Introducing Mr Virgil Exner

["B.A. Samoila" <fift8imperial@xxxxxxxxx>]

My own personal musings on this topic:
True, the world of automotive design has had its
greats:
Alex Tremulis, Raymond Lowey, Bill Mitchell, Mr.
Engel, and Mister Earl just to name a few of the more
famous ones of the mid 20th century when in my humble
opinion was the height of this art.
And then there was Mr. Exner who, again in my opinion,
surpassed them all. He was the only one who had not
only an eye for futuristic design, but the ability and
the presence of forethought to actually take what was
a dream car and have it put into production. Just look
at the dull styles of the early 50's that he had to
work with and how, with very little resources in '53
and '54, he was able to soften their lines and attempt
the silk purse out of the sows ear. ( sorry you early
'50's guys) And then the magic started to flow in '55
and '56 when Chrysler's sedate outdatedness took on a
modern look, and sales began to indicate that "we
might just have something here."
I believe that Mr. Exner reached the zenith of his
abilities in the '57 lineup when even the famous Mr.
Earl (a man by the way that I truly admire for all his
flamboyance as well as talent) had to stand up and not
only take notice, but admit that he'd been one upped
by the competition. We've all heard the story of the
GM corporate styling department meeting when Mr. Earl
came in, threw down a photo of a production '57
Plymouth and began to go down his team's collective
throat.
 The fruits of Mr. Exner's talents caused GM to
scramble  through their one year offerings for '58,
and I guess in a roundabout way ( this is a bit of a
stretch here) had something to do with their '59
lineup causing the here-to-fore style leaders to play
the game of catch up. ( I still love '59 Chevys
though).
Just look at his '57-'59 models...don't they still
look fresh today...45 years later? Now that's staying
power.
Mr. Exner, I thank you for your products, I admire you
for your talents, and I truly acknowledge your genius.
Again...IML...thank you for letting me have these few
minutes to expound.  BAS

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