Ed Welburn started working at General Motors as a designer in 1972 when he was 21 years old. By 2003, he had risen through the ranks to become vice president of global design. With that, he became the highest-positioned African American in the automotive industry. He retired last year, leaving behind a legacy that includes the 2010 fifth-generation Camaro, the C7 Corvette, and every current Buick, Cadillac, and GMC.
Welburn now operates The Welburn Group from an office that allows him to park his silver 1957 Corvette next to his desk.
HRM] Was there a car you particularly admired as you were growing up?
EW] I’ll never forget the first Corvette I ever saw. It was 1956 and I was five years old, the best I can recollect. I would suspect it was a ’55. I was walking down a tree-lined road in my hometown and up ahead I saw this sports car—it was metallic blue, it had this wire mesh over the headlamps, and these little fins off the taillamps. When the split-window Sting Ray came out, it totally blew my mind. I looked like a rocket ship.
HRM] What town did you grow up in?
EW] I grew up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania—a suburb of Philadelphia. At one end of town was Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins’ shop, and Hank’s Speed Shop was at the other end of town. And then Penske’s original wasn’t far away in Newtown Square. So it was all around me. I was into hot rods, NASCAR, sports cars, and everything car related.
HRM] Did you ever get to go to Grumpy’s shop or any of those places?
EW] I was always afraid of them as a kid. I’d ride my bike over there, and I’d kind of park at the end of the property and those days the shop wasn’t very large. And cars like “Old Reliable” or “Grumpy’s Toy” would be parked outside. Just parked outside, like regular, old cars. These legendary drag cars just parked there.
HRM] You were always into cars and racing?
EW] My father used to take me, before I was old enough to drive, up to Cecil County Dragway in Maryland. At Vineland Speedway, I saw Old Reliable race against one of the Ford teams. The Super Stock Nationals were at Cecil County, and York Dragway wasn’t far away. And when I was in high school, I spent my summers working in a Chevy dealership at the real high point of muscle cars—1968 or 1969. Roth Chevrolet in Paoli.
HRM] How do you see the cars from the 1960s?
EW] It’s interesting. In the early 1960s, the cars from GM were very boxy. And the 1963 Sting Ray and the 1963 Buick Riviera had a huge influence on everything. By 1965, the entire portfolio of Chevrolets was influenced by the Stingray. If you look at the forms on the 1965 Impala—a car that I love—and you’ll see that this all came from Sting Ray. All of them—the Corvair Monza, and even the Nova—were inspired by the Sting Ray. And then the whole Buick portfolio was inspired by the Riviera. So the GM cars were getting more fluid and the Ford cars, while sleek, were more angular.
HRM] You’re a hardcore GM guy. But was there ever a Ford you thought looked great?
EW] The original Ford GT, I loved that car. And there have been some Mustangs along the way. When I was a kid, a friend of mine had a 1965 Falcon, and that car was so cool.
HRM] Were there cars that everyone else thought were cool, but you just didn’t like?
EW] When I was a kid, I never cared for cars from Chrysler. I admit the Hemi engine was a big deal. And the Hemi drag cars were great cars. You wouldn’t want to drive them on the street, but as a drag car, I had to admit, they were king.
HRM] You used to build model cars when you were a kid. Was that good training for your career?
EW] It was. Because I never just built them by the instructions as a stock model. I had to modify them in some way. I had to make them look like the drag cars in the magazines, and I was reading the magazines all the time. I was building them as hot rods or drag cars. I really wasn’t into custom cars that much.
HRM] Can a car’s design be too successful? Some say, for instance, that the current sixth-generation Camaro looks too much like the successful fifth-generation Camaro.
EW] It’s certainly never hurt Porsche. It’s a very crowded industry, and you have to put your stake in the ground and stick with it. It’s a fine line between building on the heritage of the brand and being dated. The most recent Corvette still builds on the 1959 Sting Ray racer. But yet I’d argue it’s a thoroughly new design and that most of the customers don’t even know about the 1959 Sting Ray racer, and they just see the new Corvette and they like it.
