Virgil Exner Jr. grew up designing and modeling cars with his father and his designer friends. In 1946, Exner Jr. won first place in the junior division of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild design contest. He got his degree at Notre Dame and started the first transportation design courses at the university during graduate school. He worked at Studebaker in the Packard design studio from 1957-1958, when he joined the Air Force. During his time in the military, he served in Korea and designed for Ghia, and after returning from the service, ran a design business with his father from 1962-1967. In 1968, he joined Ford Motor Company in the design department for the remainer of his career, retiring in 1988. Virgil Exner Sr (1909-1973) began his career at Advertising Artists working on transportation ads and brochures. In 1934, he began working at GM in the Pontiac studio and was soon promoted to head of the studio. He was recruited by Raymond Lowey in 1938 and was put on the Studebaker account, soon moving to South Bend and setting up their in-house design studio. Exner headed the design studio and played a key role in pre-war and post-war vehicles. In 1949, he moved to Chrysler as director of advanced styling and eventually becoming executive vice-president and director of styling. During his time at Chrysler, he designed a number of show cars and was largely responsible for bringing in the “Forward Look.” In 1962, he started a design firm with his son but continued as a consultant for Chrysler. The majority of Exner’s oral history focuses on his memories of his father, Virgil Exner Sr. and his career. He describes his father’s methods, approaches, and design style through stories about various designs his father worked on. He speaks from a unique insider’s perspective, relating not only his father’s career, but also his personal friendships and at-home designs with fellow designers at Studebaker. He discusses some of the major vehicles Exner Sr. worked on, particularly the post-war Studebaker and the “Forward Look” Chryslers. Exner Jr. also speaks about his own design career, but mainly his early career including his time at Notre Dame and doing contract work with Ghia, he only briefly mentions his design firm with his father and his time at the Ford design department.

Collection contains 4 WAV files, 8 MP3 files, 1 diskette, 1 loose transcript, 1 bound transcript, 1 Word transcript, and 1 PDF transcript. Uploaded July 23, 2021 and December 4, 2024.