One of My Early Artistic/Automotive Influences

Page 15 of a 16 page Corvette brochure from the 1965 model year, a Glen Green roadster with the optional fiberglass and glass roof. 

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — I've owned this 1965 Corvette brochure since it was brand new (and I was 8 years old). This was my favorite photo in the entire piece for several reasons. First was the color—Glen Green is an almost perfect shade of green in my opinion, not too dark, not too light, not too yellow, and not too blue. I also loved the accessory hardtop this convertible is equipped with. While the Corvette Stingray fastback coupe was always (and still is) a head-turner, a tours de force of design really, and the Corvette soft top was an icon as far back as the earliest '53 models in Polo White with red interiors, this optional hardtop had all the class of the European sports cars of the time. It lightened the look of the car, and gave it a pert notchback look, my favored coupe profile then and now.Those roofs must have been fairly rare as well, as I can only remember seeing a handful of roadsters equipped with them ever. Another thing the mesmerized me about this photo was the setting. The ornate black wrought-iron gate fronting the limestone estate, and the well-dressed couple really spoke to me more than a racing scene or a gritty garage scene would have. Lastly, the reflections of the tree branches on the car motivated me to learn how to do that with my [then] magic markers and colored pencils. They taught me to look for shadows in every day life, and to try to add them to my drawings whenever I could. This photo really influenced my early decision in life that I wanted to design cars and render them in a way that other people would feel what I felt looking at this timeless green beauty.

Of course, life had other plans . . .