William MOTTA

William A. Motta has won many awards and prizes over the years, and more than 900 of his paintings hang in private and corporate collections, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Subaru. He has portrayed the cover and poster art for many prestigious Concourse d’Elegance around the world, including Pebble Beach in California, Amelia Island in Florida, Meadow Brook Hall in Michigan, Newport Coast in California, and Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy.

Bill retired from Road & Track after more than 40 years as the Art Director and more recently, Art Editor. He continues to contribute artwork and is an independent consultant for the magazine. Motta also spends more time painting and catching up on overdue commissions. He has long been a champion of automotive art and its artists. As a founding member of the of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, he continues to work with artists around the world to elevate the quality of automotive art and further promote its appreciation.

Bill is a native of California and a graduate of the Art Center College of Design. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Margit, and their soft-coated Wheaten Terrier … whose name is Stig-Motta.

Camilo Pardo

Being an artist really complements my car designs. I can’t imagine having one without the other. Both require me to deal with proportions, emotions and creativity, which all lead to perfect execution.” – Camilo Pardo, GT Chief Designer.

Camilo Pardo has drawn and re-drawn the GT40 concept design in his mind for more than 10 years. Even when he was given permission to do an exploratory clay model of a modern GT40 in 1999, he never really expected to create a fully developed concept car.

The call that began the dream assignment of a lifetime came in March 2001, and Pardo was quick to begin work.

As chief designer in Ford Motor Company’s Living Legends Studio, Pardo has led the development and design of the timeless GT40 concept. The re-birth of this legend first materialized in 1999, but it began long before – with Pardo’s obsession with the 1960s-era racing legend.

As an accomplished artist, sculptor, clothing and furniture designer, Pardo’s work has been featured in galleries and shows worldwide. From cafés in Monaco and Italy to the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the stages of the Paris Motor Show, his art is a true reflection of his love for innovation and design. Two of his GT paintings hang in the executive offices of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Another painting of a 1961 Lincoln Continental graces the offices of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group’s London headquarters.

Pardo is a native New Yorker who says he knew at a young age that both art and automotive design were his career path.
To follow the dream, he enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit where he graduated and was granted the Industrial Design Society of America Merit Award in 1985.

Immediately following his graduation, he joined Ford’s design staff in Dearborn, keeping an easy commute to his downtown Detroit art studio and apartment, where he still lives and works on his other artistic endeavors in his spare time.

The attached garage in the studio houses his classic Ferrari 308 GT and topless 1964 Thunderbird, a project car with no convertible top and doors that are welded shut to eliminate all gaps in the sheet metal. To get in, Pardo just hops over the side or climbs out by stepping on the seat.

“If it starts raining, you just hope you don’t catch any red lights on the way back to the garage,” he says. “If you’re going fast enough, the airflow blows the rain right over the car and off the deck. They knew a little about aero back in the ’60s too.”
Before taking on his role as chief designer in the Living Legends studio, Pardo spent much of his time in Ford’s Advance Design studio working on the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Ford electric vehicles. He also has worked in Ford’s design studios of Cologne, Germany, and Turin, Italy.
Upon his return to Dearborn, Pardo took on the role of design manager for Special Vehicle Team projects. The SVT studio shares space in what is now the Living Legends Studio.
Pardo has been with the modern GT40 design every step of the way – as one of the designers on the Ford GT90 concept of 1995, as design manager for the modern GT40 “exploratory” clay and now as chief designer for the GT40. Pardo’s office, which opens directly into the Living Legends Studio, is filled with detailed die-cast models of GT40 race cars. On his desk is a miniature clay model of a seat design. He has a television and VCR in the room. In addition to powering up his computer each day, he turns on the movie “Grand Prix,” watches the opening scenes and listens to the sounds of the race for inspiration – then, it’s back to work.

Roger HECTOR

A California native and accomplished professional artist and designer, Roger Hector has spent over 25 years creating and designing his passions. His life-long fascination with automobiles started as a young man building models … then real cars. After winning a national auto design competition, he attracted the attention of General Motors, who suggested he pursue a career in automobile design. They then offered him a scholarship at the prestigious Art Center College of Design, where he graduated with Honors.

