Duncan McRae (1919-1984) was an American

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufact ...

who spent the majority of his career designing automobiles. After spending a couple of summers working as a laborer and clay modeler 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 ...

, McRae was hired as a designer at Kaiser-Frazier Corporation in September, 1949 where he was involved with the development of the 1951 Kaiser. He went on to work at Studebaker Packard Corporation beginning in August, 1955, where he became chief stylist. Along with other designers at Studebaker, McRae helped design several models, including the 1958 Packard Hawk and the 1959

Studebaker Lark The Studebaker Lark is a compact car that was produced by Studebaker from 1959 to 1966. From its introduction in early 1959 until 1962, the Lark was a product of the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. In mid-1962, the company dropped "Packard" fr ...

, a small car which sold in sufficient numbers to keep Studebaker afloat for several more years. McRae left Studebaker in 1960 and worked for a year at Curtiss-Wright Corporation. He then operated his own design studio in Muskegon, Michigan, working on various freelance design projects. In 1964 McRae was hired by Ford Motor Company as a designer. He was transferred later that year to Ford of England, where we worked on the design of the Mark II Cortina, the Escort and the original

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...

. In 1967 McRae was transferred to Ford of Germany where he led the design team which developed the Taunus 23M. After spending a year back at Ford's design center in Dearborn, Michigan, McRae was transferred to Ford of Australia in September 1969 where he became chief of design. McRae retired from Ford Motor Company in 1975 and moved to Australia where he operated a cattle farm in

Apollo Bay, Victoria Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town had a population of 1,790 a ...

for several years before returning to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan until his death in 1984.

References

* Automobile Quarterly, Volume XII, No 3 - 1974. {{DEFAULTSORT:McRae, Duncan 1919 births 1984 deaths American industrial designers Ford designers