User:Kumboloi/sandbox/Oliver Winterbottom

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Oliver Winterbottom
Born(1944-02-24)February 24, 1944
Ashford, Kent
DiedNovember 6, 2020(2020-11-06) (aged 76)
OccupationAutomobile designer
Known for

Oliver Carton "Ollie" Winterbottom (24 February 1944 – 6 November 2020) was a British automobile designer best known as one of the pioneers of the wedge style reflected in his designs for cars from Lotus and TVR.[1][2]

Early years[edit]

Winterbottom was born during an air raid in Ashford, Kent to father Walter C. "Frosty" Winterbottom and mother Rowna Winterbottom (nee Fletcher).[3] He had one sister, Sara, born 22 August 1948. His father was a medical doctor, anaesthetist, and Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps.[4][5]

Winterbottom's father had a long standing interest in automobiles and motorsports, and his mother was a talented watercolourist who encouraged her son to draw and paint.[3]: 7, 9 

In 1952 Winterbottom was sent to boarding school in Staffordshire, where he gravitated towards books and brochures dealing with automobiles. One day Ian Boswell, then owner of the Tickford Coachworks, came to dinner and commented favourably on a drawing made by the eleven year old Winterbottom. Boswell's encouragement convinced Winterbottom to pursue the goal of becoming a designer of automobiles.[3]: 8 

He attended Denstone College, his father's alma mater, where he joined the cross country running club and took up rife shooting, winning a Christmas shooting competition. National Service was still in force, and Winterbottom worked to qualify for the Royal Air Force Cadets, which boasted a motor transport section with a local mechanic contracted to teach the cadets the fundamentals of motor mechanics. Winterbottom also cites his 1958 purchase of a copy of Automobile Year as a major influence on his design aspirations.[3]: 9 

Having been encouraged to bring his son to Jaguar Cars, in February 1961 father and son travelled to Jaguar's home in Coventry to discuss an apprenticeship for the young man.[3]: 9 

Career[edit]

Jaguar[edit]

Winterbottom was accepted as an apprentice automobile engineer and in mid-September 1961 started at Jaguar in Coventry in their Apprentice School, which he completed by Christmas 1961, transferring first to the Machine Shop in the Gear Cutting Shop, then to the Fighting Vehicle Department, which was then building the Daimler Ferret armoured car. Winterbottom was part of a team tasked with developing an amphibious version of the Ferret.[3]: 11, 12  From the Fighting Vehicle Department Winterbottom moved on to Exhaust System Welding, to Service Spares Stores, and to the Experimental Body Shop, where he learned the art of wood shaping and sculpting with autobody modelling clay. He also enrolled in a course on vehicle body building at Birmingham that he attended one day and one night each week.[3]: 12 

In 1963 Jaguar established its Styling Department.[6] Winterbottom applied and was eventually transferred into this department. He was also sent to the Coventry College of Art, and joined a Technical Illustration Course. His submission to an IBCAM design competition won a commended award. He also submitted a design to the Concorso Grifo d’Oro Bertone competition announced in March 1966, which won the silver medal.[7] As his apprenticeship was coming to a close, and uncertain of his future at Jaguar, Winterbottom applied for, and was offered, a position at Ford. In the end he accepted a permanent position in the Jaguar Styling Department.[3]: 14–16 

Some of his earliest work in Jaguar's styling department related to the XJ4 development program that resulted in the XJ6 sedan. He would later do the design for the long wheelbase version, and the two door coupé model. Some other projects were done for British Motor (Holdings) Ltd., formed when Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation, including some Mini-based coupés. In 1967 Winterbottom first became involved in design for safety when Jaguar received the new American safety regulations.[3]: 18, 21 

Winterbottom considered a 5 August 1968 drawing for the XJ21 project to have been his first "proper, serious car design". This restyling of the 2+2 E-Type never reached production.[3]: 19 [8]

He was later involved in the design of a "mobile lounge" airport passenger transport for getting passengers onto and off the soon to be released Boeing 747 aircraft.[3]: 20, 22  After the merger of British Motor Holdings with Leyland Motors to form British Leyland (BL), Winterbottom did a design for a gas turbine powered motorcoach.[3]: 23 

