Henry Haga was a graduate of Art Center in Los Angeles where Harley Early interviewed him and hired him at General Motors in 1953. In his early career he moved around various design studios, and in 1963 was put in charge of design of the Chevy II studio working on Corvettes, Camaros, and other sport car production vehicles until 1967 when the studio split, and he was placed in charge of the Chevy III studio. In 1974, he was named director of design at Opel in Germany, working there until 1980. On his return to the United States, Haga was placed as the assistant executive designer in charge of Chevrolet and Pontiac studios. In 1984, GM moved him to California as director of their Advanced Concept Center. Haga begins his oral history talking about his time at Art Center, meeting Earl and his early career at GM. After serving in the military during Korea, he returned to GM working in the Chevrolet studio on Corvettes and advance design, then as part of a team moving from studio to studio helping to solve design problems. He discusses serving as an assistant chief designer in several studios, Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell’s leadership styles, and the general environment at GM. In 1963, he was promoted to head the Chevy II studio, and he discusses the challenges and joys of starting the studio from scratch. He then discusses the Chevy III studio he headed, and his work with Bill Mitchell on Corvette design development and turning out production vehicles from Mitchell’s ideas, particularly the 1968 Corvette and 1970 1/2 Camaro. He goes on to talk about his time in Germany as director of design for Opel and how he enjoyed working in a smaller organization with more autonomy, as well the differences in American and European audiences. He discusses his return to the US to work as assistant executive designer for Chevrolet and Pontiac and his work to give Pontiac a focused image and markets segments. He wraps up his oral history discussing his advance work in California, where they worked on vehicle concepts for the early 2000s and worked with U.S.C Film School and George Lucas on electronics concepts and more.

Collection contains 4 cassettes, 4 WAV files, 4 MP3 files, 1 diskette, 1 bound transcript, and 1 PDF transcript. Uploaded July 25, 2021 and December 5, 2024.

Related items:
Henry Haga Papers, 1951-1988 (PDF of finding aid)
Creator Name: Haga, Henry G. in Digital Collections
Acc. 89.187.0 Henry Haga Automotive Design Collection