“I started sending sketches of cars to Chrysler when I was 13. Sketching was something I was doing since I was four, when I used to name all the cars I’d see from the back seat of my dad’s Oldsmobile. I was so amazed when I got a response from Chrysler, providing me with all the guidance on where to go to school, a lot of encouragement and even some studio illustrations; I just could not believe it.” And that’s how a great career in car design began. Although never taking credit for any of the many successful designs he was involved with at Chrysler, Plymouth or Dodge, John Herlitz was among the most important designers of icons such as the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda and the 1971 Road Runner – only two of many.
His father, Steven, emigrated to the United States from Sweden aged just 19. An entrepreneur, he found success with his medical advertising firm located in midtown Manhattan. While being treated for pneumonia, he met Karen, a nurse, and soon John was born in New York City on December 30, 1942. When Steven and Karen separated, John continued to live with his mother in Pine Plains, New York, until college. He then moved to Manhattan and stayed with his father. In 1960, he started attending industrial design courses at the prestigious Pratt Institute of Design in Brooklyn, “where I learnt that sheet metal is
