TRANSPORTATION DESIGN

Andrew Jacobson TRAN '65 was a designer for Ford Motor Co, for more than 31 years. He worked in England, Germany and Australia for more than 13 years, taking many trips to places such as Japan and Italy. Jacobson retired from Ford Motors in 1997. He currently lives in Washington in a log home in the forest. He still does design and consulting work with his small firm AKJ Design LLC, in addition to maintaining the forest property, riding motorbikes and driving race cars. He and his wife, with whom he has been married for more than 44 years, have three children and eight grandchildren.

Tim 'Fireball Tim' Lawrence TRAN '89 has started out 2010 with a bang! To celebrate, he's launched Fireball Tim Dragtracks, a really cool diecast race track system. fireballtim.com.

Bob Marcks TRAN '52 has a mention in the February 2010 issue of Collectible Automobile Magazine (currently on newsstands), in an article about Chrysler executives. Marcks is credited with the creation of the Chrysler K-body Executive Sedan and Executive Limousine, precursors to Chrysler's spacious "cab forward" design package of the 90s. As Chryslers special vehicle projects manager, he first proposed the Executive Sedan and the convertible as show cars, and then followed through on their development along with the limousine version. Also mentioned: The MHP design firm that two fellow Art Center graduates, John Hazelquist and Jim Powers, founded with Marcks, and their work for Studebaker in its final days. Check out the issue!

Syd Mead TRAN '59 and Roger Servick boarded Crystal Cruise's Symphony ship on February 28, gearing up to spend a month in Australia. Their first three stops will be in Hawaii, and they'll then set out on an 11-day cruise across the Pacific to Sydney, Australia. Once there, they will screen Syd's documentary film the night after arriving at the Orpheum Theater, followed by a presentation the next night. They will then travel by train to Melbourne for a second presentation, onto Adelaide for a third presentation, and up to Brisbane for a fourth presentation. April will start with two corporate projects already booked.
Syd Mead TRAN '59 work is drawing to a close on the New York eatery designed by Syd Mead as the first two floors of a 54 story hotel on 6th Avenue and 29th street in midtown Manhattan. It is set to open next year.

David Muyres TRAN '88 recently addressed a gathering of designers during the press week at the AutoWeek Design Forum in Detroit, the focus this year was "Design Renaissance" and David Muyres was chosen to open the event with a presentation on the emerging role of designers in the rapidly changing auto industry. David broadened the focus from car design to how Detroit could develop new and profitable business models while still solving people's need for mobility. David strongly believes that Design Thinking is the key to developing fun, exciting and sustainable alternative forms of transportation in the United States. David was there representing OnGoingTransportation, Hunt Green LLC and the NewNorth Center for Design in Business. For more information on David's projects see OnGoingTransportation.com, or HuntGreenLLC.com.

John Sahs TRAN '92 was recently invited to Berlin and Barcelona by Nissan Europe and Nissan of Ibiza, Spain, to be part of the CubeVision activities, where hearticipated in the discussion on "Slow Life", a new art/design movement in Europe, and to help promote the European launch of the third generation Nissan Cube. More about the development of the third Generation Cube and background design stories from the designers: nissanpress.co.uk/. Read about Sahs' discussion on the importance of design and the Nissan Cube: cyanmag.com.
John Sahs TRAN '92 served as exterior team leader and lead designer of the third generation Cube by Nissan. The Cube was selected 2010 Car Design of the Year by Automobile magazine. Read more at Automobile magazine.

Anthony Sims TRAN '09 Super Bowl commercial with the astronauts prominently featured a vehicle designed by an Art Center Transportation Design student. Anthony Sims, who graduated from last term, designed a moon rover for the sponsored project we did with NASA in 2008. His rover got a lot of Web buzz and was noticed by Bridgestone's advertising agency. They hired Sims to design the vehicle for the ad, based on his NASA design.

Murray Tonkin TRAN '69 is also on Facebook. He is eager to announce a new Facebook fan page set up for M. Tonkin Illustration. Check it out at Facebook!

Ezekiel Wheeler TRAN has a new book out which is featured on ezcolewhee.com Congrats Ezekiel!