In his design career, Roger has created a great variety of products from computer games, to driving and flying simulators, to theme park attractions for major corporations including Walt Disney, Sega, Atari, Bally, Electronic Arts and Universal Studios. He holds over a dozen technology and design patents, but his passion for cars has always been a central core of his artistic inspiration and enthusiasm.

His highly accurate, detailed, and tightly controlled art style is a hallmark of his work. He enjoys mixing and experimenting with different media, and seeks to create emotional connections through the use of intriguing reflections, dramatic light sources, and bold color. His extensive understanding of form and architecture, and his obsessively accurate attention to detail, has led him to create both classic portraits, and acclaimed fine art compositions.

His work is highly sought by private collectors, and has been featured in major museums such as the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, and the prestigious Blackhawk Automobile Museum in Danville, California. He has been featured in west coast fine art galleries, and has worked extensively with commission work for fine art and automobile collectors and owners.

Henrik FISKER

Henrik Fisker has won international acclaim for his creation of stunning sports cars: the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. Presented in this gallery is your car in art … by the car’s designer!

Henrik has launched a new luxury car company: Fisker Coachbuild. The focus is on designing and manufacturing exclusive high-end sports cars in Southern California. Worldwide distribution will be limited to only 150 units per design.

Fisker was previously Director of Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California. He also held the prominent position of Director of Design for Aston Martin and sat as a member of the Board of Directors at Aston Martin. Other responsibilities during his tenure at Ford Motor Company included Creative Director of Ingeni – Ford’s London-based design and creativity center.

Prior to Ford, this Danish designer was President and CEO of Designworks/USA, a subsidiary of BMW headquartered in Newbury Park, California, with a European office in Munich, Germany. Under Fisker’s direction, the industrial design firm created a variety of concept cars and products for companies spanning the globe — including office organizers, mobile phones, bicycle seats and snowboard graphics.

Fisker was originally a designer at BMW’s design headquarters in Germany. He designed the exteriors of the Z07 concept car and the production Z8 roadster, launched in 1999.

Harold CLEWORTH

Harold James Cleworth is probably the most well known automotive artist working today. His posters have sold worldwide and his limited edition prints have increased as much as 800% since first being introduced.

Born in the industrial North of England during the Second World War, he quickly developed a love for the aesthetics of machinery, and began painting the local Orwellian landscape. Several one-man shows were held in local pubs and libraries during his teenage years.

Graduating from the prestigious Manchester College of Art in 1967, he moved to London to work for Decca Records, illustrating the first album covers for the Rolling Stones, the Who, and other new groups.

In 1972, frustrated with the London scene, a trip to California convinced him to stay and begin his career as a fine artist, choosing the Automobile, his first love since childhood, as the subject. A series of posters followed, amongst them the black 300 SL gull wing Mercedes, which rapidly became the most popular automotive image on the market. The Chase Manhattan Bank of Zurich bought his first original, and private collectors began to commission him to paint portraits of their Bugattis, Duesenbergs, and Ferraris. Galleries invited him to exhibit in San Francisco, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Carmel.

The press discovered him, stories appeared in all the automotive journals, AutoWeek dubbed him “the painter laureate of the car”, and the LA. Times ran his life story.

Corporate commissions followed from Ford, Chevrolet, Saab, Isuzu, and Lincoln Mercury, all of whom desired portraits to introduce their new models. Posters were produced for the L.A. and Chicago Auto Shows, and the annual Newport Beach Concourse d’Elegance, at which he is an honorary judge. The “CLEWORTH AWARD” is presented at the event to the car of his choice. Cleworth has firmly established himself as one of the world’s leading ‘auto-biographers’, whose trademark of super-realism has become instantly recognizable, and whose twenty-year dedication to the subject has proved enormously successful.

Nicola WOOD

Born in Great Crosby, England, which lies just north of Liverpool, Nicola Wood had a quiet upbringing in a bucolic world of cows and fields and bowling greens where, as she puts it, “nothing ever happened.”

