Born and raised in Detroit, Tjaarda was a 1958 graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied architecture. His best-known designs are those for the original Fiat 124 Spider, the De Tomaso Pantera, and the Rayton Fissore Magnum, a mid-1980s SUV sold in small volumes in the U.S. as the Laforza. He also did two memorable Ferraris—the 1964 330GT 2+2 and the 1966 365 California—and a host of other automotive designs, including influential concept cars such as the Corvette Rondine from 1963 and the 1972 proposal for the first-generation Ford Fiesta. (See the entire list at [ Ссылка ], the late designer’s official website.)

Tom Tjaarda was the son of Joop Tjaarda van Sterkenburg, a Dutch immigrant to the U.S. who’d changed his name to John Tjaarda. His father, who died in 1962, had designed cars for Ford, including a mid-engine concept for Lincoln that evolved into the production Zephyr after the project moved to a conventional front-engine layout.

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