George W. Walker (May 22, 1896 – Deceased) Was an American

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and automotive designer. His most notable work was the original

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

Early life

Walker was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. His father worked for the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

and the family moved several times, settling in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, when Walker was in his teens. He played

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and held down odd jobs, but his interest in art led to art school in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Career

He began his professional career as an illustrator for department store advertising, initially as a student in Los Angeles and then as an independent in Cleveland. He broke into the auto business doing illustration work for the failing

Peerless Peerless may refer to: Companies and organizations * Peerless Motor Company, an American automobile manufacturer. * Peerless Brewing Company, in Birkenhead, UK * Peerless Group, an insurance and financial services company in India * Peerless R ...

automobile company in the late 1920s. He went on to a brief stint working for

Harley Earl Harley Jarvis Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was an American automotive designer and business executive. He was the initial designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president, the first top executive ever ...

and

John Tjaarda Johan "Jan" Tjaarda (1897–1962), later known as John Tjaarda van Sterkenburg, was a Dutch product and automotive designer and stylist in the United States. Tjaarda was born in 1897 in Arnhem, as the son of Henriette Elisabeth Thieme and the ph ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, then to

Graham-Paige Graham-Paige was an American automobile manufacturer founded by brothers Joseph B. Graham (1882-1970), Robert C. Graham (1885-1967), and Ray A. Graham (1887-1932) in 1927. Automobile production ceased in 1940, and its automotive assets were acq ...

. In 1929 the

stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especia ...

spelled the end for many companies, including Graham-Paige, and Walker went looking for work. He found it with a hardware supplier, Dura. This company supplied several automakers with parts. This job led to contact with

József Galamb József Galamb ( en, Joseph A. Galamb; 3 February 1881 – 4 December 1955) was a Hungarian mechanical engineer, most known for designing the Ford Model T. Born in the town of Makó in 1881, Galamb finished his education at the Budapest Indu ...

, the primary designer for

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

. Walker's firm did substantial design work for Ford parts, then in the late 1940s began styling work for some Ford cars. In the early 1950s he joined Ford at the behest of Ford executive

Ernie Breech Ernest Robert Breech (1897–1978) was an American corporate executive. Although he is best remembered for his work in revitalizing Ford Motor Company in the years following World War II, he served similar roles at Trans World Airlines and other co ...

, bringing colleagues

Elwood Engel Elwood Paul Engel (February 10, 1917 – June 24, 1986) was Chrysler Corporation's design chief from 1961 until 1974. Early days Engel first joined General Motors as a student under Harley Earl's watchful eye at GM's school of design. In 193 ...

and

Joe Oros Joseph E. Oros Jr. ( ro, Oroș; June 15, 1916 in Cleveland, Ohio – August 2, 2012) was an automobile stylist for Ford Motor Company over a period of 21 years — known as the Chief Designer of the team at Ford that styled the original Mu ...

(later a primary designer on the

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

). Walker became corporate vice-president of

for design in 1955. He stepped down from all his positions at Ford in 1961 after reaching the company's mandatory retirement age of 65. Walker appeared on the November 4, 1957, cover of ''Time''. On October 15, 1959, he appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show '' To Tell the Truth''. Walker's career also included industrial design for clocks, bread boxes,

chemistry set A chemistry set is an educational toy allowing the user (typically a teenager) to perform simple chemistry experiments. History Forerunners The forerunners of the chemistry set were 17th century books on "natural magick", "which all excel ...

s, bicycles, and roller skates, among other products.

Personal life

He moved to

Gulf Stream, Florida Gulf Stream is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 786 at the 2010 census. Gulf Stream ranked as the eleventh highest-income place in the United States. As of 2018, the population recorded by the U.S. Census ...

, where he became mayor in 1976. He died on January 19, 1993, in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, at the age of 96.

References

External links

George Walker oral history interview

TBird retrospective {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, George W. 1896 births 1993 deaths Ford designers Ford executives American industrial designers Artists from Chicago Artists from Cleveland Artists from Tucson, Arizona People from Gulf Stream, Florida Mayors of places in Florida