“I love Americana, from the glamorous world of Hollywood movie stars and swimming pools to the grandeur of the western deserts and mountains to the art deco skyscrapers of New York City,” Wood says.
The preoccupation with things American made the step to including cars in her paintings an easy one. After all, what could be more representative of the United States than the automobile, especially the tail finned monsters of the Sixties that Wood loves? Yet she is anything but a “car painter.” Cars are a critical element in her paintings, but they are no means the only element.
After studying at various art schools for nine years and graduating from the Royal College of Art in London with first-class honors, Wood received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Parsons School of Design in New York. After nearly four years, Wood returned to London and worked as a freelance fabric designer. In 1976, after one year in San Francisco and a stint in Taiwan, she settled in Los Angeles.
Wood did not paint her first car until 1981, when she saw a black 1959 Cadillac that bore the license plate VADAR. An inner urge forced the car onto a canvas, and that first automobile has set the tone for her work ever since. Beautiful landscapes, swimming pools, gorgeous cars and exotic flora and fauna fill the haunting canvases that can take Wood as many as 600 hours to complete.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
The Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS) in 1988 invited Wood to join its ranks. In 1993, her peers awarded her the Peter Helck Award, given by the AFAS membership to the artist judged the single best of the group each year.
The Pebble Beach Concurs d’Elegance, mecca for automotive fine artists as well as for automobiles, has recognized Wood’s talent on several occasions. She was the event’s featured artist in 1993, when her painting of a 1931 Cadillac graced both the event poster and the program cover. In 1997, she was again the featured artist at Pebble Beach. And in 2002, she was selected, for the third time, as Pebble Beach’s featured poster artist, this time celebrating Cadillac’s 100th anniversary.
Wood is a four-time winner of the Athena Award of Excellence, generally considered the most sought-after recognition in the automotive fine art world. She has shown her work at the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance, where she won the Raymond E. Holland Award, presented to the outstanding artist at the event, and at other concours including Amelia Island, Florida, and Pebble Beach and Newport Beach, California.

Her work has run as cover art and featured in pictorial spreads by automobile publications, including Road and Track, Automobile Magazine and Car Collector Magazine. Many of her original oil paintings are now in the collections of corporations and individual patrons.
She has had one-woman shows at both the Biarritz Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and at the Goldstrum Gallery in New York. In February 2001, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles held a retrospective of Nicola Wood’s work.

Camilo Pardo

Being an artist really complements my car designs. I can’t imagine having one without the other. Both require me to deal with proportions, emotions and creativity, which all lead to perfect execution.” – Camilo Pardo, GT Chief Designer.

Camilo Pardo has drawn and re-drawn the GT40 concept design in his mind for more than 10 years. Even when he was given permission to do an exploratory clay model of a modern GT40 in 1999, he never really expected to create a fully developed concept car.

The call that began the dream assignment of a lifetime came in March 2001, and Pardo was quick to begin work.

As chief designer in Ford Motor Company’s Living Legends Studio, Pardo has led the development and design of the timeless GT40 concept. The re-birth of this legend first materialized in 1999, but it began long before – with Pardo’s obsession with the 1960s-era racing legend.

As an accomplished artist, sculptor, clothing and furniture designer, Pardo’s work has been featured in galleries and shows worldwide. From cafés in Monaco and Italy to the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the stages of the Paris Motor Show, his art is a true reflection of his love for innovation and design. Two of his GT paintings hang in the executive offices of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Another painting of a 1961 Lincoln Continental graces the offices of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group’s London headquarters.

Pardo is a native New Yorker who says he knew at a young age that both art and automotive design were his career path.
To follow the dream, he enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit where he graduated and was granted the Industrial Design Society of America Merit Award in 1985.

Immediately following his graduation, he joined Ford’s design staff in Dearborn, keeping an easy commute to his downtown Detroit art studio and apartment, where he still lives and works on his other artistic endeavors in his spare time.

The attached garage in the studio houses his classic Ferrari 308 GT and topless 1964 Thunderbird, a project car with no convertible top and doors that are welded shut to eliminate all gaps in the sheet metal. To get in, Pardo just hops over the side or climbs out by stepping on the seat.

“If it starts raining, you just hope you don’t catch any red lights on the way back to the garage,” he says. “If you’re going fast enough, the airflow blows the rain right over the car and off the deck. They knew a little about aero back in the ’60s too.”
Before taking on his role as chief designer in the Living Legends studio, Pardo spent much of his time in Ford’s Advance Design studio working on the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Ford electric vehicles. He also has worked in Ford’s design studios of Cologne, Germany, and Turin, Italy.
Upon his return to Dearborn, Pardo took on the role of design manager for Special Vehicle Team projects. The SVT studio shares space in what is now the Living Legends Studio.
Pardo has been with the modern GT40 design every step of the way – as one of the designers on the Ford GT90 concept of 1995, as design manager for the modern GT40 “exploratory” clay and now as chief designer for the GT40. Pardo’s office, which opens directly into the Living Legends Studio, is filled with detailed die-cast models of GT40 race cars. On his desk is a miniature clay model of a seat design. He has a television and VCR in the room. In addition to powering up his computer each day, he turns on the movie “Grand Prix,” watches the opening scenes and listens to the sounds of the race for inspiration – then, it’s back to work.