With the Jaguar 240/340 and Daimler 250 models going out of production in 1968 and 1969 respectively, Winterbottom was part of a project named XJ21 to create a new small Jaguar car that he described as his first new model. For the XJ21, Winterbottom was responsible for the design, while Mike Kimberley, later of Lotus, was responsible for mechanical configuration.[7] The car was to be powered by the Daimler 2.5 L V8 engine, but was cancelled by BL management because they believed it would harm sales of Rover.[3]: 23 

Winterbottom's next design project for Jaguar was the XJ27, with his first drawing for it dated 3 December 1969. This car, based on a shortened XJ6 saloon platform, was a 2+2 meant to succeed the E-Type. Although Winterbottom's first design progressed to full scale mockup, it was later scrapped. He continued with the project, including work on the interior. The XJ21 became the Jaguar XJ-S.[3]: 23–26 

While work on the XJ27 was progressing, Winterbottom became involved in an outside project to design a clubman-style race car powered by a 1.6 L engine. The principals behind the project were Richard Cresswell and Peter Taylor. The Cresswell car finished second in the Shell Championship, and then the project was acquired by Chris Grevill-Smith and named the Phantom.[3]: 25, 26 

By 1970 Winterbottom was becoming increasingly dissatisfied at Jaguar, due in part to the direction taken with the XJ-S. He and his wife considered becoming hoteliers, but an offer to move to another car company arrived by way of Kimberley, who had left Jaguar at the beginning of 1970 and moved to Lotus. Kimberley arranged a meeting between Colin Chapman of Lotus and Winterbottom in October 1970. Lotus offered a salary and use of a company car. Jaguar offered to match the salary, but when Lotus increased their salary offer and made the company car a Ford Escort, Jaguar declined to counter, and Winterbottom left Jaguar in December 1970.[3]: 26, 27 

Lotus[edit]

Winterbottom started at Lotus on 4 January 1971.[3]: 28  His first project there was designing the badging for the Elan Sprint and +2 S130 models. His first autobody project was improving rearward visibility on the Twin-Cam Europa, which he accomplished by reducing the height of the rear sails. He evaluated the modification by taking a diamond cutter to the sails on a test car.[3]: 29 [7]

At Lotus, Winterbottom worked directly with Colin Chapman who appointed him to lead the design and safety engineering projects at Lotus Cars.

Type 75 Lotus Elite

Winterbottom was the designer for project M50, which became the Type 75 Lotus Elite, contributing the wedge nose and shooting break rear. Giugiaro and Blackpool Design did the interior.

Type 76 Lotus Éclat

Was both designer and project manager for the M52, became Type 76 Lotus Éclat.[9][7]

Attended meeting wearing a gas mask to avoid offending Chapman's sensitivities regarding beer and cigarettes. ref???

Winterbottom encouraged Chapman to meet with Giugiaro at the 1972 Geneva motor show, and suggested that the Italdesign Boomerang serve as the inspiration for the future Lotus Elite.[3]: 41  He would later serve as project manager for the M70 Esprit development.[7] Moved to Italy to be close to Giorgetto Giugiaro and Ital Design.[10]

Late in 1974 Winterbottom Chapman boats Moonraker JCL Marine, starting in January 1975. A disagreement Chapman leave Lotus in 1977. [7]

TVR[edit]

TVR Tasmin 280i

Did a year as an independent consultant, then joined TVR in 1978 as Chief Engineer on the Tasmin.[7]

Winterbottom then worked with TVR[11] where he designed the TVR Tasmin launched in 1980.[12]

The Tasmin was the first car to have both a bonded windscreen and an aerial incorporated into the rear screen heater element.[13]

Lotus[edit]

Winterbottom returned to Lotus in 1980.

new Lotus M90/X100 small sports car project working with Colin Chapman until his death in 1982, and the team. He was responsible for the design and most importantly integrating the Toyota project support and co-operation through to the end of 1985.[7]

Designed the prototype Lotus M90, (X100), but due to company problems, the car never reached production.

