William Mitchell was vice president of design at General Motors from December 1958 through July 1977 (Wikipedia, 2025). I have previously raised the question of whether he stayed in his position too long (go here). To give you a more granular sense of what I mean, let’s grade GM’s major new and redesigned cars of the 1970s.
To put some boundaries around this discussion I am confining grades to mass-produced passenger cars rather than trucks or concept cars (and ignoring facelifts and reskinnings). While I have offered my subjective opinion about the aesthetic appeal of Mitchell’s designs, I am more concerned about the longer-term importance of these designs on GM and the U.S. auto industry.
Before proceeding I should emphasize that Mitchell did not have the sole responsibility for any of these designs, both in terms of aesthetics as well as each car’s specifications. Other GM executives such as division managers, product planners and engineers played a role in each car’s development.
Even so, Mitchell clearly had certain design sensibilities, such as an antipathy toward smaller cars. So as you consider the cars discussed below, ponder how someone with more international design experience such as a Chuck Jordan might have approached them if Mitchell had stepped down in 1967 rather than 1977.
1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird
Grade: B
GM’s second-generation pony cars were arguably the most aesthetically appealing Mitchell designs of the 1970s. They had a clean, almost European look that contrasted with the chunkiness of the Ford Motor Company’ pony cars and the rather derivative designs from Chrysler.
The main problem with these cars was their size. As discussed further here, they got too big and heavy — and that became normalized to the point where they stayed pretty much the same size until they were discontinued at the end of 2002.
1971 large personal coupes
Grade: D
The second-generation large personal coupes arguably represented the first major design failure during Mitchell’s tenure. The Buick Riviera’s boat tail was the biggest mistake. The basic shape might have made sense as a 2+2 GT coupe using GM’s pony car platform (go here), but it didn’t work as a large personal coupe.
Meanwhile, the Cadillac Eldorado shifted from being one of the cleanest of the 1960s large personal coupes to becoming one of the most overdone. I grant you that Mitchell may have been put at a disadvantage because he was reportedly forced to switch the Eldorado to GM’s big-car platform, but that didn’t necessitate such a gimmicky design (go here for further discussion).
The Oldsmobile Toronado was the least objectionable of the three, but its previous design DNA was completely thrown away. Perhaps this was done under pressure from the division, but I think that there were artful ways of making the Toronado more conventional without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
1971 large family cars
Grade: C+
GM’s new-for-1971 full-sized cars displayed considerably more styling sophistication than their Big Three competition. They were much cleaner and more inventive than either Ford’s blocky attempt at the brougham look or Chrysler’s ill-proportioned “fuselage” styling.
So on one level these cars illustrated GM’s design superiority in the early 1970s. However, the cars also grew too large even before federally mandated bumpers were required. In addition, the wagon — with its clamshell tailgate — epitomized GM’s bias toward swoopy styling over space efficiency.
1971 Chevrolet Vega
Grade: B
The Chevrolet Vega may have been problematic from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint, but it also displayed GM’s strong design sensibility. It was a nice looking line of cars.
That said, the Vega also displayed the limitations of American design. The car was given a low, sporty look rather than the more space-efficient packaging of a European GM subcompact. As a result, the basic design did not lend itself to a four-door sedan or wagon. GM didn’t seem to think that Americans wanted a small family car. As we discuss further here, some foreign automakers disagreed.
1973 mid-sized family cars and personal coupes
Grade: C
The 1973 redesign of GM’s mid-sized car lineup continued to show GM’s superiority in design sophistication compared to Ford’s and Chrysler’s. However, these cars became meaningfully larger and more baroque in their aesthetics.
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was arguably the most over the top in its styling, but the Pontiac LeMans and Buick Century were also busy and gimmicky. Only the Oldsmobile Cutlass had a more understated design (go here for further discussion).
1975 subcompact sporty coupes
Grade: B
For 1975 GM introduced sporty and luxury coupes based on the subcompact Chevrolet Vega’s platform. The cars — a fastback and a notchback — were admirably clean compared to the Ford Mustang II’s busy and ponderous styling.
Unfortunately, GM’s bean counters partly spoiled the fun by insisting that three divisions receive virtually identical versions of the basic design. The Chevrolet Monza was joined by the Buick Skyhawk and Oldsmobile Starfire.
1976 Cadillac Seville
Grade: B-
The new compact Cadillac was exceptionally clean for a 1970s GM car but was undercut by an overly upright C-pillar. And, unfortunately, that design gimmick would be endlessly copied over the next decade or so.
I also wonder whether the first-generation Seville ended up being too plain. The usual Cadillac gingerbread may not have been appropriate for a car that was attempting to keep people from switching to a Mercedes-Benz, but aside from the greenhouse this car had a remarkably generic look.
