Editing Virgil Exner (section)

==Design work==

===General Motors===
His first work in design was for [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]], where he was hired by GM styling czar [[Harley Earl]]. Before age 30, he was in charge of Pontiac styling.<ref name= "garrett">{{cite news|last=Garrett|first=Jerry|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/automobiles/collectibles/21EXNER.html|title=Where Credit Is Due: A Fresh View on the Exner Designs |newspaper=The New York Times |date=21 October 2007}}</ref>

===Loewy and Associates===
[[File:Studebaker Champion 4-Door Sedan 1939.jpg|thumb|1939 Studebaker Champion G 4-door sedan]]

In 1938, he joined [[Raymond Loewy]]'s industrial design firm Loewy and Associates, where he worked on [[World War II]] military vehicles and cars, notably Studebaker's 1939–40 models, and advance plans for their revolutionary post-war cars.<ref name="bourker">{{cite journal|title=The Starlight and the Starliner: Some recollections of a designer|last=Bourke|first=Robert E.|journal=Automobile Quarterly |pages=266–273|volume=X|issue=3|year=1972}}</ref> "But working on Studebaker designs… Exner struggled to get the attention of his boss, who had to sign off on every facet of the designs. Exner was encouraged by Roy Cole, Studebaker's engineering vice president, to work on his own at home on backup designs in case the company's touchy relationship with Loewy blew up".<ref name="garrett"/>

===Studebaker Corporation===
[[File:Studebaker Starlight Coupe That's the back end...(161044368).jpg|thumb|1947 Studebaker Champion Starlight coupé]]
In 1944, he was fired by Loewy and was hired directly by [[Studebaker]] in [[South Bend, Indiana]]. There he was involved in the design of some of the first cars with all new styling to be produced after World War II (Studebaker's slogan during this period was "First by far with a post war car"). As acknowledged by Robert Bourke,<ref name="bourker"/> Virgil was the final designer of the acclaimed 1947 [[Studebaker Starlight]] coupe, though Raymond Loewy received the public acknowledgment because his legendary name was a major advertising attraction. Exner is actually listed as the sole inventor on the [[design patent]].<ref>{{cite web|title=US Patent #D152400: Exner Automobile|last=Exner|first= Virgil M.|author2=Studebaker Corp. |date=18 January 1949|url= https://patents.google.com/patent/USD152400}}</ref> Rivalry and bad feeling between the two resulted in Exner having to leave Studebaker, whose engineering chief Roy Cole provided personal introductions for him to [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] and [[Chrysler]].<ref name="garrett"/>

===Chrysler Corporation===
In 1949, Exner started working in [[Chrysler]]'s Advanced Styling Group, where he partnered with Cliff Voss and Maury Baldwin. He also worked with [[Luigi Segre|Luigi "Gigi" Segre]], of [[Italy|Italian]] coach builder [[Carrozzeria Ghia]] S.p.A. The men forged a strong personal bond, which helped link the companies closely throughout the 1950s. The alliance produced the Chrysler Ghia designs, such as the 1952 Chrysler K-310, the mid-1950s Dodge Firearrow series show cars, as well as the Chrysler d'Elegance and [[DeSoto Adventurer]].

==== Forward Look design program ====
[[File:Forward_Look.jpg|thumb|right|The Flookerang, the logo for the Chrysler Corporations "Forward Look" design program]]

When Exner joined Chrysler, the company's vehicles were being fashioned by engineers instead of designers, and so were considered outmoded, unstylish designs.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} 

After seeing the [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning]]-inspired [[Car tailfin|tailfins]] on the 1948 [[Cadillac]], Exner adopted fins as a central element of his vehicle designs. He believed in the aerodynamic benefits of the fins, and even used wind tunnel testing at the [[University of Michigan]]—but he also liked their visual effects on the car. Exner lowered the roofline and made the cars sleeker, smoother, and more aggressive looking. In 1955, Chrysler introduced "The New 100-Million Dollar Look". With a long hood and short deck, the wedgelike designs of the [[Chrysler 300 letter series]] and revised 1957 models suddenly brought the company to the forefront of design, with [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] and [[General Motors]] quickly working to catch up. The 1957 Imperial also featured compound curved glass, the first to be used in a production car. The 1957 [[Plymouth (automobile)|Plymouth]]s were advertised with the slogan, "Suddenly, it's 1960!" In June of that year, Exner and his team were awarded a Gold Medal Award by the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI). In 1958, Chrysler's Forward Look was the sponsor of the groundbreaking ''[[An Evening with Fred Astaire]]'' TV special.

