David Ernest Bache (14 June 1925 – 26 November 1994) was a British
automobile designer. For much of his career he worked with
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
...
.
Early life
Bache was born in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Aston Villa and England footballer
Joe Bache
Joseph William Bache (8 February 1880 – 10 November 1960), was an English footballer who played for Aston Villa.
Joe Bache was a prolific centre forward for Aston Villa between 1900 and 1919. He played for the England national team seven ti ...
who was coaching in Mannheim following his retirement. Towards the end of World War II David joined the
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limi ...
as an engineering apprentice. When he had finished his apprenticeship he moved to Austin's design office.
[Obituary, David Bache. ''The Times'', Monday, 26 December 1994; p. 15; Issue 65147]
Career
Austin
In the Austin design office Bache worked under
Dick Burzi, recruited from
Lancia
Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...
by Austin in 1929.
One of his first jobs was to design the dashboard of the
Austin A30
The Austin A30 is a small family car produced by Austin from May 1952 to September 1956. It was launched at the 1951 Earls Court Motor Show as the "''New'' Austin Seven" and was Austin's competitor with the Morris Minor.
At launch, the car co ...
.
Rover
In 1954 Bache moved to
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
...
in
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...
, becoming Rover's first ever stylist; the term 'stylist' was used at the time to differentiate the role from that of design engineer. His first task was to update the
Rover 60, 75 and 90 models. He raised the boot height and enlarged the rear window. A year later he modified the frontal treatment, strengthening the detail and the new David Bache styled cars lasted ten more years with a very minor alteration to the grille inset.
He was also responsible for giving the
Land Rover Series II
The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as ''series'' Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models) are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though ...
a more domesticated appearance than its more agricultural predecessor. The revised shape, completed in just six weeks lived on, little changed, until
Land Rover Defender
The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They c ...
production ceased in early 2017.
Rover 3-litre
The shape of cars was changing dramatically during the 1950s as soft rounded curves gave way to straight lines and sharp corners. Improvements in construction enabled engineers to dispense with a separate chassis, allowing passengers to sit lower in the vehicle. The development of curved glass also gave stylists new opportunities. A visit to the 1955
Paris Auto Show
The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
would have a profound effect on Bache's style vocabulary. He was very taken with the revolutionary new Citroen DS, as well as the imposing
Facel Vega
Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components, later complete automobiles of their own design.
To intensify its World War II war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia created a s ...
. Other influences were the Italian coach-builder
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Turin ...
's designs for Chrysler, and work of
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930.
On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...
, who had been commissioned to produce a
coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
and
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...
on the
Rover P4
The Rover P4 series is a group of mid-size luxury saloon cars produced by the Rover Company from 1949 until 1964. They were designed by Gordon Bashford.
Their P4 designation is factory terminology for this group of cars and was not in day-to ...
chassis prior to Bache's arrival.
Bache created the shape for the
P5, then expected to be a smaller, higher volume model of a similar size to the current Ford Zephyr. Bache's first attempts were distinctly modern and anticipated generous use of chrome fittings. It did not please Rover Managing Director
Maurice Wilks
Maurice Fernand Cary Wilks (19 August 19048 September 1963) was a British automotive and aeronautical engineer, and by the time of his death in 1963, was the chairman of the Rover Company, a British car manufacturer. He was the founder of the ...
who, before Bache's arrival had closely overseen all styling. "It's a head turner", Wilks explained, "The Rover Company don't make head-turners. We like to make vehicles which pass unobtrusively and are not noticed." Bache went back to the drawing board and came up with something more like an evolution of the P4. But after a full-size mock-up for the P5 was completed, Wilks changed direction. The success of the Land Rover, originally intended as a stop-gap model to help Rover's exports after the war, meant all available space in the
Solihull factory was being taken up with meeting this demand. There simply was no room for a new high-volume model. The decision was taken in 1956 to make the P5 a larger lower-volume car. Bache's started again, and produced an imposing unfussy design. The straight line running from the top of the front wing to the rear and slab sides are reminiscent of the Facel Vega, as was the wrap-around front windscreen. It is a tribute to Bache's vision that while the P4 went through at least three facelifts, the shape of the P5 remained unchanged for fifteen years.
