Robert has pursued parallel career paths for more than 50 years, first as a car designer, then as a writer specializing in design. The first car made to his sketches — a one-off known as the Parkinson Jaguar Special, which is still vintage-racing — was done when he was 15 years old.
At 19, he was a General Motors designer, working chiefly on Corvettes, and he had been published in national magazines. From 1958 onward, he has been an independent designer, working for major car manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. and for small-volume specialists.
He taught transportation design at the Art Center College of Design, is the editorialist for Italy’s Auto & Design magazine, and has written a popular car design column for Automobile Magazine for 25 years.
See this interview with Robert and Driving the Nation on YouTube, read the interview at AutoNews.com here, or read Jamie Kitman’s article on Robert in Bloomberg here.
Books by Robert Cumberford
Articles in Sports Car Market
Here are the latest articles from Robert:
1954 Chevrolet Corvette – You Didn’t Know It Was a Copy, Did You? Dimensions of the initial Chevrolet Corvette were simply copied from the 1948 Jaguar XK120. Wheelbase, engine location, seat placement and height, steering-wheel location… everything except width. Using 1953 Chevrolet sedan suspension meant that car’s wider track was retained. Actually, it’s kind of a copy of a… Read more