“What distressed most of us was that we could never be identified as just designers. We were always the ‘la femmes,’ or we were the female designers, and that — we were designers, and men were designing for women long before we came along, and, I think! That’s what rubbed us a little. . . .
(A)s a designer, we designed the same as the men did. As I mentioned, it’s intuition that we might have had. How we might intuitively feel about something. Naturally, our feelings about seats and doors and instrument panels and steering wheels and the like, maybe had a different flavor, but that’s why you employ more than one designer, from one background, from one school.
We all had our responsibilities, and, I think, eventually found our particular interest, and I loved the sports cars. I drive them, and I had a feel for that. I also liked the other end of the — the elegant, very classic looking cars in the Cadillac range. No way did I have much feeling for the basic [Chevrolet] Biscayne at the time. It was just, ‘Let’s get it done,’ and when it came to the [Chevrolet] Corvettes or to the Camaro more time was spent on it because we had a little more money to.
The Cadillac, I recall, at one time after being in Chevrolet where they said, ‘I don’t know, it’s going to cost a penny more,’ and I was astounded at a penny in those days. When I got to Cadillac — or also in Chevrolet, they said, ‘You’re going to have to take $25 out of this door,’ and I said, ‘We don’t have $25 in this door.’ And, of course, there was much laughter. But, when I got to Cadillac, one time I thought, ‘Boy, this is the place for me. You know how women love to spend money,’ and they said, ‘Well, I think, on this particular line,’ which would have been top-of-the-line — Eldorado, perhaps — they said, ‘Let’s put some more money into it.’ Well, you can imagine what I felt about that. So, I liked Cadillac. It was a pretty good place to work.”
— Retired GM designer Suzanne E. Vanderbilt (Crippen, 1986)
RE:SOURCES
- Crippen, David; 1985. “The Reminiscences of Suzanne E. Vanderbilt.” Automotive Design Oral History Project of the Automobile in American Life and Society. Interview recorded April 22.
BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Cadillac Eldorado (1977)
Also see ‘Honoring Suzanne E. Vanderbilt and the GM Damsels of Design,’ MotorCities
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