- Search Cartoons
- Comic Archive
-
Payne
Store
Henry Payne RSS
William Porter, 1931-2025: Influential designer of 1970s Pontiac muscle cars
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 17, 2025
GM, GM
Auto designer William Porter has died, long live William Porter.
The celebrated General Motors draftsman penned some of the most iconic muscle cars that will ply the Woodward Dream Cruise this summer including the 1968 Pontiac GTO, 1970-73 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am, and 1971 Bonneville. The academically-trained artist and industrial designer is credited with the long, muscular styling that helped define a Golden Era of 1960s and 1970s American automobiles.
A resident of Whitmore Lake, Porter died at home on April 23 at the age of 93. In his 39 years as a designer with GM, Porter oversaw the Buick design studio as well as Pontiac, retiring from the company in 1996.
“I have always respected and admired Bill for his design track record but even more so for his personality and his design discretion and expertise,” wrote Jon Albert, who worked alongside Porter as Buick interior chief designer in 1995. “I am extremely privileged to have worked with a guy who knew the history of design in general (not just auto design) and who possessed such a keen sense for good design as well as what makes sense for compelling styling.”
Porter joined the company in 1957 as an intern while working on his master’s degree at New York’s Pratt Institute, then was hired full-time in 1958. He began sketching Pontiac designs in 1962 as well as other work with the Advanced Design studio, then was transferred to Pontiac in 1968 as chief designer, where he really began to make his mark.
In the early 1970s, he directed the design of the brand’s GTO, Firebird, LeMans, Catalina and Bonneville coupes and sedans.
“My first assignment at GM Design was in Mr. Porter’s Advanced Pontiac Studio,” wrote John Manoogian II in a tribute to his former boss. “I was in awe of the talent in that studio, with the maestro himself, Bill Porter, running the place. To this day, I can’t believe how fortunate I was.”
GM, GM
Porter’s signature was the uniquely American design of Coke bottle-shaped cars with mile-long scooped hoods and aggressive grilles. With fire-breathing V-8 engines under their hoods, these thoroughbreds became symbols of American individualism and the call of the open road.
“(My contribution to the ’68 GTO) was the basic body theme, the monocoque shell form with elliptical pressure bulges over the wheels,” Porter said in an interview with High Performance Pontiac in 2000. But when it came to naming his favorite car, Porter singled out the second-generation 1970-73 Pontiac Firebird.
“I was absolutely crazy about that car from day one and really threw myself into it,” he said. “I put the best designers I had on it and we were consciously trying to create an important American sports car.”
GM, GM
The 1960-70s Pontiacs were groundbreaking in foreshadowing today’s “bumperless” integrated fascias — and also with their interior design.
“One of the design approaches pioneered in the ’70-1/2 F-car and that’s coming into the industry in a more widespread way now, is the integration of the interior and the exterior,” Porter said in the 2000 interview. “When you open the door of the Firebird … there is a subliminal sense of the unity of the interior and exterior. That had never been done before that I know of.”
The designer’s keen sense of art — he was a collector of Tiffany glass and Arts and Crafts furniture — extended to the famous Firebird “screaming chicken” hood graphic. The graphic almost didn’t make it to production after then-GM Vice President for Design Bill Mitchell went into a fury over its design.
“He called me up and I had to hold the phone away from my ear,” remembered Porter. “That was the end of that! Then a couple of years later, (colleague) John Schinelle talked him into taking another look at it. And so it finally saw the light of day on the ’73 cars. Mitchell was a real hair-trigger.”
GM, GM
Porter moved on from Pontiac to work on the Chevrolet Camaro before taking on Buick’s chief design position, where he oversaw design development for the Park Avenue and Riviera.
Porter was born in Louisville and received a B.A. in painting and art history from the University of Louisville in 1953. He served in the Army before pursuing his industrial design master’s at Pratt.
In addition to his son, Porter is survived by his wife, Patsy Jane, his son Adam, two daughters, Sarah Wilding Porter and Lydia Porter Latocki; a brother, Thomas Hampton Porter; and three grandchildren.
Porter gathered his favorite design sketches, which are preserved at his website: http://williamlporter.com/index.html
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.