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Sailfish story

Did I tell you the story about the fish?

I*: No, can we record that?

Oh you can, it’s just off the wall thing. But when he was doing the Mako Shark, Bill Mitchell was really into fishing I guess, Bill was his boss at General Motors and they were designing a, they had Larry designing the Mako Shark, which was a show car and it was going to be the next, the precursor to the next Stingray, you know, the next generation of the Stingray.

So Bill wanted the car painted like the shark that he had, not a shark, it was like a, it was some kind of fish. Anyway, and it was on his wall in his office, behind him. I think it was a Sailfish, and you know how they have the blue and the dark blue and then it gets lighter on the bottom I guess. Anyway, he had that and he had this thing and he kept saying, "No, the paint’s wrong." Because they painted this car and they’d come back, "No, it’s not the right color." "No, it’s not the right color." So I guess what happened was, Larry told me that they got into...they came in real early and they got into Bill’s office and stole the fish and repainted the fish to match the car. So there was no...so when Bill looked at it and said, "Hmm, ok." and then looked at the fish, everything was fine.

That’s the way Larry was, he was not just, you know, all serious, all design, all this. I mean he was a fun guy. i mean he had...and he knew, you know, what he had to do to get the job done. So it was kind of a unique story and I think that’s been retold many times. But I asked him about it and he goes, "Yeah, it happened." It happened.

* “I” indicates an interviewer (Akira Boch)


automobiles Bill Mitchell design General Motors (firm) Larry Shinoda motor vehicles

Date: September 14, 2011

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Akira Boch

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

After graduating from high school in Anaheim, Ron Kusumi earned his degree from Cal Poly Pomona, and worked in the automotive industry for 20 years with companies such as Nissan and Mitsubishi. It was while working on a project developing an aluminum alloy wheel at Nissan that Ron met famed designer Larry Shinoda, whose brief comments about the project impressed Ron with a keen eye and genius for knowing the essence of style and function. The two shared a mutual passion for sports cars and became friends. For the past fifteen years, Ron has run an independent film studio in Long Beach, California, writing, producing and directing programs for cable television. (September 2012)

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Larry’s fishing skill

Sister of automotive designer Larry Shinoda

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Mother’s reaction to Larry's daredevil racing

Sister of automotive designer Larry Shinoda

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Larry and President Clinton

Sister of automotive designer Larry Shinoda

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Corvette Hall of Fame

Sister of automotive designer Larry Shinoda