While many of us probably doodled a Ferrari ‘Daytona’-type supercar in our rough books during double maths, these guys went on from that stage in their lives to brilliant careers in styling and design for the worldwide car industry.

I expect they were pretty nifty with a slide rule, too.

Bart Lenaerts’ latest book (following in the honourable footsteps of ‘WAFT 1’, ‘WAFT 2’ and his previous ‘Ever Since I Was a Young Boy I’ve Been Drawing Cars’ volume on Belgian-born designers) talks to these sultans of style: men responsible for the general direction of whole car groups, not mere marques.

As with any book from WAFT, it is beautifully presented and, even better than that, the written content matches the visual.

The world of the top stylist is a cerebral one. It’s also an emotional and very personal one. When one hears V.A.G.’s Walter de Silva describing his nine different brands (VW, Audi, Bentley, Seat, Lamborghini, Škoda, Porsche, Bugatti and VW Commercial Vehicles) as ‘children’, you know this man is really speaking from the heart.

As do the eight other subjects of the 30cm x 30cm, 252-page, English-language book.

For those interested in the thought processes behind the eventual family ‘look’ of a manufacturing group, the story behind individual models, or who are considering a career in car design, this is a ‘must have’ on the bookshelf.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: WAFT