EyesOn Design Car Show - Father's Day June 19, 2015

By Steve Purdy
The Auto Channel
Michigan Bureau

If you pay attention you’ll see a story here each year about one of the best car shows anywhere – EyesOn Design at the Eleanor and Edsel Ford estate in Grosse Pointe Shores, MI. It always happens on Father’s Day and this is the 28th one. I think I only missed the first.

It’s one of my favorites because it is known for innovation in terms of the categories of cars they celebrate. This was the first to feature sport-utes like the first Suburban from 1935. They were the first to feature such things as motorcycles, travel trailors, tuner cars, rat rods . . . you name it. They have even featured pedal cars, in addition to the usual classics of the 1930s.

You see, this show celebrates design – not rarity, or precision in restoration or even historical significance, though many are historically significant. Like a Concours d’Elegance it is an invitational show with judging by experts and prizes for the best cars. Vehicles are invited because they represent a particular design theme.

The design theme for the 2015 EyesOn Design show is “House Design,” that is, an exploration of how lead designers defined the look, feel and ambiance of their particular brand. Think about Raymond Lowey and Studebaker; Virgil Exner at Chrysler; William Lyons at Jaguar; Bill Mitchell at General Motors.

The densely grassy lawns surrounding the stone mansion that was the home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford make a perfect venue for the display of close to 300 special cars. We always wear our most water resistant shoes as they leave the grass long and heavy dew is expected.

We had a preview of some of the cars we’ll see Sunday at an earlier-in-the-week press event in the stone-enclosed gatehouse of the mansion.

Representing Vergil Exner’s style at Chrysler Jim Krausmann brought his dramatic 1957 Chrysler 300 with cartoonesque tailfins and gapingly aggressive grille. Exner’s designs were some of the most extreme in an era of extremes.

Marianne Peggie’s classic 1961 Thunderbird Convertible represents George Walker’s era at Ford. This T-Bird was full of innovation inside and out looking like nothing else of its time.

Wayne Cady brought his flashy black Cadillac Eldorado, a car he designed under the leadership of GM’s Bill Mitchell. Cady penned some of Cadillacs best cars in that transitional period.

Dick Ruzzin created the idea for the EyesOn Design show and designed the format in the beginning. This week he brought his one-of-a-kind, exotic DeTomaso Mangusta with Chevrolet V8 made for Chuck Jordon, GM’s design boss. Every other Mangusta had Ford power. This car fits into the “European House Style” class and was penned by Giorgiaro , one of Italy’s most famous and most prolific.

Raymond Lowey was a multitalented designer of many things, not just automobiles. My favorite of his designs was the way-ahead-of-its-time 1953 Studebaker Starliner Coupe. We sometimes forget he came to Studebaker in 1947 and oversaw that company’s designs into the 1960s, but designed under contract before then. His work is represented here by the 1938 Studebaker President owned by Niall Olling.

Perhaps the sexiest car here at the press event, and some think one of the most sensuous car designs of all time, is the Jaguar XK140. This one was a basket case brought back to life by its owner, Christ Panos.

We hope you – and your dad, or you – and your kids, or just you, if you like will be able to spend Father’s Day at the Ford Estate in Grosse Point shores – Jefferson, south of 9-Mile Road – enjoying one of the best car shows anywhere.

Details at: www.eyesondesign.org