ONE DAY EVENT TO HONOR AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN INNOVATOR VIRGIL EXNER
Thirteen Show Cars from the 1950s will be on display at the University of Notre Dame; Public also invited to attend Lecture and Book Signing.
Notre Dame, IN – The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Art, Art History and Design, along with the Snite Museum of Art and the Chrysler Corporation, will present a distinctive opportunity to explore the design and impact of Virgil Exner on Saturday, September 29, 2007.
Exner was an art student at Notre Dame in the 1920s and he went on to become one of the world’s great automobile designers, responsible for the Chrysler Corporation’s “Forward Look” of the 1950s and 60s.
The one day event will feature a public showing of thirteen of Exner’s milestone show and production cars, which are valued at over $9 million. Automotive historian Peter Grist, author of Exner’s official biography titled Virgil Exner: Visioneer, will give a lecture highlighting Exner’s impact on the “Fabulous Fins” era of automobile design. The biography will be available in mid-August.
Virgil Exner, Jr., a 1956 graduate of Notre Dame, will also be present to display many of his father’s original works of fine art and rarely seen car designs.
The book signing and art display will take place at Notre Dame’s Stepan Center beginning at 9:00 a.m. where eleven cars will be officially displayed. Additionally, two cars will be displayed outside of the Snite Museum of Art all day, including a 1963 Imperial Convertible from the Richard Bowman Collection, and another to be selected from the many Club Cars. Grist’s lecture will take place at the museum at 7:00 p.m.
It is expected that dozens of vintage Chrysler and Studebaker production cars from the 1950s will also be on display in the parking lots outside Stepan Center. “Exner Fan” car clubs from across the country will be in attendance.
