An English car designer abroad

By Peter Birtwhistle
ISBN: 978 1 787114 70 8
£37.50
Veloce Publishing – www.veloce.co.uk

Known to his pals as ‘Bertie’, the bespectacled, former Barton-on-Humber resident, who became one of the world’s leading car designers and is now an official autobiographer, has a tremendous story to tell about his life during an exciting time for the motor industry. Peter Birtwhistle studied Design, both at Berkshire College of Art and the RCA, London, from where he graduated in 1973. As illustrated in the seminal four-car stack on the cover of this hardback book, Vauxhall was his first employer, where he worked under the watchful eye of American Wayne Cherry, who gave Vauxhall much of its design lead of that period. Peter was allowed to work on the HS/HSR versions of the Vauxhall Chevette that became the company’s rally weapons of choice. During the late-1970s, he worked for Audi, at a time when the Quattro model was about to reach stellar peaks. While perfecting his art on the 80 and 100 models, it was the short wheelbase Audi Quattro Sport, an homologation ‘special’, that would underscore his talent. In 1983, he pitched up at Porsche and worked on the company’s 959 racing car, only to be asked by Mazda Cars to establish its European Design Centre, in Frankfurt, in 1988, from where he retired in 2014. Of course, the beauty of autobiographies is that they draw attention to an individual’s career trajectory but can be, as this one is, peppered with amusing anecdotes and tales from behind the very secretive, closed doors of motor industry design departments. Bumping into Bertie was always a joy at motor shows and (latterly) Mazda gatherings. He possesses a naughty sense of humour but is an artist to the core, who continues to work by educating the next designer generation. Written across 256pp, with almost 270 pictures, Peter Birtwhistle’s life story is both well written and tremendously entertaining.