Designer Albrecht Graf Goertz passes away

Munich. Designer Albrecht Graf Goertz passed away last Friday at the age
of 92. In the mid-1950s, Count Goertz designed the legendary BMW 507 to
create not only an icon of the BMW brand but also what many regarded as
the most beautiful two-seater car in motoring history. His second
design for BMW, the elegant BMW 503, was destined to stand in the
shadow of the 507. But Goertz's artistry and creative powers went far
beyond the bounds of automobile design. He created a wide range of
consumer objects ranging from fountain pens and cameras all the way to
musical instruments, furniture and textiles. "In Albrecht Graf
Goertz, BMW has not only lost the creator of the BMW 503 and 507, one
of the most consummate cars in history. The entire design fraternity
bids farewell to one of its most passionate champions, a man who was not
only a car designer heart and soul but also creative and successful in
every field of design," said Christopher Bangle, Head of BMW Group
Design. Albrecht Graf Goertz was born on 12 January 1914 in Brunkensen
near Hanover, the second son of an old-established German aristocratic
family. Goertz spent his childhood and youth with his siblings on his
parents' estate in Brunkensen. In 1933 he was an apprentice at the
Deutsche Bank in Hamburg and 18 months later joined the private London
bank Helbert Wagg & Company. In 1935, Goertz decided to leave
Europe and applied for a United States visa. He left for the USA in
1936. Three years later, his first car was on the road: a one-off
model based on a Ford Mercury chassis. The "Paragon" was a
two-door coupé with curvy bodywork, rear wheel trims and unusual
rear side windows. The car went on show for several weeks at the 1939
San Francisco World Exhibition. In 1940, Goertz was called up into the
US Army and did five years of service on the Pacific front. Following
his return to civilian life in 1945, he met Raymond Loewy, then the
preeminent figure in industrial design. He helped Goertz to gain a place
of study at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and subsequently took him
on as a junior designer in his Studebaker development department. Here
Goertz and a colleague designed the successful facelift of the
Studebaker Champion - the so-called "bullet nose". Two and a
half years later, Goertz and Loewy parted company. In 1953 Goertz
eventually opened his own design studio, Goertz Industrial Design, Inc.
New York. The road to BMW was paved for him by Max Hoffmann.
Austrian-born Hoffmann was New York's biggest car dealer and the leading
importer of European luxury cars in the 1950s. He specialised in
prestigious brands such as Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. Such was his
influence that the carmakers would grant him advance insight into their
model planning. That was how BMW came to ask Loewy for his assessment
of a sports car project for a roadster with a V8 engine. Hoffmann was
not impressed with the initial design drafts. He suggested to the young
designer Goertz that he should produce a few sketches for a sports car
and send them to Munich. These designs met with instant acceptance, and
two weeks later he was invited to BMW in Munich. The contracts were
signed in January 1955. Technically, the new sports car was based on
the chassis of the BMW 502 3.2-litre Super Saloon, shortened by 35.5
centimetres. Alongside his work on this two-seater, designated the 507,
Goertz was soon commissioned with another project. Building on the
preliminary work of Kurt Bredschneider, he developed the 503, another
luxury tourer targeted primarily at the American market and available
as a convertible and a coupé. In less than a year, the BMW 503
Coupé and Cabrio, along with the 507 Roadster, were all up and
running. At the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show, the BMW 507 was celebrated
as the "Dream car from the Isar" and stole the show together
with the BMW 503. For the creator of these legendary luxury models, it
was the international breakthrough. Goertz was compared to the likes of
Bertone, Pinin Farina and other stylists of world repute. "If I
can touch somebody emotionally with a car, then I can do it with other
products as well," was Goertz's conviction. His success proved him
right, with commissions coming from every sector of industry. From his
studio in the USA, which was still his main place of residence, Goertz
travelled the globe designing a wide and diverse range of everyday
commodities. In the 1990s he returned to his parents' estate in
Brunkensen, from where he continued to work as a designer. Examples
from Goertz' design portfolio: BMW 503 and BMW 507; Agfa camera; Kienzle
clock; Rowenta irons, lighters, coffee makers, toasters et. al.; Mont
Blanc fountain pen, ballpoint pen, disc pen; Custom Craft fibre-glass
sports boat; Polaroid camera; SABA radios, TVs etc.; ACCO office
equipment; Datsun Silvia, Datsun 240Z; Fuji cine-camera, film
projector; Bicicletas Monark bicycle; school furniture; Oxford Filing
Supply office furniture; Jensen jewellery; Puma sportswear and accessories.