Maurizio CORBI

Maurizio Corbi was born in Sermoneta, Italy, in 1960. Even when young, he showed great drawing skills and an early interest in cars.

At the beginning of the eighties, he started participating in design competitions – getting to the finals and winning some of them (Autosprint, Gente Motori, Rombo). This opened the door to Aviointeriors, an aeronautic firm specializing in interiors and components.

But his real passion was for cars, and by 1987 he had contacted the most important Italian car design firms: Pininfarina, Bertone, Italdesign and Ghia.

Pininfarina offered him an internship, but Nuccio Bertone wanted him as soon as possible in his design studio. Thus, in January 1988, Corbi started his career as a car designer at Bertone.

A year later he moved to Pininfarina, where he contributed to the creation of the Ferrari F50, F355, 550M, as well as the interior of the Ferrari 456.

Parallel to this activity, Maurizio’s passion for classic cars led him to create hyper-realistic artwork, with markers like those used for his profession.

Corbi’s work has been exhibited at Libreria Dell’Automobile di Milano, Italy (Dec. 1994), Curitiba, Brazil (1996), Autostory in Genova and Automotoretro in Turin (1998), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2000) and finally in Mexico City (Sept. 2002).

Ken EBERTS

One of today’s foremost automotive fine artists, Ken Eberts’ artwork has been featured at the world’s most prestigious automotive events. Ken was a Founder of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, and has been its President since its inception. The AFAS Exhibition is a featured part of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance each August. Through his artwork he tries to communicate the history, excitement, aesthetics, nostalgia, and his love of automobiles, in a way that can be understood and appreciated by both automotive and art enthusiasts.

Says Ken: “My interest in cars began when I was a youngster growing up in the Bronx, New York. The view from my home was of a street filled with the colorful, exciting and futuristic cars of the 50s. I was fascinated with them, and ever since I’ve had a love affair with cars, especially the way they look.”

A graduate of New York’s High School of Music and Art and Los Angeles’ Art Center College of Design, Eberts began his career as an automobile designer for Ford Motor Company. In 1968 he turned his attention toward automotive fine art and has been a full time automotive fine artist ever since. Over 1,000 of his original paintings are in public and private collections worldwide. Many thousands of his prints and posters are displayed in automotive and art enthusiasts’ homes and offices. His paintings have also been reproduced as magazine and book covers, Christmas cards, and posters to commemorate automotive events.

Ken Eberts has achieved wide recognition for his work. It has been exhibited throughout the United States—including more than 25 one-man shows—earning awards from the City of Los Angeles, American Artist Magazine, the City of Beverly Hills, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, and many others. He has been an exhibitor in the National Watercolor Society and his paintings have also been part of their National Touring Exhibition. In 1990 and 1992 he received the prestigious Peter Helck Award – “Best of Show” at the AFAS Exhibition at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In 1994 and 1995 he received the Richard Teague Award, presented to the artist whose body of work best exemplifies the spirit of the automobile, at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours d’Elegance in Rochester, Michigan.

Ken EBERTS

One of today’s foremost automotive fine artists, Ken Eberts’ artwork has been featured at the world’s most prestigious automotive events. Ken was a Founder of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, and has been its President since its inception. The AFAS Exhibition is a featured part of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance each August. Through his artwork he tries to communicate the history, excitement, aesthetics, nostalgia, and his love of automobiles, in a way that can be understood and appreciated by both automotive and art enthusiasts.

Says Ken: “My interest in cars began when I was a youngster growing up in the Bronx, New York. The view from my home was of a street filled with the colorful, exciting and futuristic cars of the 50s. I was fascinated with them, and ever since I’ve had a love affair with cars, especially the way they look.”

