Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Frustrated Customizer: GM Designer Carl Renner Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Very cool. Shades of the Skylark '53 to come with the red wheel wells. Can see the stylized '55 Biscayne front coming to fruition as well. Love the history lesson. Dynamic sketches ... more so then I would have expected then. Thanks man.
A lot going on in this one from '56. Several models got que's from this rendering a little later on. Thanks for the history lesson, great stuff.
His sketches really capture the automotive design/style direction and character of the 1950s and 1960s.
Harley Earl may have got a lot of the credit but he knew how to pick great forward thinking designers like Carl Renner. Corvette Hall of Fame 2007 Inductee Carl Renner was part of the “Project Opel” original Corvette Motorama project design team. In 1945, after leaving Walt Disney's design studio where he worked as a cartoon animator, Renner took his portfolio filled with automotive designs and headed for General Motors Styling where he landed a job as a junior designer in the Orientation Studio. GM was then beginning to turn its attention back to producing automobiles for the general public and designers were needed. He was promoted to Senior Designer in 1946 and transferred to the Chevrolet Studio. From 1950 to 1955 Renner took an active part in the entire design process of the 1952 through 1957 Chevrolet models. Other Renner design contributions include the Corvette side cove (1956), Corvette ducktail rear end (1961), the Corvette Nomad roofline and the deluxe steering wheel, grilles, recessed hoods, the “notch belt” fender line, parking lights, bumper guards and side trim. In 1954, he was promoted to assistant chief designer in the Body Development Studio. As part of the “ninth floor” crew at the Body Development Studio that Harley Earl used to work on special, private projects, the group became responsible for the basic shape of the first Opel – the future Corvette. The grille of the “Project Opel” Corvette was based on Carl Renner's 1950 and 1951 renderings where he served as part of the project's design team, although the answer to who is most responsible for the Corvette remains a mystery, thanks in part to the level of secrecy enforced by Harley Earl. Renner was also responsible for the Nomad which was essentially a Corvette built with an extended station wagon roof. Carl Renner passed away on January 22, 2001.
there must be thousands of talented designers that never get any/little credit. i was talking with a guy at Hershey swop meet a few years back, turned out he was a former GM designer and then went to work for matchbox. he told me when he was at GM he would design just pieces of the car, shock mount, bracket, clamp etc.... he liked it better at matchbox because he designed the whole thing.
Back then it was aim for the stars,now it's a race to the bottom.I guess that's why I go for customs.Thank you,Jay
JB, Great Post !!! Anything concerning early GM Styling is like a breath of fresh air. Hope to see more in the future. Raymay, Great input. Thanks Guys, Jeff
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