Legendary Automotive Designer Tom Tjaarda Dead at 82 Years Old

Source: Automobile

Legendary Automotive Designer Tom Tjaarda Dead at 82 Years Old

American designer penned the DeTomaso Pantera, Fiat 124 Spider
By: Rory Jurnecka Photography by: Martyn Goddard June 2, 2017

Tom Tjaarda, the American-born designer of some of Italys most striking cars, such as the DeTomaso Pantera and original Fiat 124 Spider, has passed away. He was 82 years old.

Tjaarda was born in Detroit in 1934. His father was an automotive designer, creating the showcar that would lend much of its aesthetics to the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr. He studied architecture early on, but ended up one of the first Americans to live and work in Italy, where he would design cars for some of the countrys greatest coachbuilders, including Ghia and Pininfarina.

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/news/catching-tom-tjaarda-de-tomaso-pantera-designer/

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Take A Moment To Thank Tom Tjaarda For Designing So Many Beautiful Cars
http://jalopnik.com/take-a-moment-to-thank-tom-tjaarda-for-designing-so-man-1795760216

Jason Torchinsky
Today 12:04pm

Auto designer legend Tom Tjaarda (http://www.tom-tjaarda.net/) died at 82 today, and even if somehow you dont think you know who he is, trust me, you know who he is. Its almost certain that at some point youve seen a stunning car thats taken your breath away, and theres a decent chance that Tom Tjaarda had a hand in its design. Tjaarda was a legend, and its sad to see him go.

Tom was part of a legacy of car designers, as his dad was Dutch-born John Tjaarda, who worked for Ford, designing an incredible rear-engined streamliner concept that would be developed into the striking 1936 Lincoln Zephyr.



Tom followed in his fathers tire tracks, but took a slightly different approach. Instead of staying in America and working for one of the Big Three, Tom went to Italy to design cars, starting with a summer at Carrozzeria Ghia.
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He started his career at Ghia in earnest in 1960 with the Innocenti 950 Spider, a lovely, taut little roadster built on Austin-Healey Sprite mechanicals. Where a Sprite was sort of goofy and fun looking, Tjaarda brought a crisp, tailored elegance to the car, something that would prove to be a hallmark of all his later work.



... {H}e designed what may be the most beautiful Corvair ever made, the Corvair Coup Speciale:



Tjaarda went on to design more design icons: the Ferrari 330GT 2+2, and one of his best-known designs, the Fiat 124.



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I love that Innocenti 950 Spider. With the warm weather back, the convertibles are returning to the streets.

I saw a Fiat 124 Spider being driven around the other day. I had thought that was a Michelotti design. Close, but no cigar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Michelotti

You might remember Michelotti for this:



I'll see if I can find a picture of a New Class BMW that is small (the picture, that is) and is not equipped with aftermarket wheels (the car, that is).