RIP Tom and Chuck

The automotive world has lost two important figures this past week. Tom Walkinshaw and Chuck Jordan were both men of great achievement, but from very different backgrounds.

Tom Walkinshaw, who passed away at the age of 64, was one of the most successful team manager/owner/constructors in motorsport history, achieving victories in a wide array of formulae, but perhaps most notably with Jaguar's World Sports Car program in the 1980s and with Volvo's BTCC program in the 1990s.  He was also involved in F1 for many years at Benetton and other teams.  Also a driver of quality, here he is in a simply electrifying qualifying lap at the wheel of a Jag XJS, at Australia's Mount Panorama Circuit!

Chuck Jordan was hired at GM as a stylist under Harley Earl, and eventually worked his way up to that man's position over the course of more than 4 productive decades at General Motors. He was head of GM Styling from 1986-1992.

A true blue car designer of the "old way," Jordan fought GM management for creative control over design, and had famous disdain for focus groups and consumer testing that became  the norm at GM: "A good designer doesn’t need Mr. and Mrs. Zilch from Kansas telling him what to do," he once quipped in an interview.  Chuck Jordan passed away at the age of 83 last week.

Image credit: GM

Hat tip to Drew for the Walkinshaw video.