An interview with Frank Stephenson, car designer extraordinaire

Like a lot of kids, Frank Stephenson started sketching when he was about five, growing up in his birthplace, Casablanca, Morocco. “I remember my mother shoving me out of the house to get some fresh air, but all I wanted to do was draw,” he reminisced during an hourlong phone chat we shared, socially distanced by the several thousand kilometres between his office in London, England, and mine in Milton. When he was 11 and living in Istanbul, he was walking through town with his dad. They came across a Ferrari Dino. “I stood there for 15 minutes, staring at that car. Dad finally had to lead me away, tears in my eyes.”

That’s when he decided he wanted to sketch only cars.

He’s been doing it ever since, in the process becoming one of the giants of the car design world.

Following high school and six years travelling around the world racing motorcycles (he still takes his bike out, but only on nice days), he decided to give car design a shot.

He applied and was accepted into the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif.

“Just getting in there is tough,” he says. “If you graduate, you’re pretty much set for life. The school prepares you very well for the rigours of product design.”

Thirty students started the four-year program with him. Only six graduated.

“When I was halfway through the program, Ford offered to pay for my schooling, which I was happy to accept. When I graduated, I started with them in their European design studio in Cologne, Germany.”

One of his first projects was the Ford Escort RS Cosworth. The development of the threelevel rear spoiler on the car, subsequently reduced to two, is the subject of one of his YouTube videos. Don’t miss it.

He subsequently worked for a number of companies, including BMW (where he did the X5 SUV, for which I guess I have to forgive him), Ferrari (FXX), Maserati (MC12) and McLaren (P1).