Gerry Coker, 1922-2020

Remembering the designer behind Austin-healey‘s lines

Gerry Coker, the British car designer of Austin-healey’s sports cars, has died aged 98. Originally an apprentice at Rootes Group from 1939, and later working for Armstrong-whitworth, his earliest designs were military vehicles on account of WW2’S impact on the car industry. However, he embraced sports car design when moving to Healey in 1950, as a body engineer for the Farina-designed Nash-healey.

Challenged in 1952 by Donald Healey to find a new direction for his cars, Coker devised the Healey Hundred; its instant appeal won an engine supply contract with BMC and in doing so created Austinhealey. Coker developed the car into a streamliner that managed 192.7mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1954, helping to cement the car’s reputation in the USA. He also devised the smaller Sprite – initially planned with pop-up headlights – although he left Healey before it went into production in 1958.

Coker relocated to America in 1957, concentrating more on design engineering rather than styling. After five years with Chrysler, he then spent 25 years with Ford, ultimately becoming senior product design engineer. When shaping Ford station-wagons in 1968, he created the now-famous dual-action tailgate, which folded both horizontally and vertically.