Harry Bentley Bradley (May 25, 1939 – May 13, 2023) was an American car designer, best known for his work with

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

and the customizers Alexander brothers. After retiring, he relocated with his wife Joyce to Northern California.

Early life

Initially from

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, Bradley grew up in Waban, Massachusetts. At age fourteen, he contracted polio and became totally paralyzed from the waist down. Harry spent seven months at Boston Children's Hospital learning how to live with his paralysis. He spent most of his free time drawing, benefiting from the time he had previously spent taking classes at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Bradley attended the College of Wooster after which he wrote to

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 ...

asking about job opportunities and they responded by suggesting the industrial design program at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

. While studying, Bradley started his own business as a custom design consultant and contributed to various publications such as Street Rodder, Customs Illustrated and Rod & Custom.

Career

Bradley joined General Motors during his last semester at Pratt and moved to Detroit in July 1962. It was against company policy to publish designs for Hot Rod and Custom magazines while working for GM, so Harry continued to publish his design under the false name Mark Fadner. Soon after joining General Motors, Bradley met the Alexander Brothers and developed a relationship that would result in more than ten Bradley-designed custom cars over the next eight years, including the 1964 Alexa (credited by Alexander Bros. to Designer X) and the 1967 Dodge Deora, initially designed in 1964. At GM Bradley undertook a fellowship study program for a master's degree at Stanford University. After only four years at GM, in 1966 Bradley moved to

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

which allowed him to return to California. He designed a new range of die-cast model cars which were released in 1968 as

. Not expecting the models to be a success, he left Mattel in 1969 to start up his own company and also taught at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. Bradley died on May 13, 2023, at the age of 83.

Designs

* Chevrolet La Jolla (1951), based on the Bel Air, owned and driven by Bradley *

model cars (1968) * Oscar Mayer Wienermobile (1995 version) * Dodge Deora (1967)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Harry Bentley 1939 births 2023 deaths General Motors designers American automobile designers