Honorable Mention!

I received a certificate in the mail today, my Honorable Mention award from the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. I placed in their 2010 design contest with my Packard Twin Six Club Coupe, above. 

Studebaker bought Packard in the Fifties, and all marques associated with Studebaker were eligible. The contest was sponsored by the League of Retired Automotive Designers, so I was in pretty heady company to say the least. Above and beyond the certificate, my real award was being contacted, and receiving emails from, Bob Marcks and Virgil Exner, Jr, two designers I've read about since I was a child in love with cars. 

Mr. Marcks was a staff designer with Raymond Loewy in the early 1950s, and went on to form his own design firm, working on the last Studebakers in the mid 1960s, as well as many other industrial designs. Mr. Exner consulted for Italy's Ghia design firm, and worked for Ford, helping to create the 1970 Thunderbird, Maverick and original '71 Pinto exterior designs. He also worked for Ford of Europe, working on the European Escort, Granada, and original Fiesta. Both of these men are the epitome of everything I wanted to be as a young man as I was dreaming of becoming a car designer. Just knowing they saw my work, and appreciated it, was all the award I needed. To actually place in the contest was, as they say, icing on the cake. 

Here's my original post concerning the contest.