A graduate of New York’s High School of Music and Art and Los Angeles’ Art Center College of Design, Eberts began his career as an automobile designer for Ford Motor Company. In 1968 he turned his attention toward automotive fine art and has been a full time automotive fine artist ever since. Over 1,000 of his original paintings are in public and private collections worldwide. Many thousands of his prints and posters are displayed in automotive and art enthusiasts’ homes and offices. His paintings have also been reproduced as magazine and book covers, Christmas cards, and posters to commemorate automotive events.

Ken Eberts has achieved wide recognition for his work. It has been exhibited throughout the United States—including more than 25 one-man shows—earning awards from the City of Los Angeles, American Artist Magazine, the City of Beverly Hills, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, and many others. He has been an exhibitor in the National Watercolor Society and his paintings have also been part of their National Touring Exhibition. In 1990 and 1992 he received the prestigious Peter Helck Award – “Best of Show” at the AFAS Exhibition at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In 1994 and 1995 he received the Richard Teague Award, presented to the artist whose body of work best exemplifies the spirit of the automobile, at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours d’Elegance in Rochester, Michigan.

Henrik FISKER

Henrik Fisker has won international acclaim for his creation of stunning sports cars: the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. Presented in this gallery is your car in art … by the car’s designer!

Henrik has launched a new luxury car company: Fisker Coachbuild. The focus is on designing and manufacturing exclusive high-end sports cars in Southern California. Worldwide distribution will be limited to only 150 units per design.

Fisker was previously Director of Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California. He also held the prominent position of Director of Design for Aston Martin and sat as a member of the Board of Directors at Aston Martin. Other responsibilities during his tenure at Ford Motor Company included Creative Director of Ingeni – Ford’s London-based design and creativity center.

Prior to Ford, this Danish designer was President and CEO of Designworks/USA, a subsidiary of BMW headquartered in Newbury Park, California, with a European office in Munich, Germany. Under Fisker’s direction, the industrial design firm created a variety of concept cars and products for companies spanning the globe — including office organizers, mobile phones, bicycle seats and snowboard graphics.

Fisker was originally a designer at BMW’s design headquarters in Germany. He designed the exteriors of the Z07 concept car and the production Z8 roadster, launched in 1999.

Henrik FISKER

Henrik Fisker has won international acclaim for his creation of stunning sports cars: the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. Presented in this gallery is your car in art … by the car’s designer!

Henrik has launched a new luxury car company: Fisker Coachbuild. The focus is on designing and manufacturing exclusive high-end sports cars in Southern California. Worldwide distribution will be limited to only 150 units per design.

Fisker was previously Director of Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California. He also held the prominent position of Director of Design for Aston Martin and sat as a member of the Board of Directors at Aston Martin. Other responsibilities during his tenure at Ford Motor Company included Creative Director of Ingeni – Ford’s London-based design and creativity center.

Prior to Ford, this Danish designer was President and CEO of Designworks/USA, a subsidiary of BMW headquartered in Newbury Park, California, with a European office in Munich, Germany. Under Fisker’s direction, the industrial design firm created a variety of concept cars and products for companies spanning the globe — including office organizers, mobile phones, bicycle seats and snowboard graphics.

Fisker was originally a designer at BMW’s design headquarters in Germany. He designed the exteriors of the Z07 concept car and the production Z8 roadster, launched in 1999.

Niles NAKAOKA

Niles Nakaoka reveals his passion for motor racing through his dynamic artwork. Self-taught, Niles’ unique style is instantly recognizable by his driver focus amidst a blur of colorful speed and motion.

It was around the time of the US Grand Prix in Phoenix in the late 80s that Niles became an automotive artist, inspired by the work of Hector Bergandi. He prefers Formula One cars because their open wheels impart a feeling of speed. He paints the driver–his favorite part–last of all. “It’s the most challenging, getting him positioned and his head tilted just the right way.”

Ironically, this Hawaiian Islands resident is thousands of miles from any race tracks. He tries to attend at least one major open-wheel race a year, but relies mostly on friends to supply him with photographs for subject matter. A surfer and snow skier, he sees parallels between his two favorite activities and racing cars: “It’s the trail of water that the board leaves, or snow the skis leave behind, that makes me think how a passing race car leaves behind that feeling of heat and smell of fuel.”

