Roy Axe
Roy Axe | |
---|---|
Born | Royden Axe September 1937 Rover 800 |
Spouse | Pat |
Children | Son Chris and daughter Jane |
Royden Axe (September 1937
Early life and career
Axe was born in Scunthorpe and attended
Axe began his career in 1959 with the Rootes Group where he progressed first to chief stylist and then to design director. Rootes became part of Chrysler Europe in 1966. Axe led the styling efforts on almost all of the Chrysler/Rootes/Simca products of the early to mid-1970s; the car models involved included the Simca 1308/Chrysler Alpine and Chrysler Horizon which won European Car of the Year in 1976 and 1978, respectively. Following Chrysler Europe's collapse in 1977, Axe moved to Detroit to head Chrysler's styling studios in the United States.
In 1982, Axe returned to the United Kingdom, joining
In 1991, Axe became head of the
Examples of Axe's car designs
- 1967 Sunbeam Rapier and Sunbeam Alpine fastback coupés
- 1970 Hillman Avenger / Plymouth Cricket
- 1975 Chrysler Alpine(Talbot)
- 1976 Hillman Hunter
- 1977 Iran Khodro Paykan facelift
- 1979 Chrysler Horizon (Talbot)
- 1980 Talbot Tagora[4]
- 1985 MG EX-E concept car
- 1986 Rover CCV concept car
- 1986 Rover 800 (developed in conjunction with the Honda Legend)
- 1989 Rover 200/400 (R8)
- 1994 Bentley Java concept car
Axe was also involved in the design of the 1984 Austin Montego. The design had been initiated prior to his joining BL, but he was able to make last-minute changes to it shortly before it entered production. Cosmetic changes – which aimed to improve the by-then dated design – included black trim along the car's waist line. Due to BL's financial problems, the release of the Montego, and the related David Bache-designed Austin Maestro hatchback had been delayed by several years.
Personal life
After selling DRA to Arup in 1999, Axe moved to Florida. He died on 5 October 2010 after battling cancer for two years.[5][6]
Bibliography
- A Life in Style, Autobiography of Roy Axe, ISBN 0-9566845-0-5
References
- Footnotes
- ^ "FreeBMD Entry Info". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "World famous car designer Roy Axe loses his battle against cancer". Scunthorpe Telegraph. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ "Driving progress with computer aided engineering". Arup. Archived from the original on 15 May 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2006.
- ^ Cropley, Steve (5 October 2010). "Royden Axe: 1937-2010". Autocar. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ Steve Cropley (5 October 2010). "Royden Axe: 1937-2010". Autocar. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ^ Adams, Keith (5 October 2010). "Roy Axe : 1937-2010". ARonline live. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- Sources
- McComb, F. Wilson (2 August 2023). MG by McComb. Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-1989-5.