HRM] When you guys were designing the fifth-generation Camaro, Pontiac was still around. Did you ever look at the car and think, “This would make a good Firebird, too”?
EW] We never really talked about it. At least, I was never part of any conversation where Pontiac was talked about at all. We were just so focused on doing this Camaro. And most of the time we were doing it in secret. So there weren’t a lot of people to distract us or cloud what we were doing.
HRM] At GM, did you guys bring in old cars to the studio for inspiration?
EW] We talked about them. With Corvette, we talked about it and kept the history of the brand visible. All the studios do. The Buick studio to be inspired by a 1953 Skylark or a 1965 Riviera is important. There are certainly great Cadillacs that the Cadillac studio looks at. It’s part of your heritage and important to keep in front of you.
HRM] Do you have a favorite Cadillac of all time?
EW] Yeah, the 1949 Cadillac Sedanette. I could give you a list of 10 Cadillacs that are my favorite, but I’ll go with that one.
HRM] Certain cars are paradigm-breakers—like the 1967 Eldorado that broke almost every design theme Cadillac had, but was still completely a Cadillac.
EW] That Eldorado was so special I feel like I should stand just to talk about it. It took everything anyone ever wanted in a Cadillac and just accentuated it. And executed it in a wonderful way. It’s like a designer’s sketch. If I were designing a pure Cadillac, that would be it.
HRM] Did you get to work with Bill Mitchell? He was in charge of GM Design from 1958 to 1977, so he was still there when you were hired.
EW] I did, for the last five years of his career. His personality was much bigger than life. Very creative. There were people who didn’t understand him. Who thought he was out of bounds. But he inspired me and other designers to take risks and do some cool things. And I look at the cars from his period and don’t think he gets enough credit.
HRM] Is there someone you believe is underrated?
EW] One person who gets criticized is Irv Rybicki. He was VP of design after Mitchell and led design through a very difficult period. He was somehow involved in every Camaro and development of the split-window Corvette. A great designer, but who was criticized for his role as VP of design during a very difficult period.
HRM] Is that because Rybicki was stuck at a time when all the bumper regulations and such were coming along?
EW] Well, yes. And there were a lot issues with how the corporation was structured at the time, which made it difficult for him.
HRM] Is it more difficult to design a small car or a large car?
EW] A small car is more difficult. With a large car, you have a lot more leeway in creating a well-proportioned vehicle. A small can be very difficult. It can be fun once you get started. But people don’t get any smaller, so the cabin where the people are can’t proportionally shrink. But at the end of the day, when you get it right, it can be great.
HRM] Speaking hypothetically—and only hypothetically—could a mid-engine Corvette still sustain that necessary “Corvette-ness”?
EW] When you look at what makes a Corvette a Corvette, I could even envision a fuel-cell Corvette in the way, way future. The key is, a Corvette has to be a very approachable vehicle. Within reach of a lot of people, but very sporty, and it cannot get overbearing in any way. The fundamentals of a Corvette don’t say it has to be one configuration or another.
HRM] Could you imagine a “Corvette Division” of GM? With a four-door Corvette or a Corvette SUV?
EW] I could see expanding the role of Corvette. But the most important thing is that Corvette is a halo for the Chevrolet brand. And just as the 1963 Corvette influenced everything that Chevrolet built by 1965, today’s Corvette has had an incredible influence on the whole Chevrolet brand. The surface development, the taillamp designs—you look all through the Chevrolet line, and it’s there. I don’t think separating Corvette from Chevrolet would help Corvette or Chevrolet or the corporation.
HRM] Which is best: ’55, ’56, or ’57 Chevy?
EW] Oh, the ’55 by far. I love it. Perfection. I have a diecast model of one, and it’s a single-tone red. And everything is perfect. I love the coupe and the Nomad. I prefer the pillarless to the pillar. But I like them both.
HRM] Is there any non-GM vehicle that you’d like to own?
EW] I very much admire Aston Martin. I really like what they do. I’m not as crazy about the latest one. I’d like to own a luxury coupe that’s easy to get in and out of. I love my Corvettes, but a more luxurious coupe would be nice.
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