Returning home from his day job with Aloha Airlines, Niles works late into the night in his apartment studio. He works in a variety of media, favoring watercolors for their flexibility. “They’re kind of unpredictable, like me, and come out totally different from what I envisioned in the very beginning.”

A member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, Niles is a recipient of their two most prestigious awards: the 2002 Peter Helck Award and the 1996 Athena Award of Excellence, presented at the annual Pebble Beach Show. In 2004 he again received an Award of Excellence and was featured artist at Car Art’s Automotive Art Expo at Coast Gallery Pebble Beach (shown in photo above with Speed Supreme)

Niles’ artwork has been featured in car enthusiast magazines like Road&Track, Racer, Championship Racing, Cavallino, the Russian magazine Autopilot, as well as the cover of Sports Car Market.

Camilo Pardo

Being an artist really complements my car designs. I can’t imagine having one without the other. Both require me to deal with proportions, emotions and creativity, which all lead to perfect execution.” – Camilo Pardo, GT Chief Designer.

Camilo Pardo has drawn and re-drawn the GT40 concept design in his mind for more than 10 years. Even when he was given permission to do an exploratory clay model of a modern GT40 in 1999, he never really expected to create a fully developed concept car.

The call that began the dream assignment of a lifetime came in March 2001, and Pardo was quick to begin work.

As chief designer in Ford Motor Company’s Living Legends Studio, Pardo has led the development and design of the timeless GT40 concept. The re-birth of this legend first materialized in 1999, but it began long before – with Pardo’s obsession with the 1960s-era racing legend.

As an accomplished artist, sculptor, clothing and furniture designer, Pardo’s work has been featured in galleries and shows worldwide. From cafés in Monaco and Italy to the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the stages of the Paris Motor Show, his art is a true reflection of his love for innovation and design. Two of his GT paintings hang in the executive offices of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Another painting of a 1961 Lincoln Continental graces the offices of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group’s London headquarters.

Pardo is a native New Yorker who says he knew at a young age that both art and automotive design were his career path.
To follow the dream, he enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit where he graduated and was granted the Industrial Design Society of America Merit Award in 1985.

Immediately following his graduation, he joined Ford’s design staff in Dearborn, keeping an easy commute to his downtown Detroit art studio and apartment, where he still lives and works on his other artistic endeavors in his spare time.

The attached garage in the studio houses his classic Ferrari 308 GT and topless 1964 Thunderbird, a project car with no convertible top and doors that are welded shut to eliminate all gaps in the sheet metal. To get in, Pardo just hops over the side or climbs out by stepping on the seat.

“If it starts raining, you just hope you don’t catch any red lights on the way back to the garage,” he says. “If you’re going fast enough, the airflow blows the rain right over the car and off the deck. They knew a little about aero back in the ’60s too.”
Before taking on his role as chief designer in the Living Legends studio, Pardo spent much of his time in Ford’s Advance Design studio working on the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Ford electric vehicles. He also has worked in Ford’s design studios of Cologne, Germany, and Turin, Italy.
Upon his return to Dearborn, Pardo took on the role of design manager for Special Vehicle Team projects. The SVT studio shares space in what is now the Living Legends Studio.
Pardo has been with the modern GT40 design every step of the way – as one of the designers on the Ford GT90 concept of 1995, as design manager for the modern GT40 “exploratory” clay and now as chief designer for the GT40. Pardo’s office, which opens directly into the Living Legends Studio, is filled with detailed die-cast models of GT40 racecars. On his desk is a miniature clay model of a seat design. He has a television and VCR in the room. In addition to powering up his computer each day, he turns on the movie “Grand Prix,” watches the opening scenes and listens to the sounds of the race for inspiration – then, it’s back to work.

Camilo Pardo

Being an artist really complements my car designs. I can’t imagine having one without the other. Both require me to deal with proportions, emotions and creativity, which all lead to perfect execution.” – Camilo Pardo, GT Chief Designer.

Camilo Pardo has drawn and re-drawn the GT40 concept design in his mind for more than 10 years. Even when he was given permission to do an exploratory clay model of a modern GT40 in 1999, he never really expected to create a fully developed concept car.

The call that began the dream assignment of a lifetime came in March 2001, and Pardo was quick to begin work.

As chief designer in Ford Motor Company’s Living Legends Studio, Pardo has led the development and design of the timeless GT40 concept. The re-birth of this legend first materialized in 1999, but it began long before – with Pardo’s obsession with the 1960s-era racing legend.

