a film short from
coprorate:'GM's Operational
'Shark' introduced...Warren,
Michigan'from an interview
with Larry Shinoda, by Wayne
Ellwood, 1995:It's the 'Mako
Shark II', designed by Larry
Shinoda under the direction of
GM Design head Bill
Mitchell.The were several core
design elements which were
common to both the non-runn
more

a film short from
coprorate:'GM's Operational
'Shark' introduced...Warren,
Michigan'from an interview
with Larry Shinoda, by Wayne
Ellwood, 1995:It's the 'Mako
Shark II', designed by Larry
Shinoda under the direction of
GM Design head Bill
Mitchell.The were several core
design elements which were
common to both the non-running
and running models, of course.
The basic design included the
chopped roof, hinged roof
panel which raised to permit
easier entry, the sharp-edged
fender lines, highly styled
front clip, hood bulge and
upswept tail. There were lots
of other gadgets thrown on the
car as repeats from Mako I,
including the prism-type
periscope rearview mirror, the
pop-up brake flaps, James Bond
retractable bumpers, and the
louvered rear window
treatment. When the car was
converted to Manta Ray the
louvered window concept was
dropped in favour of the more
conventional sugar-scoop
arrangement.Now, going back to
the inception of the Mako
Shark II, I think that it is
fair to say that the design
for what turned out to be the
1968 was not so far locked-in
that public reaction to this
show car was not going to have
some effect. In fact, even as
we were drawing the two of
them there were perceptible
differences in the sharpness
of the lines and the
exaggeration of major features
like the wheel bulges. There
was certainly no shortage of
reaction in the automobile
media to some of the 'added'
features that Bill had
requested even when some of it
might have been just a little
short-sighted. But that's the
purpose of some of these cars.
The public reaction has to be
interpreted, you don't just
take it at face value. People,
by and large, tend to think
'right now' while we are
supposed to think 'in the
future'. As I look back on the
articles which have been
written about the cars 20
years later, I see a lot of
retrospection. The authors now
recognize the fact that some
of the original criticisms
were off-base, the core ideas
have been realized.

Category Autos & Vehicles

Tags MakoShark, Corvette, stingray, GM, Chevrolet, LarryShinoda