To give you an idea of the length of his involvement in the
car hobby, he garnered his first magazine cover at 21 years old when his build
of a ’58 Pontiac graced the cover of the Feb. ’64 issue of Car Craft as one of
the Top 10 Customs of 1963. He went to work in the body shop of a
Pontiac-Cadillac dealership from 1963 to 1966, then on to Fisher Body. Among
his first jobs was that of instructor in Fisher Body’s training center in
Denver, Colorado. While in Denver, he created a chopped-top Candy Apple Red ’67
Catalina 2+2. In August 1968, he drove the just-finished custom Poncho from
Denver to Detroit for GM’s annual new-model training. The cool Catalina
attracted the attention of a chief engineer at Fisher Body, who showed it to
Mitchell. After Mitchell’s review, he offered Crook a job as a clay modeler or
a technical stylist. With the permission of Fisher Body in January 1969, Crook
found himself transferred to GM Styling. In 1970, Crook wanted to attempt a
major redesign of the then-new Second- Generation Firebird. There he connected
with legendary stylist Harry Bradley, who was best known for his work with
Mattel on its Hot Wheels. The collaboration on the Firebird started a
friendship that has endured for more than 40 years. Crook moved to California
in 1979, first working as a field engineer for Fisher Body. In 1985, when the
Fisher Body division was folded into GM, he went to work in field services for
Cadillac. He served as the Western Region service development manager-body,
until he retired in 1999.
Trimmer Ron Mangus
suggested going with rear bucket seats, but in the end, the OE full rear seat
was retained.
Crook says, “While at GM Styling, I learned so much about
design and building prototypes, I spent most of my lunch hours in the shops
watching and learning the process of building one-off cars. Sometimes I felt
like I should have been paying them instead of them paying me.
“Mitchell, like Harley Earl before him, built many concept
cars for himself and many restyled production cars. I don’t think I ever saw a
completely stock production car in his parking spot in the executive garage.
While working [in GM Styl ing], I built an almost exact copy of the ’67
Cadillac Eldorado that Mitchell had built. Since he personally hired me and I
learned so much while working there, building this Grand Prix tribute to him is
the least I can do.”
The 400-powered donor Grand Prix was acquired in Oregon from
an ad seen on the Internet. The project started in April 2007, and together
with Bradley, the design took shape. Crook provided Bradley with the idea of
designing a Grand Prix that could have been a concept car conceived in ’66 to
preview the upcoming ’69 Grand Prix.
We asked Crook if chopping the Grand Prix’ top was the most
work, but surprisingly this was not the case. “Lengthening the doors was much
more work than chopping the roof,” he tells us. “Part of the redesign of the
doors involved moving the regulators rearward and eliminating the rear quarter
window. I want to note that the windshield retains stock dimensions, but is
raked back 42 degrees (versus 30-degrees stock) for the final version.”
The car was fully
constructed and painted in Crook’s on-site home garage. An English wheel, sheet
metal brake, hand shrinker, stretcher tools, and a plan ishing hammer are part
of his toolbox.
The green paint is a PPG Enviro base formula inspired by a
shade of nail polish Crook had spied while shopping in a drug store with his
wife. As it turned out, Crook went to the Chip Foose/BASF website, where he was
able to find a hue called Eye of the Tiger, and the formulation was an almost
exact match to the nail polish. Consulting with Bradley and being a long-time
PPG guy, he had a pint mixed for evaluation and then selected it as the final
color. Opening the driver-side door, one is overpowered by the odiferous
call-out of the all-leather interior. The leatherwork came from legendary
stitcher Ron Man gus. Crook notes that he did make suggestions for how the
interior door panels were stitched from the original Bradley design.
Like many Pontiac
interiors from the ’60s, Crook went with a three-color treatment for his modern
update. (The colors selected were Sabrina White leather, accented with Graphite
and Taupe suede.
As the photos show, the interior retains many of the
production Grand Prix design elements, tastefully updated for a look that would
not be out of place in a concept car today. Though Bradley was set on an all
new center console, Crook stayed with the OE design, updated with the original
insert that was nickel-plated and brushed, which works exceptionally well.
It should come as no surprise that the car was well received
at its unofficial debut at the Art Center College of Design Show, just weeks
after its completion. Its formal premiere was at the 2014 Grand National
Roadster Show in January.
According to its proud owner, this Grand Prix is a custom
show car that the legendary William “Bill” Mitchell would be justifiably proud.
