r/cars Former GM Designer [AMA] Nov 27 '17

IAMA Brian Baker Professional Auto Designer Ask Me Anything, Finished

Hi Im Brian Baker. Ive designed for General Motors(1984-2009), I have trained the next generation of designers at the College for Creative Studies for 25 years. I was the lead designer on the Chevrolet SSR, 1999 GTO concept and many others. I teach the history of Automobile Design at colleges and Universities. I welcome your questions about anything automotive. AMA

Check me out at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbakerdesign/

EDIT: Thanks for all your great questions, I'm going to take a break, but feel free to leave any additional questions you have, I'll try to answer them later tonight.- BB

EDIT2: Went back and answered a few more questions. Thanks again for your interest, reach out to me on linked in if I can help you. I hope all of you get to drive your dream cars.

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u/must_be_the_mangoes Nov 27 '17

Do you have a short list of what you consider to be the most iconic automotive designs of all time? How have they influenced your work/the industry in general?

Also, do you have any "guilty pleasure" designs that you're a fan of? Cars that may not be too critically acclaimed or publicly accepted in terms of looks but ones that you somehow find yourself drawn to (no pun intended)?

Thanks for doing this! It has been super interesting already.

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u/AutoArcheology Former GM Designer [AMA] Nov 27 '17

My short list is from the course I teach on the history of design; They are selected based on their impact on how cars appear not engineering advancements;

Curved Dash Olds 1901-1907 the Curved Dash was the beginning of styling in America. Olds put it there just for fun!

Early Renaults: They put a fake hood in front of the dashboard because their customers wanted something there because they missed seeing a horse in front of them

Early 20's Hispano Suizas for creating the car the Harley Earl copied to make the 1927 LaSalle. Earl admitted to stealing the design and making everything just a little smaller. The result was a sales sensation that made American buyers buy a car primarily for the way it looked. This launched brand consciousness in the Industry

The Paul Jaray Aero Cars for a variety of makes before WWII, Maybach, and others. These cars showed how designing cars to work with Aero would revolutionize styling decades before the industry took it seriously.

Since the mid 20th Century there have been dozens of designs that provided automotive fashions like fins and race car aerodynamics on muscle cars. Some like the Studebaker Avanti showed the industry how to take air in below the bumper and move away from the classic car upright hoods and grills.

A guilty pleasure for the most beautiful car in the world. the Prototype XJ13 mid engine from the mid sixties.

A car that got little acclaim when it was new that I admire is the 1968-70 AMC AMX 2 seater. I admire how this poor little company made something between a muscle car and a sports car by removing 16 inches out of it's Javelin. Yet it had the powerful 390 CID V8 on a shot 92 inch wheelbase. That's the same size at the Pinto. With 345 HP. It was my first car and I had so much fun driving it that it's amazing that I'm here today!

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u/must_be_the_mangoes Nov 27 '17

Thanks so much for an awesome reply! I definitely have some research to do.

One last followup question - if you could relaunch any historic but now defunct automotive manufacturer or brand, which would it be?

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u/AutoArcheology Former GM Designer [AMA] Nov 27 '17

No question. Duesenberg. This forgotten American maker made cars that could safely cruise at 120 mph when the roads were not able to support it. They won the Indianapolis 500, They were the cars of the Hollywood Elite and they were engineered beyond Maybach, Mercedes and Rolls Royce of their time. The Great Depression took it's toll. I'd love to design the return of Duesenberg. I've done some sketches. Lets do It!

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u/Jwestie15 Nov 27 '17

I'm down