Rover 2000
With his 1963
Rover P6
The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK.
The P6 was the first winner ...
, Bache broke new ground not only with its external styling, but with its imaginative interior styling too, including an "open plan" dashboard and individual rear bucket seats.
[
Bache's design for a big Rover saloon to compete with Jaguar's XJ6 was cancelled at the last moment. A mid-engined coupé prototype was also cancelled.][
]
British Leyland
A period of unrest in the British car industry began and Rover was absorbed, first into the Leyland Motor Corporation
Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1 ...
and then into British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
(BL). This upheaval resulted in the cancellation of the big Rover and the coupé projects that Bache was involved with.[
]
Range Rover
Bache had a hand in the styling of the Range Rover
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
that was launched in 1970, although the basic lines had already been defined by Spen King
Charles Spencer "Spen" King (26 March 1925 – 26 June 2010) was a significant figure in the Rover Company and, after their takeover, in the British Leyland Motor Corporation.After leaving school in 1942, he was first apprenticed to Rolls-Royc ...
and Gordon Bashford.[ David Bache smoothed the prototype's functional lines and must share in the credit for the car's award-winning design.][
]
Rover SD1
Bache's final Rover was the 1976 SD1 - the replacement for his P6. It was notable for its ground-breaking five-door hatchback design on a large executive car and its bold interior, winning the 1977 European Car of the Year
The European Car of the Year ("ECOTY") award is an international Car of the Year award established in 1964, by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organising companies of the award are ''Auto'' (Ita ...
award.[ Its success was hampered by BL's notorious production and reliability problems.][
]
Metro and Maestro
As chief stylist at BL, Bache was also involved in the design of the 1981 Austin Metro
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the ...
and the Austin Maestro
The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, and from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Morris Marina and Austin Alleg ...
.
After being forced to resign from his post by newly installed BL chief Harold Musgrove
Harold John Musgrove (born Birmingham, 1930) was the chairman of British Leyland's Austin Rover division between 1982–1986 and worked in several roles for the British National Health Service from 1991–2001.
British Leyland
Harold Musgrove ha ...
in 1982 following disagreements over the yet-to-be-launched Austin Maestro
The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, and from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Morris Marina and Austin Alleg ...
, and his replacement by Roy Axe
Royden Axe (September 1937 – 5 October 2010) was a British car designer.
Early life and career
Axe was born in Scunthorpe and attended Scunthorpe Grammar School (now St Lawrence Academy).
Axe began his career in 1959 with the Rootes Group ...
, he set up his own design company,[ David Bache Associates which worked outside the motor industry as much as inside it.][
]
Death
On 26 November 1994 Bache died from cancer. He was married, with two sons and one daughter.
Some of his cars
* Rover P5
*Land Rover Series II
The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as ''series'' Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models) are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though ...
*Rover P6
The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK.
The P6 was the first winner ...
*1964 Rover-BRM
The Rover-BRM was a prototype gas turbine-powered racing car, jointly developed in the early 1960s by the British companies Rover and British Racing Motors (BRM). The car is part of the collection at the British Motor Museum.
Rover had already ...
gas turbine car (with William Towns
William Towns (1936–1993) also known as Bill Towns was a British car designer.
Design career
Towns began his training as a designer at Rootes in 1954, where he was mainly involved in the styling of seats and door handles. Later he was also i ...
)
*Range Rover
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
*Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produc ...
* Austin Mini Metro
*Austin Maestro
The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, and from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Morris Marina and Austin Alleg ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, David
British automobile designers
Rover Company
1925 births
1994 deaths
Businesspeople from Mannheim