Bill Mitchell

Biography

William Leroy Mitchell was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 2 July 1912, the son of a Buick dealer. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and at the Art Students' League in New York. After a spell at Barron Collier Advertising he became official illustrator of the Automobile Racing Club of America. Harley Earl hired him into General Motors' Art and Colour Section on 15 December 1935.

In 1936 Mitchell was named chief designer of GM's new Cadillac studio, and the 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special and the 1949 Coupe de Ville came out of his years there. He became GM's director of styling on 1 May 1954. In December 1958, aged 46, he succeeded Earl as vice president in charge of the Styling Section.

Over 19 years as design chief he oversaw the 1963 Buick Riviera, the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and the Stingray racer, the Corvette Shark show car, the second-generation Corvair of 1965, the 1970 Camaro, the 1976 Cadillac Seville and the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice. His last GM design was the 1977 Pontiac Phantom concept. He stepped down in July 1977 after 42 years with the company, and Irv Rybicki took over on 1 August. Until 1984 he ran a consultancy, William L. Mitchell Design. Mitchell died of heart failure in Royal Oak, Michigan, on 12 September 1988. The National Corvette Museum added him to its Corvette Hall of Fame in 1998.