A FABULOUS AUTO DESIGN SHOW ON THE SHORES OF LAKE ST CLAIR
WINNING VEHICLES SET HIGH STANDARDS FOR “EYES” SHOWS TO COME

Detroit, Mich. (June 28, 2005) – The EyesOn Design car show on Sunday at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe may have set impossible standards for shows to come. The skies were blue, the rains stayed away, there was a gentle breeze off the lake, and the luxurious lawns, trees, and shrubs were never as emerald green. Perhaps it is the most elegant setting for a car show in the United States – some say, perhaps, anywhere on earth. Following a spectacularly catered lunch within the Private Eyes Hospitality Pavilion on the Lake side of the House, the attendees circled around to the strolling awards ceremony hosted by WDIV Channel 4’s Guy Gordon and local design guru Steve Pasteiner, General Motors.

After 18 years the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology has established a “favored event” status with the Automotive Design Community around the world. The Judging Process at the 2005 EyesOn Design show, is led by our Chief Judge, Jeffrey I Godshall, Sr. Design Manager, DaimlerChrysler; and Richard Svensen, Assistant Chief Judge at EyesOn Design and Designer from Intier. TheInstitute’s designer data base made it easy to put together a blue ribbon panel of designers which included Chuck Jordan, Vice President of Design at General Motors, retired and our Lifetime Design Achievement Award recipient for 2005; Jack Telnack, Vice President of Design from Ford Motor; retired; John Herlitz, Vice President of Design, DaimlerChrysler, retired; Wayne Cherry, Vice President of Design, General Motors, retired; Ben Delphia, Intier Design, retired; Bill Shannon, Designer, Ford Motor, retired; Larry Smith, Autometric; Buck Mook, Designer, Ford Motor, retired; Tom Hale, Automotive Artist; Bill Porter, Designer, General Motors, retired; John Manoogian, Design Director, Premium/Performance, General Motors; Oliver Evans, President, Kendall College; Bob Boniface, Director, Advanced Design, General Motors; Pat Murray, Vice President Tech & Design Director, Lear Corporation; Carl Cameron, Designer, DaimlerChrysler, retired; Bill Dayton, Designer DaimlerChrysler, retired; Wayne Kady, Designer, General Motors, retired; Mark Trostle, President & COO Creative Services, ASC Inc; Dennis Myles, Senior Manager, Trucks, DaimlerChrysler; Dutch Mandel, Associate Publisher, AutoWeek; Stewart Reed, Chair, Transportation Design, Art Center College of Design; Ed Golden, Designer, Ford Motor Co; Aaron Pizzuti, Designer, DaimlerChrysler; Tom Peters, Designer, General Motors; Kevin Hunter, Vice President Design, Calty Design Research/Toyota of California; Camillo Pardo, Designer, Ford Motor.

To further guarantee the validity of the judging process, members of the international auditing firm KPMG, observed the instructions to the Judges by DaimlerChrysler Senior Designer Jeff Godshall, and accompanied the judges to the Ford House Meadow for the actual judging. They were present as the final winning vehicles were selected. Fine design judged by fine designers.

Among the winning vehicles, the full list of which is attached and may be seen at www.EyesOn.Org, the DIO’s website, were some absolutely spectacular vehicles. Beginning with the Best In Show award which went to David Litchfield’s 1921 Daniels Roadster. Brought to the Grosse Pointe show from Montello Wisconsin, the Daniels was a surprise winner since it represents an era in the history of the American automobile preceding the first design studio in the Auto Industry (begun by Harley Earl, Vice President of the newly formed styling studio at General Motors in 1937.) The designers themselves felt that the Daniels, designed as were all cars in 1921 by the engineers who built them, had such beautiful lines, such elegant structural integrity and encompassed, perhaps by accident or intuition alone, such sculptural harmony, that they felt it was the most magnificently designed vehicle on the grounds and well deserved its Best in Show award --- whether it was done by engineers or by an embryonic designer.

Augie Cornacchia, a perennial exhibitor at Eyes events, and one of the most discerning collectors of fine automotive design, showed a Buick 1967 Riviera selected as an Automotive Design of Exceptional Merit by Kevin Hunter, VP, Calty Design Research, Inc (Toyota) of California.

As always, the Eyes show is enlivened by the Stock to Rock Category, and this year was certainly no exception. John Babcock of Palatine, Illinois brought his magnificently reworked 1940 Mercury Convertible. The stretched, lowered, softened and swooping curves of this tangerine entry “Rocked”. Those who missed seeing this amazing vehicle might watch for it in shows to come. It is worth a “special trip”. John Herlitz of the DaimlerChrysler Design staff, now retired, felt it really warranted the Automotive Design of Exceptional Merit award.

It may not be very frequent that the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House flies flags of England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States on the same field. But automotive design is an art form that knows no national boundaries. The theme this year for EyesOn Design was International Vehicle Design.

The DIO was pleased to have major sponsorship support from AutoWeek, Big Boy, Bridgestone/Firestone, Cars.Com/Detroit Newspapers, DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, DuPont, General Motors, GST AutoLeather, HOUR Media, Intier, KPMG, Lear, Michelin, Milliken & Company, Red Bull, Stola, Toyota/Calty Design Research, Visteon, and WWJ 950 NewsRadio. No show of this level can come to pass without such support and Philip Hessburg MD, the DIO’s President, said he deeply appreciated that support.

The DIO Board of Directors announced that the Site for the 2006 show will be the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House. It will return to a Father’s Day date of June 18th. The theme, chosen by a ballot of the DIO’s automotive designer panel, will be The Art of Design.

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