Dateline: 3.28.12
Tom Benford’s Summer 1997 candid dinner interview with car design legend, Larry Shinoda.
Our celebration of the life and career of car design legend Larry Shinoda continues with this delightful interview that was originally published in the December 1997 issue of VETTE Magazine. Tom Benford and his wife Liz connected with Shinoda in August of ‘97 at the Corvettes At Carlisle Show, in Carlisle, Pa. This may well have been Larry’s last interview, as he died just 2-1/2 months later. Larry’s kidney disease had progressed to the point where he was on the list waiting for a donor kidney.
According to the Pasadena City College Celebrated Alumni Larry Shinoda page , “In poor health, Larry Shinoda remained active to the end. Larry passed away at his home in Michigan of heart failure on November 13, 1997, while working at his design desk with a phone in his hand. Larry had just passed the final tissue-match test for his kidney transplant the day before he died. Though Larry is gone, his legacy lives on.”
Larry died doing what he loved and did best – designing. To read Tom Benford’s delightful interview with design legend, Larry Shinoda, CLICK HERE. We’ll have more Larry Shinoda stories this week. – Scott
Related: Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 82nd Birthday Larry Shinoda – CLICK HERE.
We invite you to visit Tom Benford’s Corvette site, www.AllAboutVettes.com