As an accomplished artist, sculptor, clothing and furniture designer, Pardo’s work has been featured in galleries and shows worldwide. From cafés in Monaco and Italy to the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the stages of the Paris Motor Show, his art is a true reflection of his love for innovation and design. Two of his GT paintings hang in the executive offices of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Another painting of a 1961 Lincoln Continental graces the offices of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group’s London headquarters.

Pardo is a native New Yorker who says he knew at a young age that both art and automotive design were his career path.
To follow the dream, he enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit where he graduated and was granted the Industrial Design Society of America Merit Award in 1985.

Immediately following his graduation, he joined Ford’s design staff in Dearborn, keeping an easy commute to his downtown Detroit art studio and apartment, where he still lives and works on his other artistic endeavors in his spare time.

The attached garage in the studio houses his classic Ferrari 308 GT and topless 1964 Thunderbird, a project car with no convertible top and doors that are welded shut to eliminate all gaps in the sheet metal. To get in, Pardo just hops over the side or climbs out by stepping on the seat.

“If it starts raining, you just hope you don’t catch any red lights on the way back to the garage,” he says. “If you’re going fast enough, the airflow blows the rain right over the car and off the deck. They knew a little about aero back in the ’60s too.”
Before taking on his role as chief designer in the Living Legends studio, Pardo spent much of his time in Ford’s Advance Design studio working on the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Ford electric vehicles. He also has worked in Ford’s design studios of Cologne, Germany, and Turin, Italy.
Upon his return to Dearborn, Pardo took on the role of design manager for Special Vehicle Team projects. The SVT studio shares space in what is now the Living Legends Studio.
Pardo has been with the modern GT40 design every step of the way – as one of the designers on the Ford GT90 concept of 1995, as design manager for the modern GT40 “exploratory” clay and now as chief designer for the GT40. Pardo’s office, which opens directly into the Living Legends Studio, is filled with detailed die-cast models of GT40 racecars. On his desk is a miniature clay model of a seat design. He has a television and VCR in the room. In addition to powering up his computer each day, he turns on the movie “Grand Prix,” watches the opening scenes and listens to the sounds of the race for inspiration – then, it’s back to work.

Maurizio CORBI

Maurizio Corbi was born in Sermoneta, Italy, in 1960. Even when young, he showed great drawing skills and an early interest in cars.

At the beginning of the eighties, he started participating in design competitions – getting to the finals and winning some of them (Autosprint, Gente Motori, Rombo). This opened the door to Aviointeriors, an aeronautic firm specializing in interiors and components.

But his real passion was for cars, and by 1987 he had contacted the most important Italian car design firms: Pininfarina, Bertone, Italdesign and Ghia.

Pininfarina offered him an internship, but Nuccio Bertone wanted him as soon as possible in his design studio. Thus, in January 1988, Corbi started his career as a car designer at Bertone.

A year later he moved to Pininfarina, where he contributed to the creation of the Ferrari F50, F355, 550M, as well as the interior of the Ferrari 456.

Parallel to this activity, Maurizio’s passion for classic cars led him to create hyper-realistic artwork, with markers like those used for his profession.

Corbi’s work has been exhibited at Libreria Dell’Automobile di Milano, Italy (Dec. 1994), Curitiba, Brazil (1996), Autostory in Genova and Automotoretro in Turin (1998), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2000) and finally in Mexico City (Sept. 2002).

William MOTTA

William A. Motta has won many awards and prizes over the years, and more than 900 of his paintings hang in private and corporate collections, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Subaru. He has portrayed the cover and poster art for many prestigious Concours d’Elegance around the world, including Pebble Beach in California, Amelia Island in Florida, Meadow Brook Hall in Michigan, Newport Coast in California, and Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy.

Bill retired from Road & Track after more than 40 years as the Art Director and more recently, Art Editor. He continues to contribute artwork and is an independent consultant for the magazine. Motta also spends more time painting and catching up on overdue commissions. He has long been a champion of automotive art and its artists. As a founding member of the of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, he continues to work with artists around the world to elevate the quality of automotive art and further promote its appreciation.

Bill is a native of California and a graduate of the Art Center College of Design. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Margit, and their soft-coated Wheaten Terrier … whose name is Stig-Motta.