From minute 3 to 7
For the other video interviews https://www.youtube.com/@magnaflowtv/videos
Showing posts with label Art Center College of Pasadena alumni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art Center College of Pasadena alumni. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Thursday, September 25, 2025
The Corvette’s T-Tops were so well-liked they were cited as the reason Chevy didn't make Corvette convertibles for '76 through '86
the guy that invented the T Tops, worked at Ford, retired in 1965, sued GM for stealing his patent on the T Top and won.
He started teaching at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1965 and was there until 1970
Thursday, November 07, 2024
cool neon sign at SEMA, from Neonetics, the design of John Chun, who escaped North Korea twice
Art Center College of Pasadena alumni, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/05/if-youre-anywhere-near-minneapolis-you.html
Sunday, May 21, 2023
A post to realize what an impact Harry Bradley had on cool cars, racers, Barris, car magazines, and kids... his designs were everywhere, and influenced so many - even the term "Hot Wheels" from about 1968 to 1971 - the coolest stuff of that era. He died last weekend
Harry Bradley decided what would be the first 16 Hot Wheels, and kicked off the entire Hot Wheels empire, plus, the name “Hot Wheels ” was chosen after someone at Mattel saw Harry’s customized El Camino in the Mattel parking lot. He commented that “Those are some hot wheels” and the name stuck!
Harry designed the RTX Cuda https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-rtx-cuda-helluva-cool-custom-grill.html and sketched the designs for the entire original Plymouth Rapid Transit System Caravan
Plymouth’s period Rapid Transit System ad campaign, the Caravan included a Duster, Road Runner, and a clone of drag-racing star Don Prudhomme’s Plymouth funny car, and this Barracuda
Harry Bradley was assigned the job of coming up with artwork for the customs. Since he didn’t have a real Duster to base his drawings on, he had to use sketches of what the stock Duster would look like. Plymouth had to sign off on Bradley’s work before his ideas were realized in lead and paint.
Bradley came up with another cool touch—large flip-style racing-type gas caps—one for each quarter. Since the Duster only had one gas tank, the second cap was a dummy. So, if a dummy gas jockey filled you up through the dummy cap, he filled the trunk, not the tank (big deal, gas was cheap back then.) The gas cap was the same piece used on the Ford Cobras, but it wasn’t a Ford original. The Blue Oval boys had borrowed it from its original application-on an English oil truck. The same cap, by the way, is used today on Vipers.
Bob Larivee, who put on the Detroit Autorama, also pointed them toward notable custom-car builders who could bring Bradley's designs to life. Byron Grenfell was assigned a 1970 340 Duster to work over, and Roman's Chariot Shop (one of the coolest shop names ever) was handed a 1970 Hemi Roadrunner. The Rapid Transit 1970 'Cuda and 1971 Road Runner were both given to 1968 Ridler award-winning builder Chuck Miller at Styline Custom in Detroit.
and the 1969 Plymouth Super Wedge https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-1969-plymouth-super-wedge.html
and the Barris Snake Pit https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/if-this-ever-had-landspeed-record-its.html but I doubt you'll find that mentioned anywhere else
As Harry put it in a 1985 article in Super Rod and Custom magazine, "They had gotten to me -- 'they' being Pinin Farina, Harley Earl, Joe Bailon, the Barris brothers. My parents didn't have a chance against the likes of them." https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/06/harry-bradleys-1951-custom-chevy.html
He became a member of the Drivin’ Deuces car club and began making modifications to his 1951 Chevrolet Bel Air, changing it into the legendary "La Jolla" when he was 15 yrs old, still in high school in 1954. He talked his parents into buying it from the milkman!
When enrolling in Pratt Institute’s industrial design school, his talent was noticed by General Motors, which led to the company offering him a position as a designer when they hired him in July 1962
Within weeks of his arrival in Detroit at GM Design Staff, while working for the Cadillac design studio, Harry and the Alexander Brothers had forged a relationship that would result in more than 10 Bradley-designed custom cars over the next eight years, including legendary vehicles like the Dodge Deora, and the Alexa, a 1964 Ford fastback Galaxie that was part of the Ford Custom Caravan
Although it was against company policy, he continued to publish designs for hot rod and custom magazines under the name Mark Fadner.
Harry even made his own website and published his own art http://redlineprotos.com/Harry%20Bradley/Harry_Bradley_new.htm
his fame was enough to get his designs desired by toy companies, George Barris, Rodding and Re-styling, Customs Illustrated, and Rod & Custom magazines
and there was even a book made of his designs and art:
He grew up in the suburbs of Boston where his early artistic talent was nurtured through youth classes at the Museum of Fine Arts.
During the summer of 1949, fourteen year old Harry contracted Polio - putting him in Boston's Children's Hospital for seven months. He passed the time with drawing. Nurses would place his wheel chair by a window overlooking the street so he could sketch automobiles.
The Turbo Titan III was Bradley's vision of a turbine powered show truck in 1965.
before I move past what he did while working for GM, I want you to know that I'm not making the encyclopedia entry, just trying to show complete respect, and sitting at a laptop in San Diego, without the benefit of his family's knowledge, like his son's for example, or the Hot Rod and GM archives, I'm not able to do his work the proper service that it deserves - by someone writing a book, or magazine article retrospective. I only have what I can find in 4 hours online, because I've got stuff to do today.
We won't ever know the totality of his work at GM, for magazines, and toy model car companies, but there was a lot
Worth the time to ponder is how much he designed without getting public credit for, like the 69 Firebird Trans Am, and the 67 GM trucks (see bottom of this post)
Harry took advantage of GM's Fellowship study program for a Masters degree at Stanford University. While in California, he did some moonlighting on for custom car builders, the Alexander Brothers.