[[File:1955 Imperial.jpg|thumb|1955 Imperial, one of the first Exner-styled Chrysler vehicles]]
[[File:1956 DeSoto Adventurer.jpg|thumb|1956 
[[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]] Adventurer]]
[[File:1957 Chrysler 300-C (36274792365).jpg|thumb|Exner's 1957 [[Chrysler 300 letter series#Second Generation|Chrysler 300C]] had a lasting impact on car styling in Detroit]]
[[File:Customroyalfin.jpg|thumb|Tail fin of a 1959 [[Dodge Custom Royal]]]]

In 1956, during the design of the 1961 models, Exner suffered a [[heart attack]]. He resumed work in 1957, working on the designs for the 1962 cars. On July 25, 1957, Exner was elected the first vice president of styling at Chrysler. Unfortunately, a rumor that GM was reducing the size of their cars caused the president of Chrysler, [[Lester Lum Colbert|Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert]], to order Exner to do the same to his 1962 design–a change Exner disagreed with, thinking it would make his cars "ugly". Exner with his associates had completed work on the second full-sized finless Plymouth since 1955, this one for 1962, described as a strikingly attractive automobile. While he was still recovering from the heart attack, the 1962 models Exner took credit for were downsized by associates. This downsizing drastically changed the cars' appearance. This reduced the cars' appeal and caused a significant drop in sales. It turned out that the Chevrolet rumor was false and consumers disliked the smaller Plymouth and Dodge cars introduced for 1962, the styling of which was bizarre compared to more sedate Ford and GM products. Needing a scapegoat, Chrysler fired Exner. He was allowed to retain a position as a consultant so he could retire with a pension at age 55. He was replaced by [[Elwood Engel]], who had been lured from Ford. Engel was highly regarded for his design of the classic 1961 [[Lincoln Continental#1961–1969|Lincoln Continental]].<ref name="allpar.com">{{cite web|url =https://www.allpar.com/|title=Allpar Home Page|website=www.allpar.com}}</ref>

Tailfins soon lost popularity. By the late 1950s, Cadillac and Chrysler–driven by the respective competing visions of GM's Earl and Chrysler's Exner–had escalated the size of fins till some thought they were stylistically questionable and they became a symbol of American excess in the early 1960s. The 1961 models are considered the last of the "[[Forward Look]]" designs; Exner later referred to the finless 1962 downsized Plymouth and Dodge models as "plucked chickens".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Niedermeyer |first1=Paul |title=Automotive & Design History: 1962 Plymouth & Dodge – Brilliant Blunder, or Suddenly It's 1977 |url=https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/automotive-design-history-1962-plymouth-dodge-brilliant-blunder-or-suddenly-its-1977/ |publisher=Curbside Classic |date=4 December 2017 |access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref> He believed Chrysler executives had "picked" away at the cars to make them lower in cost.

Although fins were out of favor by the early 1960s, fins could still give aerodynamic advantages. In the early 1970s, Porsche 917 racing automobiles sported fins reminiscent of Exner's designs.<ref name="allpar.com"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Fitzgerald |first=Craig |title=Sport Sensation: Celebrating Chrysler's 300 Sport convertible exactly as it left the factory in 1962|date=1 June 2005|work=Hemmings Classic Car |url= http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2005/07/01/hmn_feature8.html}}</ref>

===Volkswagen Karmann Ghia===
Three entities came together in the history of the [[Volkswagen Karmann Ghia]]—a design that ultimately reflected strong influence from Virgil Exner. In the early 1950s, Volkswagen was producing its Type 1 (Beetle). As post-war standards of living increased, executives at Volkswagen were at least receptive to adding a [[Flagship#Automobiles|halo model]] to its range, if not proactive. [[Luigi Segre]] was committed to expanding the international reputation of [[Carrozzeria Ghia]]. And [[Wilhelm Karmann]] had taken over his family coachbuilding firm [[Karmann]] and was eager to augment his contracts building Volkswagen's convertible models.

