Retired Ford deigned looks back at his days in the industry and shares with us
photos of the 2002 GT-40 “clays” that became the production Ford GT
three years later.
Pete Gruich grew up and still lives in the Detroit area. He remembers as a child visiting his grandparents and hearing about an industry guy who made it big and would visit his parents who lived a few houses down in a chauffeured car. That guy was John Delorean. Pete’s neighbor drove for Delorean’s brother, George, when he ran Leader Automotive and built
and campaigned drag cars. When Royal Pontiac closed its doors, Leader ran some of
its legendary GTOs.
Pete worked as a designer for about 40 years and in addition to working for Ford, had the pleasure of working for Bill Collins on the Vixen Motor Home project. Collins was one of the key engineers on high-performance GTO and Firebird projects when he was at Pontiac. He also worked with Hulki Aldikacti at Pontiac Advanced Vehicle Engineering on the ill-fated Fiero.
In 2002 Pete Gruich worked on the GT-40 clays in the "S" Studio at Ford’s Product Development Center (PDC). That’s where both designers and senior level executives would view cars in natural light in the building’s protected courtyard.
“Dan Gurney used to stop in while we worked the GT-40 and I wound up talking to him
quite a bit. He sent me a signed poster of him shaking up a bottle of champagne after
winning Le Mans,” said Pete. “Also enjoyed many conversations with Camilo Pardo,
the GT-40/GT chief designer.”
Pete Gruich enjoyed his career as an automotive designer and is still enjoying cars. He spent his vacation last summer in China, touring in a 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG.
“We had a ball in the Benz, driving between 160 and 180 mph on some of the freeways!”
Once a car guy, always a car guy!
Ford GT owners and enthusiasts should visit http://www.fordgtforum.com/forums/forum.php
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