February 21, 1945 to
August 24, 2010 Few people have been
able to successfully navigate the strenuous demands of
America's highly competitive automobile industry while still
producing artistic, visionary and imaginative automotive
designs. The gregarious Herb Grasse was such a man. His
automotive and transportation design career began in 1968
following his graduation from the world-renowned Art Center
College of Design in California. Over the next 40 years,
Herb mastered not only the creative aspects of automobile
design, but the nuts-and-bolts business acumen necessary to
make his designs a reality. Herb lent his talents
to the giants of the industry including Chrysler where he
worked on the original Dodge Challenger and Ford Motor
Company where he worked on the XD Ford Falcon, the original
Ford Laser and the Ford Telstar. Each success was rewarded
with more demanding assignments including a twelve-year
overseas stint as principal designer of exteriors for Ford
Motor Company Asia-Pacific and as chief designer for Nissan
Australia. In addition to his
commercial automotive design career, Herb applied his
creativity to the more fanciful design of custom and show
cars including work on the "Batmobile" for George Barris,
the Spice Girls Cadillac and the Waltzing Matilda Jet Truck
(which held the land speed record for trucks in Australia).
Herb also worked closely on dozens of other projects for the
United States military, various movie studios and
concept-car entrepreneurs. Herb's pinnacle
achievement, however, was the design of the Bricklin SV1
automobile in the mid-1970's. Working closely with Malcolm
Bricklin as his director of design, Herb breathed life into
the concept, design and manufacture of this dynamic,
forward-looking sports car. From creating rough sketches, to
clay models, to business considerations, to the production
line, Herb was involved in every aspect of making this dream
car a reality. His singular efforts were recognized by his
being named the Industrial Designer of the Year in Product
Design by Industrial Design magazine and recognition by his
alma mater, the Society of Art Center Alumni with their
"Orange Door" award for Best Transportation
Design. When Herb retired
from the commercial automotive industry in 1990, he started
his consulting firm, Herb Grasse Designs, where he was
involved in many other automotive design projects. Also,
capitalizing on his years of design work and modeling of
concept cars, he fabricated highly detailed architectural
scale models for up-scale homes and businesses for
architects in Arizona and across the country. And, as a
purely creative outlet, Herb produced dozens of beautiful
fine art paintings. Herb approached his
business like he did his life…a solid mixture of
sometimes flamboyant fun, creativity and passion, yet always
tempered with a clear-headed dose of reality. It was
Pancreatic Cancer that finally claimed his life at
65.
Copyright 2010