1977 large family cars
Grade: B
The downsized big GM lineup were arguably Mitchell’s most successful designs of the 1970s if you consider space efficiency to be an important factor. These were workmanly designs that sold well, but they had a number of weaknesses.
One problem was was too much sheetmetal sharing, which made it harder to give each division a distinctive product. That decision may have been made by the bean counters rather than Mitchell, but it represented an important shift for the automaker that would prove increasingly problematic in the years ahead.
Another weakness was that two-door models no longer had frameless door glass, which undercut the point of such a body style — to look good. Again, this may have been decided by bean counters or engineers (to save weight) rather than Mitchell.
1978 mid-sized family cars and personal coupes
Grade: C
The downsized mid-sized models were not as well received as the big cars. This was partly because of cost cutting such as rear windows in four-door models not rolling down. However, this was also not GM’s finest hour when it came to design aesthetics.
Arguably the biggest mistake was to give the Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cutlass an ill-proportioned fastback body style. To make matters worse, a hatchback option was not available. In addition, GM’s premium brands were deprived of notchback sedans rather than the lower-priced and sportier Chevrolet and Pontiac.
The mid-sized personal coupes were the star of the show sales-wise, and they were okay designs. However, a reskinning in 1981 would prove to be more successful in giving the Pontiac Grand Prix better proportions (go here for further discussion).
Would a younger leader have adapted more quickly?
Of course, we can only wildly speculate with the luxury of hindsight about whether a younger design head would have helped GM better navigate the 1970s. However, I suspect that someone with strong international experience might have more effectively responded to a rising tide of imports.
Given the complexity of GM’s management structure and culture, that might have shown up in only incremental shifts, such as slightly less baroque styling with a greater emphasis on packaging efficiency. However, anything would have helped GM avoid the jarring shifts it made in the late-70s and early-80s.
For example, might GM have started to offer earlier at least a few smaller cars with the more international design flavor of, say, the above-shown 1978 Holden Commodore, which shared a platform with the German Opel Rekord E?
That’s my quick take — what’s yours?
NOTES:
Product specifications and production figures came from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Gunnell (2002) and Langworth and Norbye (1986).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International; Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Langworth, Richard M. and Jan P. Norbye; 1986. The Complete History of General Motors 1908-1986. Publications International, Skokie, IL.
- Wikipedia; 2025. “Bill Mitchell (automobile designer).” Page last modified on Jan. 12.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Cadillac Seville (1986)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick Century (1978); Buick Skyhawk (1975); Cadillac Eldorado (1971); Chevrolet Caprice (1977); Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1973); Chevrolet Vega (1971); Australian Holden Commodore (1978); Oldsmobile (1971); Oldsmobile Starfire (1975); Pontiac Firebird (1971); Pontiac Grand Am (1973)
You left out the 1975 X Bodies and the 1979 E Bodies.
On the whole I would say that the Vega, the H Bodies and the X Bodies were all pretty good American interpretations of transatlantic styling themes so long as one stayed away from vinyl roofs and other broughamy gingerbread. They’re not too far off the themes that Opel was pursuing.
On the other side of things, the ’73 Monte Carlo and ’79 Eldorado are works of art so long as you can accept them on their own terms. They’re terribly tacky to contemporary sensibilities, sure. But the sculpturing and proportions are sublime. Jerry Hirshberg’s ’71 Buick full sizers are also in there.
BTW, I don’t think there was much sheetmetal sharing on the 1977 B Bodies. The Pontiac shared outer door skins with the Chevrolet and the Buick shared outer door skins with the Oldsmobile, but other than that I don’t think anything was shared other than the roofs, and that was Fisher body policy going back to the 1930s.
At the top of the story I stated that I was not going to address facelifts. In that category I would include the various changes made during the 1970s to GM’s rear-wheel-drive compact platform, whose last major redesign was in 1968. That says a lot about how unseriously GM took the compact market.
I suppose that I could have included the 1979 E-bodies, but they came out after Mitchell retired and so could have plausibly been tinkered with by his successor. And if they weren’t? I was too weary to write about the bustlebacked Seville. Sigh.
Only the 1977 big Cadillac had entirely unique sheetmetal. That strikes me as a big change for GM because it meant that the other divisions could no longer give their cars exclusive design cues such as Buick’s sweepspear. Thus began the downward slide toward badge engineering that undercut the whole rationale for fielding five passenger-car brands in the United States.
Styling is ultimately subjective, so if you wish to call the 1973 Monte Carlo a work of art, so be it. I subscribe to Paul Niedermeyer’s (2014) assessment. He said the car’s styling was “downright bizarre, like the victim of a botched breast and hip augmentation.”