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Geoffrey Leonard Matthews

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Geoff Matthews 1988

Geoffrey Leonard Matthews (widely known as Geoff Matthews) (September 1946 – 24 January 2015) was an English car designer who designed cars for manufacturers, including Chrysler, Talbot and Citroën.

Early life

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Matthews was born to Joan, who had conceived him with Charlie Mann, a Canadian serviceman based in England while awaiting return to his home country at the end of World War II. Unwilling to raise a child who would be stigmatised as illegitimate, and with Mann now gone, Joan arranged for Matthews to be adopted; he grew up in a family of farm labourers that picked hops for a living. He won a place at grammar school, then went on to study car design at the Royal College of Art.[1][2]

Notable achievements

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Matthews worked on the exterior design of numerous vehicles, including: the Chrysler Alpine of 1976 (aka Simca 1308), Chrysler Sunbeam, Talbot Tagora, Matra Rancho and the car that would become the Renault Espace.[3]

During the 1980s Matthews moved to France where he was promoted to Chief Exterior Designer at Citroën,[4] where he oversaw the development of the exterior designs for production cars, refreshes and concepts.[5][full citation needed] This involved working on the Citroën AX, BX, series 2 CX as well as XM.[citation needed]

During his time at Citroën, Matthews also spearheaded the EOLE project,[6] which was displayed at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show, and pioneered developments in aerodynamics and design.

Views on car design

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In an interview in 1990 by Gavin Green for Car magazine, Matthews was quoted as saying, "There is less room for visionary individuals than there used to be: less room for the very people who gave us the car industry in the first place. The great old men of the car industry – the ones with the vision and power to get things done – have gone. The Ferdinand Porsches, Enzo Ferraris, William Lyonses, Henry Royces. Those men stamped their personalities on their cars."[7]

Later career

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Following his time at Citroën, Matthews took up key positions in a number of companies including; Styling International (a subsidiary of Hawtal Whiting Design), MGA Developments, Geoff Matthews Design, Facel Vega Motors, Connaught Motor Company.[8] Matthews also took up roles within the Automotive Design Courses at Coventry and Swansea University.

He was the subject of a BBC documentary, This Was My Dad - The Rise & Fall of Geoffrey Matthews.

References

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  1. ^ Morgan Matthews - Storyville, BBCiPlayer - This Was My Dad - The Rise & Fall of Geoffrey Matthews, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xyq06
  2. ^ Royal College of Art Automotive design unit, Motorsport, Feb 1984, http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/february-1984/24/royal-college-art-automotive-design-unit
  3. ^ Geoff Matthews 1946-2015, by James Walshe http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/geoff-matthews/obituary.html
  4. ^ CAR Magazine, July 1990 http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/gavin-green/gavin-green-on-copycat-styling-car-archive-july-1990/
  5. ^ Andy Wheel, Chief Designer Exteriors of Land Rover Design
  6. ^ Car Design News, Concept Car of the Week: Citroën Eole 1986, http://cardesignnews.com/articles/concept-car-of-the-week/2016/01/citroen-eole-1986 Archived 17 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ CAR Magazine, July 1990 http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/gavin-green/gavin-green-on-copycat-styling-car-archive-july-1990
  8. ^ UK Director Company Check https://companycheck.co.uk/director/904673664/MR-GEOFFREY-LEONARD-MATTHEWS/companies

Further reading

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Geoff Matthews, 1946-2015: one of the UK's great car designers Archived 30 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine by Andy Wheel, Chief designer - exteriors at Land Rover design, 19 Feb 2015.