Southern California seems to generate more that it’s share of outstanding automotive designers. Among its best, was a soft-spoken gentleman with an eye for aggressive automotive styling.
After graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Lost Angeles, Larry Shinoda worked briefly at Ford, then Packard. He also designed winning Indy racing cars before moving to General Motors, where he worked with the legendary Bill Mitchell.
Among his earliest contributions, the 1963 Stingray split-window coupe has since become the highpoint of Corvette styling for many fans of the classic Chevrolet two-seater.
Shinoda penned a number of show cars for GM. His personal favorite the Monza GT was an air-cooled, mid-engine, Corvair derivative. And the sleek Mako Shark II would eventually inspire the 1968 Stingray, a body style that dictated the overall look of the Corvette until its redesign in 1984.
For 1967, Chevy introduced a beefier Camaro, the Z/28. Conceived by product-promotion specialist Vince Piggins, its purpose was to “develop a performance image superior to Mustang’s.” The Z/28 was mechanically much different than previous Camaros, and with a few simple, visual modifications, Shinoda provided GM with the sporty look they were after.
The following year, Larry found himself back at Ford, helping “the other guys” develop a new Mustang that would one-up the Z/28, the very car he had helped to create!
The new car was to be called the “SR2” (which stood for Sedan Racing category 2), but Shinoda felt the name lacked character. He believed that the “Boss” was a better way to describe the car’s image of authoritative performance. He fought hard to make the name stick, and eventually, it did. So did his ideas for wider tires, special blacked-out trim, spoilers, louvered Sports Roof, and the rest of the grand Larry Shinoda treatment.
Recently, Larry’s company, Shinoda Design brought the classic muscle cars namesake out of retirement and introduced the “Shinoda Boss,” a modern, performance-oriented Mustang with updated “Boss” graphics.
In poor health, Larry spent his last years inspiring car use through his written contributions to automotive magazines.
By Adam Icenogle
Larry Shinoda 1930-1997