Breakfast with a champion

I guess I’ve never given much thought to who I would choose
if I could pick one person to have breakfast with, and that’s OK – fate picked
that person for me.

While attending an RM Auctions media event in Monterey, Calif.,
this morning, I sat down with a lovely couple over a bowl of fruit. I
introduced myself and soon learned I was dining with Virgil Exner Jr. and his
wife! Exner’s father is famous for designing many cars, including the “Suddenly
it’s 1960” Chrysler Corp. products, among others. Exner Jr. has said that the
Diablo show car from 1957 was among his father’s favorite dream cars for which
he was responsible, as it was the purest form of his idea of the perfect car of
the time.

Exner Jr. is no slouch. He was a designer for Ford for many
years both in America
and abroad. In Europe, Exner Jr. told me he
was on the advance design team that brushed the first Ford Fiesta there. He was
also part of the team that designed the Pinto and Maverick, among others. I
hope to get a formal interview with Exner Jr. for an upcoming issue of OCW.