Raymond Loewy was born in Paris in 1893 and moved to the United States, becoming a naturalised citizen in 1938. He was called “The Father of Streamlining” and appeared on the cover of Time in 1949. His designs ranged from the Shell, Exxon and TWA logos and the Lucky Strike pack to Coca-Cola vending machines, the Pennsylvania Railroad S1 and T1 locomotives, Air Force One’s livery and the Studebaker Champion and Avanti.
His link to British cars was through the Rootes Group, for which he was a design consultant. The evidence of his influence is easiest to see in the 1956 Audax range, which included the Hillman Minx: the Audax body was designed by the Rootes Group, helped by the Loewy design organisation, which had also been involved in the design of Studebaker coupés in 1953. The Minx went through a series of annual facelifts until 1967.
The Sunbeam Alpine of 1959 was largely the work of Kenneth Howes, who had been on the Studebaker team at Loewy’s studios before Rootes. Harris Mann, later chief stylist at British Leyland, also worked briefly for the Loewy Consultancy in the United States.
