1. Lawrence Kiyoshi "Larry" Shinoda was a noted American automotive designer who was best known for his work on the Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang.
23 Facts About Larry Shinoda
1. 2.
Larry Shinoda was born in Los Angeles, California to Issei parents who were both immigrants from Japan.
3.
Larry Shinoda's mother, Hide Watanabe, was born in 1906 and emigrated to the US with her parents when she was less than 1; she graduated from Woodbury College.
4.
Larry Shinoda had a sister, Aiko, who was three years older than him and was artistically inclined.
5.
Larry Shinoda grew up in Southern California where he started developing his artistic talents in grade school.
6.
Larry Shinoda was interned with his sister, mother, and maternal family by the US government during WW II under US Executive Order 9066 into the Manzanar "War Relocation Camp" in California.
7.
Larry Shinoda's first recorded functional design was a set of reclining back chairs for his mother and grandmother at the incarceration camp that attracted the admiration of other incarcerees.
8.
Larry Shinoda completed his high school education at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles.
9.
Larry Shinoda sold the Deuce coupe in 1953 to Don Montgomery and built a 1929 Ford roadster; the coupe has since been identified and restored.
10.
Larry Shinoda won the "A" Hot Roadster class at the first NHRA US Nationals held in Great Bend, Kansas with Chopsticks Special IV in 1955.
11.
Larry Shinoda sold the '29 Ford as parts to his partner in the car, Jack Powers, in 1956.
12.
Larry Shinoda met Ford vice president Gene Bordinat in late 1954 before his time at the Art Center was cut short after he "saw no value in watercolor and life drawing classes"; he then went to work for several different automobile manufacturers, first Ford Motor Company in 1955, negotiating with Ford to cover the cost of moving "Chopsticks Special IV" to Detroit, then briefly with Packard, and finally joining General Motors in September 1956.
13.
Larry Shinoda led design work on the revised 1968 version that borrowed heavily from his Mako Shark concept.
14.
Larry Shinoda participated in the 1965 redesign of the Chevrolet Corvair, giving that car its sleek "Coke bottle" shape.
15.
Knudsen recruited Larry Shinoda to come to Ford in hopes of improving the styling and sales of Ford's lineup.
16.
Larry Shinoda is credited with taking the original design, then designated SR-2, and removing much of the chrome ornamentation.
17.
Reportedly Larry Shinoda chose the name "Boss" as a homage to Knudsen.
18.
White Motor Company acquired Rectrans in 1971 as a condition of naming Knudsen as its chairman; Larry Shinoda followed him again and was named White's design vice president.
19.
Larry Shinoda later opened an independent design firm and did work for GM, Ford, and aftermarket companies.
20.
However, the next day, AMC sent a crew of workers to the design studio to confiscate his drawings and wood templates, and Larry Shinoda was later told privately that AMC was proceeding with his design.
21.
Under the terms of the contract, Larry Shinoda was to be paid $354,000, but AMC only paid $135,000.
22.
Larry Shinoda was placed under a non-disclosure agreement and not allowed to speak publicly about the contract for five years; Shinoda did not protest the theft of his design until 1992, when the Grand Cherokee made its debut at Cobo Hall.
23.
Larry Shinoda developed kidney problems starting in 1996, yet continued to be an active designer.