Larry Shinoda

He was born in Los Angeles, California to Issei parents who were both immigrants from Japan. Shinoda's father Kiyoshi arrived in the US when he was 12 and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in electrical engineering. His mother, Hide Watanabe, was born in 1906 and emigrated to the US with her parents when she was less than 1; she graduated from Woodbury College. Both of his parents were members of the Union Church of Los Angeles, where they met and were married. Larry had a sister, Aiko (Grace), who was three years older than him and was also artistically inclined. Kiyoshi died when Larry was 3. He was interned with his sister, mother, and maternal family (an uncle, two aunts and a grandmother) by the U.S. government during WW II under U.S. Executive Order 9066 into the Manzanar "War Relocation Camp" in California. According to his internee data file, he was in grade 7 and spoke English only when he entered Manzanar; he had never attended a Japanese language school. At camp, he snuck past the barbed wire to play and fish. His first recorded functional design was a set of reclining back chairs for his mother and grandmother at the incarceration camp that attracted the admiration of other incarcerees. Shinoda completed his high school education at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles. he had been told (mistakenly) that attendance was optional if he turned in the assignments. ==Career==

As a young man in Los Angeles, he built hot rods and raced them on the streets. the coupe has since been identified and restored. His '29 Ford, named "Chopsticks Special IV", was powered by a flathead V8 with Ardun OHV heads. Shinoda sold the '29 Ford as parts to his partner in the car, Jack Powers, in 1956. For the rest of his twelve total years at GM, Shinoda primarily designed concept cars, including the Mako Shark show car and CERV I. Working with Mitchell and Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, he refined the XP 819 and other concept cars that eventually translated into the original 1963 Corvette Sting Ray design. Shinoda also led design work on the revised 1968 version that borrowed heavily from his Mako Shark concept. He also participated in the 1965 redesign of the Chevrolet Corvair, giving that car its sleek "Coke bottle" shape. Ford In 1968 Henry Ford II hired former GM executive Bunkie Knudsen to be president of Ford. Knudsen recruited Shinoda to come to Ford in hopes of improving the styling and sales of Ford's lineup. Shinoda's first project at Ford was the Boss 302 Mustang high-performance homologation special. Shinoda is credited with taking the original design, then designated SR-2, and removing much of the chrome ornamentation. Freelance After leaving Ford, Shinoda and Knudsen co-founded Rectrans in November 1970, which built recreational vehicles in Brighton, Michigan. The Discoverer was based on the contemporaneous Dodge B-series chassis and sold for three model years (1971–73). White Motor Company acquired Rectrans in 1971 as a condition of naming Knudsen as its chairman; Shinoda followed him again and was named White's design vice president. This car had a fully enclosed wedge-shaped body, with only the front wheels, fitted with lakester-style wheel discs (Moon discs), exposed. Shinoda developed kidney problems starting in 1996, yet continued to be an active designer. ==Designs==

Notable designs by Larry Shinoda: • 1959 Stingray Racer (XP-87, with Pete Brock and Bill Mitchell) • 1960 CERV I • 1962 Corvair Super Spyder (XP-785) • 1962 Monza GT (XP-777) • 1963 Monza SS (XP-797) • 1963 Mako Shark I (XP-755) • 1963–67 Chevrolet Corvette (C2) • 1964 CERV II • 1965 Mako Shark II (XP-830) • 1965 Chaparral 2C • 1967/68 Chevrolet Astro I (XP-842), II (XP-880) • 1968–82 Chevrolet Corvette (C3) • 1969/70 Boss 302 Mustang • 1970 Ford Torino King Cobra • 1990 Rick Mears Special Edition Corvette • 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee (ZJ) • National Corvette Museum logo File:Indy500winningcar1956.JPG|1956 Indianapolis 500 winner (Watson-Offenhauser) campaigned by John Zink File:1959 Corvette XP-87 Stingray.jpg|1959 Stingray Racer (Brock/Shinoda/Mitchell) File:Cerv039.jpg|1960 CERV I concept File:Corvair Monza GT.1.jpg|1962 Monza GT concept File:1961-Chevrolet-Mako-Shark-Corvette-Concept-SA-Top-1280x960.jpg|1963 Mako Shark I concept File:1963 Corvette Sting Ray.jpg|1963 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe File:CERV2.jpg|1964 CERV II concept File:65 Mako Shark.jpg|1965 Mako Shark II concept File:'68 Chevrolet Stingray Corvette Convertible (Orange Julep).jpg|1968 Corvette Sting Ray Convertible File:1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302 (17080289988).jpg|1969 Boss 302 Mustang ==References==