He was also head of development for the V8 engine used in the Esprit, project 918.[citation needed]

Left at the end of 1985.[7]

General Motors[edit]

Lotus[edit]

In 1986 Winterbottom returned to Lotus again, taking a position as Project General Manager within the vehicle, body and safety system engineering group.[7][1]

He remained at Lotus until 1998[7]

Norfolk Automotive Ltd.[edit]

In 1998, after leaving Lotus for the third time, Winterbottom established his own design consultancy, Norfolk Automotive Limited, which he ran for ten years, including a long stint working and living in China.[1][7]

Winterbottom also served as membership director for the Coalition of Small Volume Automobile Manufacturers (COSVAM).[1]

In 2005 SAIC Motor in Shanghai, China acquired the rights to some technology from the MG Rover company that they incorporated into cars sold in China under the Roewe name. The company brought Winterbottom in to work on a luxury car project. In 2009, three weeks after celebrating his sixty-fifth birthday in Shanghai, Winterbottom retired and returned to England. The luxury car project was later cancelled.[3]: 171 

Mike Rawlings, Mark Easton, Breckland Technology Ltd.(?), building Tommy Kaira cars for Japan in a factory in East Dereham, Norfolk. Winterbottom brought in Paul Mickleborough, to start development as "The Leading Edge Sports Car Company".[14][3]: 168, 169 

Personal life[edit]

Winterbottom died on 6 November 2020 after an extended illness.[2][1] His funeral was held at Wymondham Abbey.

Winterbottom was predeceased by wife Wendy in 2014, and survived by daughters Anne and Jane.[1]

Commemorations[edit]

A parade of cars, including models designed by Winterbottom, attended his funeral in Wymondham Abbey. ref???

Winterbottom Run ???

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Oliver Winterbottom, visionary car designer who helped take Lotus on to the global stage – obituary". Telegraph Obituaries. 28 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b Pope, Lizzie. "RIP Oliver Winterbottom 1944-2020". Classic & Sports Car. Haymarket. Retrieved 11 November 2020. Cite error: The named reference "csc-nov2020" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Winterbottom, Oliver (March 2017). A Life in Car Design. Veloce Publishing. ISBN 978-1-787110-35-9.
  4. ^ Houterman, J.N. "British Army Officers 1939-1945". World War II unit histories & officers.
  5. ^ Winterbottom, Oliver. "RAMC War Record — Captain Walter C Winterbottom RAMC" (PDF). World War II unit histories & officers.
  6. ^ Hull, Nick (July–August 2018). "Genesis of the XJ6" (PDF). Jaguar Journal. pp. 14–19.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kimberley, Mike. "Oliver Winterbottom: 24 February 1944 to 6 November 2020". Lotus Cars Media Site.
  8. ^ Nicholls, Ian (27 February 2018). "Concepts and prototypes : Jaguar XJ21 (1966-1971)". AR Online.
  9. ^ Tegler, Eric (29 March 2007). "1976 Lotus Eclat 522: The Splendid Splinter". Autoweek. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  10. ^ Adams, Keith (30 October 2019). "The cars : Lotus Esprit development story". AROnline.
  11. ^ Sass, Rob (3 June 2007). "TVR's Long and Winding Road Leads (for Now) to Florida". New York Times.
  12. ^ Cropley, Steve (3 June 2015). "A brief history of TVR". Autocar. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  13. ^ "TVR Tasmin". Blackpool Thunder. 19 July 2020.
  14. ^ Sciarrillo, Luca (11 December 2020). "part 7 | The Phantom Sportscar". hexgraphica.

Further reading[edit]

  • Winterbottom, Oliver (2020). "PNG 200 W". Opposite Lock. No. 1. pp. 36, 37.
  • Octane. October 2011. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Cropley, Steve (December 1983). "Winterbottom Line". Car. pp. 82, 83.

External links[edit]



Category:1944 births Category:2020 deaths Category:People educated at Denstone College Category:People from Ashford, Kent Category:British automobile designers

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