A man best known for redefining postwar American cars, Virgil Exner didn’t just design cars – he made them move before they even left the curb.

From his earliest years, Exner grew up fascinated by motion – planes, trains, and automobiles; he loved it all.

He studied art in Chicago and started his career in advertising, where his talent for drawing machinery quickly led him into industrial design. From there, he signed on with General Motors in the 1930s, a member as of Harley Earl’s design studio, gaining valuable experience working on early concept cars.

That said, it was only when he joined forces with Raymond Loewy’s team at Studebaker that Exner truly began to shine, helping create the first postwar car in 1947 – a one-of-a-kind, low-slung shape that was a teaser of the revolution soon to come.

Exner was hired by Chrysler in 1949, where he got to work breathing new life into a company many had begun to view as being behind the times.

There, he didn’t just redesign cars.

He re-envisioned the entire language behind motion.

By 1955, the Forward Look was born – Chrysler’s brand-wide shift in aesthetic, which saw them producing Plymouths, Dodges, and DeSotos that resembled rockets on wheels more than they did cars.

Think: clean, razor-sharp lines, long tails, vibrant color palettes, and most interestingly – fins.

Suddenly, the future of America’s auto industry was unfolding right there on Woodward Avenue.

On the heels of Chrysler’s success, Exner’s influence exploded practically overnight.

In the period between 1955 and 1961, Chrysler’s cars were some of the most commonly seen on the roads, not to mention the most daring.

Models like the 1957 Chrysler 300C, the 1959 Imperial, and the Plymouth Fury weren’t just cars – they were statement pieces.
Where other companies played it safe, Exner and Chrysler doubled down on organized chaos.

And in postwar Detroit – a place booming, building, and dreaming big – that belief fit right in.

That said, Exner wasn’t just infatuated with flash.

He also introduced unibody construction to Chrysler for the very first time, reducing the weight of cars while simultaneously improving their performance on the road.

He even championed for the company to begin producing smaller cars long before the oil crisis forced Detroit to play catch up in that regard.

By the early ’60s, changing tastes and internal politics at Chrysler began to shift the tide.

Suddenly, Exner’s iconic designs were falling out of favor.
By 1962, he left the company, replaced by a younger generation eager to downsize and declutter.

Yet even after his departure, Exner never stopped working.

He consulted, freelanced, and even proposed a line of “revival cars” for classic American brands like Duesenberg, Packard, and Stutz.

Though most never made it past concept, they showcased that same signature Exner energy – romantic, sculpted, and rooted in motion.

In short:

Virgil Exner didn’t just help define the look of the American automobile – he gave Detroit a design language that stretched from the curb to the cosmos.

He’s not just a designer.

He’s Detroit’s tailfin king– bold, imaginative, and forever in motion.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: September 20, 2025