Tom Tjaarda

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VW Karmann Ghia Type 34
Chevrolet Corvette Rondine
Ferrari 330 GT 2 + 2
De Tomaso Pantera
Ford Fiesta
Lancia Y10
(Chrysler) Imperial
Rayton Fissore Magnum 4x4

Tom Tjaarda (actually Stevens Thompson Tjaarda Van Starkenberg ; born July 23, 1934 in Detroit , Michigan ; † June 1, 2017 in Turin ) was an American designer of Dutch descent who primarily worked in the automotive sector and worked mainly in Italy. Tjaarda was the son of the designer John Tjaarda . Tjaarda's best-known creations include the bodies of the De Tomaso Pantera and the first Ford Fiesta .

Life

Tom Tjaarda was born in Detroit in 1934. His father, John Tjaarda, was a native of the Netherlands and trained as an aircraft engineer in Great Britain after the First World War . In 1923 John Tjaarda emigrated to the USA, where he initially worked primarily in Hollywood as a designer for automobile bodies. In the early 1930s he was under contract with Ford in Detroit. Here, among other things, he designed the Lincoln Zephyr (1939), which is considered a design milestone .

After his parents divorced in 1939, Tjaarda grew up with his mother in Detroit. From 1953 to 1958 he studied architecture and industrial design at the University of Michigan . One of his trainers there introduced him to Luigi Segre , who was the head of Carrozzeria Ghia at the time , in 1956 . This resulted in Tjaarda's entry into automobile design in 1958, which has since been the focus of his work.

Tjaarda had close ties with Italy since 1958. In addition to the Carrozzeria Ghia, there was a longer professional relationship with De Tomaso . Tjaarda lived until recently in Turin , where he ran the Tjaarda Design studio .

Professional background

Mediated by his professor of industrial design at the University of Michigan, Tjaarda got a first job at Carrozzeria Ghia in September 1958. On behalf of Ghias, he temporarily went to the Lower Saxony railway car manufacturer Linke-Hofmann-Busch , for whom he designed an exhibit. At Ghia, Tjaarda was initially only responsible for details, not for the entire vehicle. One of his first works was the rear of the VW Karmann-Ghia Type 34 . A Ghia coupé based on the Innocenti 1100 was created entirely under Tjaarda's responsibility .

Tjaarda worked for Pininfarina from 1961 to 1965 . This is where, among other things, his design for the Corvette Rondine was created , a one-off based on the Chevrolet Corvette , whose lines Giorgetto Giugiaro took as a model for the Iso Grifo . Short positions followed for OSI and Giugiaro's company Ital Styling before Tjaarda returned to Carrozzeria Ghia in 1968. Ghia belonged to Alejandro de Tomaso at the time , and in 1970 Ford took over the Turin studio. Tjaarda stayed with Ghia until 1977; Here he designed almost all series vehicles for De Tomaso, including the Pantera and the Pantera II study . He had previously designed a number of bodies for Ferrari . His wish to dress a Maserati at the same time was not fulfilled; However, Tjaarda's design of the De Tomaso Longchamp was sold in a version slightly revised by Pietro Frua from 1976 as the Maserati Kyalami . The most widespread car with a body designed by Tom Tjaarda was the first series of the Ford Fiesta .

From 1977 to 1981 Tjaarda was head of Fiat's Centro Stile in Turin. In addition to the design of the Lancia Y10 , he was mainly responsible for facelifts of well-known Fiat models, which were externally revised for the takeover by Fiat's South American subsidiaries or partners such as Seat or Zastava . From 1982 Tjaarda worked temporarily for Rayton Fissore . In 1984 he founded his own design studio in Turin, which initially operated as Dimensione Design and was later renamed Tjaarda Design.

plant

Tom Tjaarda designed a total of more than 70 automobiles.

Series vehicles

Prototypes and single pieces (selection)

literature

  • Richard Heseltine: Understated and Misunderstood . Interview with Tom Tjaarda about the Maserati Kyalami in: Classic and Sports Cars, issue 1/2011, p. 90.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Tjaarda's biography on the website www.tom-tjaarda.net (accessed on June 3, 2017).
  2. ↑ Tom Tjaarda's biography on the website www.tom-tjaarda.net (accessed on May 22, 2015).
  3. ↑ a b Overview of Tom Tjaarda's work on the website www.tom-tjaarda.net (accessed on May 22, 2015).
  4. ↑ a b Richard Heseltine: Understated and Misunderstood . Interview with Tom Tjaarda about the Maserati Kyalami in: Classic and Sports Cars, issue 1/2011, p. 90.
personal data
SURNAME Tjaarda, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Van Starkenberg, Stevens Thompson Tjaarda (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American vehicle designer
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 2017
Place of death Turin , Italy