Richard A Teague - American Car Designer

Richard A. Teague, who was born in Los Angeles inearly '50's and finally went under in 1956. Consequently,
1925, began his first career as child actor, Dixie Duval,the entire design team moved to Chrysler Corporation
playing in several silent films of the 1920's. His briefwhere Teague started as chief stylist in their design
acting career was brought to a close at age six whenstudio. However, he soon became involved in conflicts
he was involved in an automobile accident. His motherwith management and left Chrysler. He then began
sustained serious injuries, which left her an invalid forworking for an independent design firm on
life. Young Richard was also seriously injured and lostnon-automotive assignments.
his sight in his right eye.However, automobiles were his passion and Teague
Due to these injuries he was unable to join the armedmissed working on them so in 1959 he went to
forces in World War 2 so he went to work forAmerican Motors as a member of Edmund
Northrop Corporation as an aircraft technical illustrator.Anderson's design team. When Anderson left AMC in
His immediate supervisor was Paul Browne who had1961, Teague became their principal designer. Teague
previously worked on the design team for Generalwas a unique individual in that he possessed a rare
Motors. Browne soon recognized Teague's talent andcombination of artistic and managerial skills. He was an
encouraged him to enroll in night classes at the Artexcellent administrator as well as a talented designer.
College of Design in Pasadena.Consequently he was promoted to vice President in
When the war ended, Teague moved to Oakland,1964 and remained in that position until his retirement in
California and started working for Henry Kaiser. There,1983.
he created a design for a pre-Henry J. economy car.Some of Teague's designs include the Gremlin Pacer,
He also illustrated covers for Road and Trackthe Matador coupe, the Rambler American, the AMC
magazine.Javelin, the AMX Hornet, the Rambler Classic and the
Then in 1948, Teague moved to Detroit and went toAmbassador. He designed the AMX GT as a concept
work in the General Motors Design Studio undercar that later went into production. His
Edmund Anderson. He gradually worked up to theaccomplishments and designs were particularly
Cadillac advanced design group. In 1951 Packardremarkable due to the physical limitations imposed by
recruited Teague to replace Chief Stylist John Reinharthis inability to perceive depth in a normal manner.
who had resigned. Teague had a keen eye for detailTeague had a great sense of humor and often joked
and an uncanny ability to make significant changesthat the only automobile company he had never
under tight budget constraints. He could re-style bodiesworked for was Ford. Automobiles were his work and
so that they appeared new without altering thehis passion. He was a well-known historian and an avid
chassis.collector of classic cars and rare models. He owned
Packard Motor Corporation was struggling during thebetween 400 and 500 cars.