As the head of Ghia, Segre singularly directed and incubated the project through conception and prototyping, delivering a feasible project that Willhelm Karmann both wanted to and could practically build—the project Willhelm Karmann would in turn present to Volkswagen. The styling itself, however, integrated work by Segre as well as [[Mario Boano]], Sergio Coggiola, and designer/engineer Giovanni Savonuzzi—and at various times they each took credit for the design.<ref name="SIA">{{cite journal|title=SIA Flashback - 1953 Chrysler D'Elegance: Deja Vu All Over Again |first=Michael |last=Lamm |orig-date=July 1993 |date=23 December 2012 |publisher=Hemmings |journal=Special Interest Autos |url= https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2012/12/23/sia-flashback-1953-chrysler-delegance-deja-vu-all-over-again |access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref> Furthermore, the design bore striking styling similarities to Virgil Exner's Chrysler ''D'Elegance'' and K-310 concepts, which Ghia had been tasked with prototyping, and which in turn reflected numerous cues and themes developed previously by Mario Boano.<ref name="kg">{{cite book|title=Karmann Ghia |page=7 |first=Malcolm |last=Bobbitt |year=2004 |publisher=Veloce Publishing |isbn=9781845845513 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I7WuHwHjtKAC&q=%22luigi+segre%22&pg=PA8}}</ref> The precise styling responsibilities were never documented before the passing of the designers,<ref name="kg"/> further complicated by the overlapping work of the key players. A definitive individual attribution on Karmann Ghia's was never made.<ref name="kg"/>

Segre and Virgil Exner had become close professionally and personally, eventually traveling Europe together.<ref>{{cite web|title=Automotive Design Oral History Project: The Reminiscences of Virgil Max Exner, Jr. |date=1989 |publisher=Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford |quote=Virgil Exner Jr., [Segre] was a real nice guy—super guy—great big fellow. He married quite a wealthy Brazilian gal. They were a neat couple and raised a nice family. They became very good friends with my family. I liked Luigi very much. |url= http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Design/Exner.htm}}</ref> Peter Grist wrote in a 2007 Exner biography that when Exner in 1955 eventually saw the Karmann Ghia, which cribbed heavily from his Chrysler D'Elegance, "he was pleased with the outcome and glad that one of his designs had made it into large-scale production."<ref>{{cite web|title=Virgil Exner actually didn't mind that the Karmann Ghia directly copied his 1953 Chrysler D'Elegance |first=Daniel |last=Strohl |date=November 10, 2017 |publisher=Hemmings Motor News |url= https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/11/10/virgil-exner-actually-didnt-mind-that-the-karmann-ghia-directly-copied-his-1953-chrysler-delegance/}}</ref> Chris Voss, a stylist in Exner's office, reported in 1993, that Exner considered the Karmann Ghia the ultimate form of flattery.<ref name="SIA"/> Segre in turn sent Exner the first production Karmann Ghia imported into the state of Michigan, in gratitude.<ref>{{cite web|title=Five Things You Might Not Have Known About Virgil Exner |first=Daryl |last=Scott |date=January 17, 2016  |publisher=Throwing wrenches |url= http://throwinwrenches.blogspot.com/2016/01/five-things-you-might-not-have-known.html}}</ref>

After Volkswagen approved the design in November 1953, the Karmann Ghia debuted at the 1955 Paris Auto show and went into production, first at Ghia<ref>{{cite web|title=Automotive Design Oral History Project: The Reminiscences of Virgil Max Exner, Jr |publisher=Automobile in American Life and Society |quote=[Segre] approached [Chrysler] through C.B. Thomas and engineering to Jim Zeder who was the vice-president of engineering to show what they called the Plymouth 500X. And it was shown to my father [Virgil Exner], and, oh, he thought that their workmanship was wonderful, and just unbelievable compared to these parade cars which had been built by the Chrysler shops at an enormous cost—two hundred/three hundred thousand dollars. At that time, that was a tremendous amount of money, while Ghia was showing this little Plymouth. It wasn't nearly as big, but it was a totally new body built on a standard chassis, but they were quoting prices for show cars to be built from ten to twenty thousand dollars at that time, and the workmanship was excellent. There was a bit of fear on the part of Chrysler that they would be taking work away from union shops to have these cars built in Italy. But, nevertheless, they signed a contract with Segre to go ahead. Chrysler would design a car, and Ghia would build what became the first true show car that my father was responsible for [from] the new design section at Chrysler. |url= http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Design/Exner_interview.htm}}</ref> and then in [[Osnabrück]] &mdash; ultimately to reach a production over 445,000, running 19 years virtually unchanged.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/living/motoring/features/article3218929.ece |title=Classic Cars: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia |access-date=2008-01-22 |website=independent.co.uk |date=2007-12-04}}</ref>