On May 23, Anatole Lapine was born in Riga, Latvia, and completed his internship at Daimler-Benz in Hamburg before moving to the United States. As an 1930-year-old he came to work as a subordinate in the design department - led by legend Bill Mitchell - at General Motors.
In the 'Studio X' present there, he worked in secret on various concept cars, including the Chevrolet Corvette SS from 1957. The model eventually resulted in the Corvette C2. Lapine worked very closely at a later stage with the also legendary designer Larry Shinoda. Both names are responsible for the controversial Corvette 'split window' of 1963. The duo was among other things at the cradle of even more special Chevrolet creations such as the CERV 1 and CERV 2 single-seater, but also the Corvair Monza SS. Finally, he contributed his (decisive) contribution to the Corvair Monza GT. In 1965 he moved to the Opel design department in Rüsselsheim, Germany, where he would complete four years. In early 1970 he became the big boss in the design department of Porsche where he did the project Impact bumper of the 911 G-series and brought it to a successful conclusion. He also looked over the shoulder of Wolfgang Möbius who was busy designing the Porsche 928, while the so-called Dutch Porsche designer Harm Lagaay could also enjoy Lapine in realizing the 924 and 944. He remained employed at Porsche until 1988 before freelancer to become. Anatole Lapine was not only a gifted designer, but also a modest gentleman. In the early eighties, your scribe met the man several times in historic motorsport. With the passing away an important part of Chevrolet, but also Opel and Porsche have finally slipped into the history books. Anatole Lapine died on 29 April 2012.
Photo: Anatole Lapine is responsible for the Corvette 'split window'