And folks don't forget that Ex also spent several productive years Managing
Studebaker Design in South Bend before his Chrysler years which gave us many
memorable Studes that are valued by collectors today in addition to the finned
Chryslers we all love. In fact I've talked to some of you who also own
Studebakers in the FWDLK group & know there is more to these car's heritage that
appeal to us than just their age or memory of our first cars.
Studebaker is typically linked to Raymond Loewy's designs but many of the greats
in Auto Design worked there because of the minimum of red tape in South Bend
(compared to Detroit) in getting daring new looks onto production cars and
trucks. Gordon Buehrig of Cord fame is another great that comes to mind who
worked with Ex at Studebaker in the 40s. Gordon and Ex were sort of co-managers
of the design office there and due to tension between Ex and Loewy, Buehrig was
made Ex's boss. But this changed from time to time as Loewy changed their titles.
At the same time there was a power play going on at Studebaker wherein Roy Cole
who was Engineering VP wanted to dump Loewy as their Chief Design Consultant and
make Ex the head of all Studebaker design. To make this happen, he had Ex design
the new postwar Studebaker behind the scenes at night (none of this known to
Loewy or Buehrig at the time) and then have the model built surreptitiously at
the Budd Co. in Philadelphia where preliminary tooling was also built.
When the big day came to show Studebaker management the Loewy clay proposal for
the new car designed by Buehrig, Cole had the Ex designed finished wood buck
brought in and of course it was approved for production. Loewy rightfully was
furious and promptly fired Ex from the Loewy design team. Roy Cole then
immediately hired Ex and set up a new design office at the South Bend test track
with Ex in charge. But because Loewy had such high visibility and a contract with
Studebaker, he was given all the public credit for the new postwar Studebaker -
designed by Ex!
Many of the top Ford designers of the 50s and 60s also came out of Studebaker
such as John Reinhart (MKII designer) and Bob Koto. Bob Bourke, Vince Gardner and
many others also were designers at Studebaker. The fraternity of car designers is
small and the guys moved around more for opportunity to see their work on the
road than to get more money - although that was an incentive in most cases!
Ending the Ex story beyond his Chrysler years - move to 1967 where sadly Ex was
involved in the re design of a "new" Duesenberg that was funded by Fred
Duesenberg as a potential "modern" retro of the original classic. It bombed and
only one Chrysler powered prototype was built by Ghia. Ex's son, Virgil Exner Jr.
became an auto designer and retired from Ford Design.
Brian in MI
D500s (and Studes too)
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