In the spring of 1966 Harry was recruited away from GM by the Mattel corporation. Mattel wanted to hire a designer from one of Detroit's "Big 3" to create the look of their new Hot Wheels die-cast cars. Bradley's mix of hot rod and mainstream car design proved the perfect combination.
Although the Hot Wheels were an enormous success, the toy company was unwilling to commit to a second series. So after less than a year with Mattel, Harry resigned to start his own design firm
He was inducted into Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Hall of Fame.
from what I've posted so far, you might get the idea that his designs were all futuristic and funky 60s, but that's not the limit of his broad variety at all, so, please, also appreciate the cars made from his designs that were very cool:
above was named Afterglow
I want to repeat, the above was built by Sam Foose
he spent the majority of his career teaching at Art Center College of Pasadena, for 24 years, 1974-1998 https://archives.artcenter.edu/bradley-harry
If you want to see what the Art Center College has online about Harry, https://archives.artcenter.edu/informationobject/browse?sort=lastUpdated&topLod=0&query=Harry+Bradley&sq0=Harry+Bradley&sortDir=desc
but was still doing side work,
and the May 2003 Classic Trucks feature article is online, complete: https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard//showthread.php?t=442296
and the modern-day Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
In 1977, the Wienermobiles were put on hiatus, the brand retired the fleet and intended to do so for good, as it moved toward other forms of advertising. Then, in 1986, Oscar Mayer rolled out a singular Wienermobile for a special 50th anniversary party.
The lone Wienermobile's appearance alone attracted significant attention — so much attention, in fact, that Oscar Mayer decided to relaunch its Wienermobiles, introducing six brand-new mobiles in 1988.
and https://www.deansgarage.com/harry-bentley-bradley-part-2/
Someone wrote him a Wikipedia page, but it's not worth reading. It's just not respectable to have that little about someone who did so much more. This post was 4 hours, so far
read the fine print, it's the only interview I've found where he talked about his cars
Thursday, September 01, 2022
Larry Crane, was an automotive literature aficionado from childhood, who moved to So Cal in his early twenties to be close to his favorite cars. After a WestPac stint in the Navy, he was offered a position redesigning Motor Trend magazine.
He’s a fine artist whose artistry has been the design of automotive posters and publications, from designing the programs for Riverside Raceway in the Sixties, to editing and designing Ferrari magazines, his work at Auto Afficionado, a major redesign of Motor Trend in the Seventies to his founding, editing, and designing Vintage Racer magazine, and his days with David E. Davis Jr. at Automobile magazine, he’s had a creative hand in hundreds of projects.
He is now an instructor of History of Automobile Design at Art Center College of Design, and Motoring Editor of the Westlake Malibu Lifestyle magazine
Mr. Crane is also credited with the design and production of Vintage Racer magazine from 1978 to 1983, which was given an Automotive Journalism Award as the best car magazine in America in 1983. Mr. Crane is an accomplished automotive writer, photographer, illustrator, and an avid vintage racer. He is a respected automotive historian and while at Automobile created and edited "Non Sequitur," a monthly six-page examination of the car culture via photography, paintings and automobilia.
A veteran of automotive magazines, the award-winning Mr. Crane is one of the distinctive creative and graphic forces in the magazine business. He was art director at Automobile for 13 years from 1987 until 2000, and was associate art director at Road & Track from 1983 to 1987.
Mr. Crane is also credited with the design and production of Vintage Racer magazine from 1978 to 1983, which was given an Automotive Journalism Award as the best car magazine in America in 1983. Mr. Crane is an accomplished automotive writer, photographer, illustrator, and an avid vintage racer. He is a respected automotive historian and while at Automobile created and edited "Non Sequitur," a monthly six-page examination of the car culture via photography, paintings and automobilia.
A Navy vet car guy who is into automotive literature, how have I never heard of him, or been compared to him? I've been on two West Pacs!
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Peter Menotti’s decades-long dream to drive an Autopia car off the track and home from Disneyland finally came true, one of only 20 known remaining Autopia cars outside Disneyland and one of only nine that run.
this took about 45,000 dollars to get right
Disney turned to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena for help designing the Autopia cars.
ArtCenter wasn't about to do it on the budget Disney proposed, but equally legendary car designer, and ArtCenter instructor Strother MacMinn knew a recent graduate named Bob Gurr who could use the work. The Autopia Mark I was designed on nights and weekends with the help of students.
ArtCenter wasn't about to do it on the budget Disney proposed, but equally legendary car designer, and ArtCenter instructor Strother MacMinn knew a recent graduate named Bob Gurr who could use the work. The Autopia Mark I was designed on nights and weekends with the help of students.
legendary Disneyland designer and builder Bob Gurr:
"Opening day, people were jumping over the wall and commandeering cars before they got to the head of the line," Gurr says. "Walt was giving [actress] Gale Storm a tour and said, 'Oh, Bob can watch your kids.' I figured I'd have 'em in my pocket if I took 'em for a drive on Autopia. We're going along, and the kids kept yelling, 'Hit 'em, hit 'em,' so I put my foot down and knocked [another driver] over the wall. It was Sammy Davis Jr. I never did catch up with him to apologize."I did a good post about Bob Gurr just a couple years ago, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2020/11/not-many-people-have-worked-at-any-of.html
and Steve sent me some neat stuff about Autopia https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-various-concepts-for-disneys.html
Chip Foose owned one
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