General Motors has made great strides in the last several years to preserve its history. Gone are the days of destroying historically significant concept cars, factory records and archives. Finally, the treasures of GM's past are being preserved through a variety of programs and facilities, such as GM Media Archives and the GM Heritage Collection.
In this spirit, the GM Design Center has embarked on a new project that will be sure to ignite interest in its own history-it's in the beginning stages of producing a retrospective book in-house. The working title is Driving with Style: GM Design's First Century and is scheduled for a 2008 release. HPP was invited to Detroit by Brian Baker, Drive Team Manager, to witness the photo shoot for a special section on the Pontiac GTO.
The Idea Is Hatched
"It was actually an interesting story about how that photo shoot came about," says Lead Digital Designer Jeff Denison, whose own '69 Judge was selected for it. "A few of us were talking at lunch about how we should cover the GTO in the book, as it was a very significant design. We came up with the idea that a Judge would be the best way to cover that section. Studio shots of my Warwick Blue '69 were taken and they looked great. Later, we thought that a Judge from each year would be an even better way to represent the breed. The red, white and blue idea just evolved from there."
The next phase was to find two more Judges. Fortunately, Jeff is a longtime POCI member, so with the help of Dan Jensen, he was able to locate the necessary examples-a Cardinal Red '70 Ram Air IV, owned by Dan's brother Dennis, and a beautiful Polar White '71 455 H.O., owned by Mike Sparks. "Not only did we get the colors we wanted, we also used cars with the three main Judge engines-the Ram Air III, the Ram Air IV and the 455 H.O.," Denison adds. "And they have different transmissions and equipment levels-it really worked out beautifully."
Perched on the ladder, GM Design Senior Creative Photographer Brad May painstakingly sets up the shot and shoots frames at different times in the day to help assemble the perfect shot. Dave Tellefsen (left) also surveys the setup. | 
Placement of the cars had to be perfect, so each was moved as needed while Brad checked their positioning through the lens. | 
Brad gets down to business and records the image he so carefully set up while Dave Tellefsen looks on. |
At The Location
The photo shoot took place on August 26 at the Athens Coney Island diner on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak, Michigan. It provided the perfect opportunity to give our readers a unique behind-the-scenes look at a photo shoot, which will no doubt be publicized heavily and will become an iconic piece of artwork to be enjoyed by future generations.
Brad May, GM Design Senior Creative Photographer, was there to record the event. He has been a photographer for 17 years, working for GM for five, and is recognized as one of the most talented automotive shutter-men in the business. Others in attendance included David Tellefsen, Manager of Design Future and Historical Data, author Eric White and Bob Daykin from Pontiac's ad agency, Publicis/Leo Burnette Worldwide.
The setup for the shoot was without a doubt one of the longest and most exhaustive I have ever witnessed-I took many mental notes, as it was an opportunity to learn from a true master of the art. As one would expect, with GM talent and equipment being used for the shoot, everything was top-notch from the start. It was pretty obvious that Brad knew what he wanted and how he would achieve the desired results.
The restaurant was closed to the public, and the process began around 4 p.m. After moving trash cans and newspaper vending machines, and sweeping down the parking lot, black tape was used to cover up the yellow lines on the pavement; the lot was then hosed down to aid with light reflection.