[DeTomaso] John Tjaarda

[Larry - Ohio Time Corp]

<< my Mom thought it was so great that she kept it.>>

On my 40th birthday (last year??) my mom gave me my first driver license
that she saved all the years. Yes it was on paper, not stone...

Aren't moms great?


Larry (moms 94) - Cleveland



-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Lewis
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 12:54 PM
To: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] John Tjaarda


On another forum, BaT, a Cunningham C-3 was listed.  Being intrigued by all
cars, I Googled it, and lo and behold, I came across the item below about
John Tjaarda, the father of Tom.  Maybe this is old news to you'll, but I
was astounded.
     And, notice also that he worked for Harley Earl, whom I assume is the
same guy from Chevrolet/Corvette.  Without repeating the whole article, also
notice that Porsche stole ideas from John, which led to the VW bug style.
     Which brings up the question: does Tom have any offspring dabbling in
the auto industry.  (It's nice if Dad has a little money to play with!)     
     ----Bill (I still have a drawing of a car that I made as a wee lad - my
Mom thought it was so great that she kept it.) Lewis



At the Chicago Century of Progress Exhibition (1933-1934), Ford displayed a
concept vehicle called the Briggs Dream Car, a rear-engine car with unitized
body designed by John Tjaarda of Briggs Manufacturing Company, Ford's major
body supplier.Tjaarda based his design on aero- dynamic monocoque designs
and models he began working on in 1926, called the Sterkenberg Series, which
he refined in 1930 while working for Harley Earl. In 1932, he was hired by
Briggs as chief of body design in their new in-house design center. Briggs
had just bought out LeBaron, Inc., and became Detroit's largest independent
body producer.John Tjaarda (say "charda"), 1897- 1962, was born in Holland
of a titled family in the Sterkenberg area. He trained in aeronautical
design in England and served as a Dutch Air Force pilot before emigrating to
US in 1923. He worked first on custom bodies in Holly- wood, then pioneered
in monocoque streamlined designs while working for Duesenberg and Harley
Earl.Tjaarda and others were inspired toward aerodynamic car design by
initial work started in 1921 by Austro-Hungarian engineer Paul Jaray, who
began testing car models in aircraft wind tunnels. Hans Ledwinka used
Jaray's data to design the streamlined 1933 Tatra 77 built in
Czechoslovakia, a car 20 years ahead of its time.The Tjaarda Dream Car bore
an uncanny resemblence to the 1932 inexpensive rear-engine small car
developed in Germany by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche for the NSU Company called the
Type 32, or Kleinauto, which in 1933 was already on its way to becoming the
Volkswagen Beetle. On the other hand, Porsche's design owes a lot to
Tjaarda's Sterkenberg Series of the late 1920s.Chrysler picked up on
aerodynamic research in 1927, prototyping a design in 1932 which resulted in
their infamous Airflow design of 1934.Ford, in 1933, had begun annual
styling changes (pioneered by Chevrolet in 1928 and causing the demise of
Ford's Model T). Ford authorized development of the Briggs Dream Car to fill
its need for a "small" Lincoln, and indeed, the design was patented in 1935
and became the prototype for the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr.The Zephyr was designed
by John Tjaarda and Howard Bonbright, both of the Briggs Manufacturing
Company, for Ford, under the supervision of Henry's son, Edsel, and Eugene
T. (Bob) Gregorie (b. 1908), head of Ford's first internal styling
department (which was initiated by Edsel in 1935). The Zephyr, however,
looked quite different from the 1933 Dream Car because its engine was moved
to the front and a "prow" added by Gregorie. The Museum of Modern Art later
called the Zephyr the first success- ful "streamlined" car in the US.PS:
John Tjaarda's son Tom (b.1934) re-located to Italy in 1959, where he worked
as a car designer at Ghia, designing the DeTomaso Pantera and the Ford
Fiesta (1977), and later at Pininfarina. He established his own small
automotive design office, Dimensione Design, in 1984.
 		 	   		  
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