Former Shelby American designer John Chun dies at age 84

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Former Shelby American designer John Chun. Photo courtesy John King.

John Chun, an industrial designer who began his automotive career with the "dream job" of sketching design proposals for Shelby American, has died.

For years, Chun was known to friends and neighbors only as the friendly proprietor of the Chun Mee Chinese Restaurant in Delano, Minnesota. In 2010, while cleaning out the basement of his house in nearby Mound, Chun came across old drawings from his former time as an industrial designer and, with his wife Helen's encouragement, decided to display them in the restaurant. Customers soon asked why Chun's signature was on drawings of iconic Shelby Mustangs, and with that the Korean engineer's past quickly elevated him to near-celebrity status.

Born the son of an engineer in what would become North Korea, Chun emigrated to South Korea following the conclusion of hostilities in 1953. By 1957, he'd followed a friend to the United States, initially settling near Sacremento, California. Despite holding an engineering degree from his native country, Chun soon realized that such a degree would do him little good in the United States, and returned to school (with limited mastery of the English language) to study engineering.

According to a 2011 profile of Chun in the Delano Herald-Journal, Chun proved to be an exceptional student, and at the insistence of a Sacremento Junior College professor, applied to the Art Center College of Design (ACCD) in Los Angeles. Accepted on the strength of his portfolio, Chun funded his studies by working as a mechanic for International Harvester. For seven years, Chun was both a full-time student and a full-time mechanic, but his payoff came in the form of a bachelor's degree in industrial design (with a specialty in transportation design) from ACCD.


1968 Shelby G.T. 500, one of the models Chun helped to design.


Rejected by Ford as "too old" for a beginning engineer, Chun was instead hired by Fred Goodell, chief engineer for Shelby American (who'd ironically spent many years with Ford). Goodell immediately tasked Chun with producing concept sketches for the 1967 Shelby G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 models. Though Chun's English was still somewhat limited, his rendering ability transcended any language barrier, and Shelby American moved Chun to Ionia, Michigan, in late 1967 to work with A.O. Smith on the 1968 Shelby models.

Chun remained with Shelby through late 1969, sketching drawings (sometimes "borrowed" permanently by Carroll Shelby himself) of G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 models in near anonymity. Unlike other engineers associated with Shelby (Goodell, Ford designer Pete Stacey, Charlie McHose, Joe Farrer), Chun has escaped mention in most books on the marque, aside from the odd footnote explaining that he was hired directly by Goodell.



Perhaps Chun's biggest claim to fame at Shelby was the redesign of the company's now-iconic coiled-cobra logo. Prior to Chun's arrival, the Peter Brock-designed logo featured a frontal view of of cobra, fangs bared and hood spread wide. To Chun, it lacked menace, so he set to work designing a logo with a more accurate (and far more sinister) cobra. After six months of work, Chun's idea for a coiled-cobra logo was approved, and Ford continues to utilize a variation on Chun's original design to this day.

When production of Shelby G.T. 350 and G.T 500 models ended at A.O. Smith in 1969, Ford was among the first to offer Chun a job, according to a 2012 profile of Chun in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. By this time, however, Chun was an established designer, and Chrysler came to the table with more money, so Chun moved to Highland Park, Michigan, to work for Chrysler on such designs as the Dodge Charger and Plymouth Road Runner. It didn't take long before others, outside the automotive industry, looked to take advantage of Chun's talents, and in the early 1970s Chun moved to Minnesota to work for Tonka Toys.


John Chun's design for the 1968 Shelby GT350. Image courtesy of KJC Design.

Chun's resume also includes time as a contract engineer for appliance manufacturer Whirlpool and founder of consulting firm Trans Industries. On the automotive side, Chun contributed to the design of the Bradley GT II kit car, and was asked by Hyundai to consult on the design of a car for the North American market. (Hyundai ultimately rejected Chun's ideas, instead favoring a collaboration between ItalDesign and Mitsubishi that would launch in Canada as the Hyundai Pony).

When his design background with Shelby American came to light a few years back, Chun became something of a celebrity within the Shelby community. In 2011, while recovering from treatments for stomach cancer, Chun received a call from Carroll Shelby himself, phoning to wish Chun a speedy recovery and to talk about the old days. Perhaps that's proof enough that Chun's role in the Shelby organization was more pivotal that previously documented.