After a distinguished career at General Motors that culminated in his being appointed only the fifth vice president of design in the company’s history, he decided to build a concept car of his own. Wayne Cherry has always loved concept cars. Then you take a close look at Cherry’s VSR street rod, at the hardware, the workmanship, and, most of all, the design, and you realize it could easily take center stage as a concept car on the GM stand at the next international auto show.
He makes it sound like a winter garage project that got a little out of control, which at a basic level perhaps isn’t a million miles from the truth. He joined GM in 1962, straight out of California’s Art Center design school, and was assigned to the advanced design studio at the Tech Center, where, among his first assignments, he assisted on a project that became the first Oldsmobile Toronado, one of the high watermarks of Bill Mitchell’s stint as GM design chief.
His wild, mid-engine SRV, shown at the 1970 Earls Court Motor Show in London, was a four-door, four-seater that stood just 41 inches tall.
