The Ur-Father of Automotive Design: Andrew F. Johnson's Correspondence School For Automobile Body Makers, Designers and Draftsman – Now Online!

Just who invented automotive styling is open to debate, that is if you can even really narrow it down to one person. A number of people certainly deserve credit. In the United States, Harley Earl, Edsel Ford, and Alan Leamy, among others, come to mind. However, there is one person in the early days of the automobile age who probably had more to do with the way cars have been designed than any other single individual. I like to call him the “Ur-Father” of car design. His name was Andrew F. Johnson and if you’ve ever enjoyed the way a car was designed, you should know about him.

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  • Astigmatism As someone with the means, the home charger, and an EV already in the household: God, no. If I wanted an electric truck, would get the Rivian over this thing eleven times out of ten. Even leaving Musk's personality aside, the Cyber Truck is the automotive equivalent of $1000 designer sneakers - they just make you look like an insecure jerkwad.
  • Marty S This is the same wagon that Queen Elizabeth drove, and was recently auctioned. The wagon (sportbrake) came late to the X-Type and was very good looking and certainly nice with AWD. Unfortunately Jag gave up on the X-type shortly thereafter. The XE, which came years later, was a very different car, and more of a Jaguar, with a supercharged V-6.Jag has now decided to abandon all the ICE vehicles and go totally electric at a much higher price point starting in 2025. They also closed many dealerships. Considering the current sales resistance to EV's now happening (even Mercedes is having trouble selling their EVs), I think this may prove to be a very bad decision by Jaguar and I fear for the brand.
  • Carlson Fan What I want to know is does the bed & tailgate form a ramp as the rear end squats to the ground like the prototype?
  • 28-Cars-Later Go to Car-part.com and search for a TC's trunk. This example may still be in the yard but the post is from 2021 so it may also be gone.
  • Carlson Fan Ford, GM & RAM need to get smart and put this type of a drive train in a 1/2 ton pick-up truck. This makes a lot more sense than all electric. Until there is a major development in battery tech. forget EV pick-ups.