer.
The Chrysler company was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) on June 6, 1925, when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation.In January 1924, Walter Chrysler launched the well-received Chrysler auto-mobile. The Chrysler was a 6-cylinder auto-mobile, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-engineered car, but at a more affordable price than they might expect. In 1928, the Chrysler Corporation began dividing its vehicle offerings by price class and function. The Plymouth brand was introduced at the low-priced end of the market. At the same time, the DeSoto brand was introduced in the medium-price field. Also in 1928, Chrysler bought the Dodge Brothers auto-mobile and truck company and continued the successful Dodge line of auto-mobiles. By the mid-1930s, the DeSoto and Dodge divisions would trade places in the corporate hierarchy. The Imperial name had been used since 1926, but was never a separate make, just the top-of-the-line Chrysler. In 1955, the company decided to spin it off as its own make and division to better compete with its rivals, Lincoln and Cadillac.
Exner's Impact on Automobile Design
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| 1954 Dodge Firearrow |
When Exner joined Chrysler, the car's body was fashioned by engineers instead of designers — leading to what many thought were old-fashioned, boxy designs on Chryslers of the 1940s and early 50s. Exner fought to change this structuring, and got control over the design process, including the clay prototypes and the die models used to create production tooling. Here he created the Dodge 'Firearrow' concept, constructed by Ghia.
Inspired by the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, GM's Harley Earl incorporated small "fins" on the rear fenders of the 1948 Cadillac models.
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| 1948 Cadillac |
Exner saw the design detail (also being experimented with by some Italian manufacturers) and made it his own by enlarging the fins and making them a more prominent feature.
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| Chrysler 1955 Imperial |
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| Chrysler 1955 300 Series |
Exner believed in the aerodynamic benefits of the fins and even used wind tunnel testing at the University of Michigan — but he also liked their visual effects on the car. They were showcased on the first cars designed under his full supervision for sale: the 1955 Chrysler 300 series, and the Imperial. The hardtop versions of 1957 Chrysler Corporation cars also featured compound curved glass, the first to be used in a production car.
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| Chrysler 300 - 1962 |
These fin designs also premièred his 'Forward Look'. In the late 1940s, Chrysler had been behind the times in terms of styling with what were considered tall, boxy cars. Exner lowered the roof-line and made the cars sleeker, smoother and more aggressive. With a long 'hood' (Eng. 'bonnet') and short deck, the wedge-like designs of the 300 series and revised 1957 models suddenly brought Chrysler to the forefront of design, with Ford and General Motors quickly working to catch up. Advertising campaigns for the 1957 model year sang that 'Suddenly, it's 1960 !' In June of that year Exner and his team were awarded the Industrial Designers' Institute's Gold Medal Award.
In 1956, during the design of the 1961 models, Exner suffered a heart attack.
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| Fin-less Two-Tone Plymouth |
He resumed work in 1957, working on the designs for the 1962 cars. On July 25, 1957, Exner was elected the first Vice President of Styling at Chrysler.
Unfortunately, a rumour that GM was reducing the size of their cars caused the President of Chrysler, Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert, to order Exner to do the same to his 1962 design - a change Exner disagreed with, thinking it would make his cars 'ugly'. Exner with his associates had completed work on the second full-sized finless Plymouth since 1955, this one for 1962, described as a strikingly attractive auto-mobile. While he was still recovering from the heart attack, the 1962 models Exner took credit for were downsized by associates. This downsizing drastically changed the cars' appearance. This reduced the cars' appeal and caused a significant drop in sales. It turned out that the Chevrolet rumour was false and consumers disliked the smaller Plymouth and Dodge cars introduced for 1962, the styling of which was bizarre compared to more sedate Ford and GM products.
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| 1961 Lincoln Hardtop |
Needing a scapegoat, Chrysler fired Exner. He was allowed to retain a position as a consultant so he could retire with pension at age 55. He was replaced by Elwood Engel, who had been lured from Ford. Engel was highly regarded for his design of the classic 1961 Lincoln Continental.
Fins eventually lost popularity. By the late 1950s, Cadillac and Chrysler - driven by the respective competing visions of GM's Earl and Chrysler's Exner - had escalated the size of fins till some thought they were stylistically questionable and they became a symbol of American excess in the early '60s. The 1961 models are considered the last of the 'Forward Look' designs; Exner later referred to the 'finless' 1962 down-sized Plymouth and Dodge models as "plucked chickens". Although fins were out of favour by the early 1960s, fins could still give aerodynamic advantages. In the early 1970s Porsche 917 racing automobiles sported fins reminiscent of Exner's designs.
Retirement
Exner continued consulting for many car companies from his office in Birmingham, Michigan. He also teamed up with his son, Virgil Exner Jr., designing watercraft for Buehler Corporation. In 1963, he designed a series of "Revival Cars" with production plans. His revival of Duesenberg failed, but he was instrumental in the revival of Stutz in the 1970s.
He died of heart failure on December 22, 1973 at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.
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