Cooper Hewitt says...
Carl Renner was born in Germany and raised in Detroit, Michigan after his family immigrated to the United States in 1927. At age 20, he began his design career working as an animator for Walt Disney Studios in California. After a year, Renner returned to Detroit, seeking a job designing cars for General Motors (GM) during the postwar automobile boom. He was hired in April 1945 to work as a Junior Designer in GM’s Orientation Studio alongside other young designers like Pete Wozena and was one of the first new designers hired by General Motors after World War II.
Renner enrolled in the Detroit Institute of Automobile Styling (DIAS), a special school operated by Harley Earl and Richard Arbib. Upon graduating in 1946, he was promoted to Senior Designer and was assigned to the Chevrolet studio, where he designed for seven years. In 1954, Renner was promoted to Assistant Chief Designer in the secretive Body Development Studio. As part of the “ninth floor” crew under the supervision of design-head Harley Earl, the Body Development Studio worked on special, private projects—the group created the basic shape of the first Opel, which later became the Corvette. At GM’s Advance Design Studio, Renner also produced a series of popular “dream car” designs for the General Motors Motorama, a popular traveling roadshow exhibition of GM concept cars, opening yearly at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel and then touring the country. Renner also served as assistant chief designer in the Oldsmobile and Pontiac studios and was involved with the LaSalle II convertible Motorama show car, major design features of the first Corvair, and the Cadillac Cyclone show car.
1962 saw Renner’s career shift away from hands-on design due to a nerve problem that affected his drawing ability. He adopted an advisory and instructional role at GM and was involved in public relations, advising young designers, and reviewing design portfolios and studio projects. Renner retired from General Motors in 1980 and was inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame in 2007.
