The Andy Graybeal Collection

The Boulevard Cruiser is one of Andy's designs from 1952. It was designed to fill the personal runabout market, like the T-Bird or the first Corvette, only about three years in advance of them, as it turned out. It featured tunneled-type headlights and flushed rear wheel covers.

This photo, taken across the street from Gordon Vann's Body Shop shows an aluminum-bodied coupe that Andy helped design during the years of 1953-1954. Andy had to leave the project partially designed due to the army. This photo was taken on a weekend pass in the fall of 1954. Photo courtesy of Andy Graybeal.

The coupe was built around a Studebaker firewall, windshield and door mechanism. The rest of the body was inspired by the Ghia concept cars done for Chrysler in the early 1950s. Gordon decided that building his own chassis for the coupe wasn't profitable, so he built it on a Kurtis 500K chassis with torsion bar suspension. Photo courtesy of Andy Graybeal.

A photo of Andy with one of his Art Center School projects. Andy was a classmate of well-known industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist Syd Mead. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

Andy reunited with his lost portfolio. Early in 2022, Andy's daughter, Michele, told Kustomrama that several years ago, her dad received a phone call from a person, "a peddler of sorts, claiming to have his portfolio. After describing the contents, it was clear that it was indeed his old portfolio from the 60s. The man happened to be passing through LA, where I live, so he dropped it off with me. Upon unzipping the dusty, old portfolio, a treasure trove of gorgeous car illustrations were revealed. There were various non-car-related sketches inside as well." Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

Somehow Andy's portfolio had been left behind at a house and it ended up being sold to the peddler. "He took a few pieces he wanted and decided to find the owner. Thankfully he signed his artwork," Michele told Kustomrama. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

One of Andy's concept car designs from the lost portfolio. Featuring a transparent roof, this futuristic compact car was dated March 14, 1961. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

Another futuristic compact car from Andy's portfolio. This design was dated March 24, 1961. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

Another futuristic design from Andy's lost portfolio. This futuristic coupe was dated November 18, 1961. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

A BMW 3-2 design proposal from Andy's lost portfolio. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

An undated sedan design from Andy's lost portfolio. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

Another undated design from Andy's lost portfolio. Canted quad headlights and a slim front bumper are used to dress up the front end. The car has no grille, so it might be a rear-engined car as well. Photo courtesy of Michele Graybeal.

In 1953, 20-year-old Andy Graybeal happened to cruise by Gordon Vann's Body Shop in Berkeley, California. A beautiful Ferrari was parked at the entrance of the building. It belonged to a San Fransisco attorney named Alfred Ducato, and it had been featured in Sports Car Illustrated. The Ferrari was designed by Vignale, and Andy, who was an inspiring young designer at the time, decided to stop by and check out the car and the shop. He met Gordon, and they started to talk. Andy carried a sketchbook with him, containing some autos he had designed. According to Andy, Gordon was a non-conformist. If you look at his 1917 Dodge roadster, he could have found a number of T-buckets and 1932 Ford radiator shells to use when he built the roadster, but he wanted an original. Andy "marched to the beat of a different drummer as well," and they hit it off, so Gordon asked if Andy might like to try his hand at designing an aluminum coupe he had scheduled to build. Andy agreed, and Gordon gave him a little office space with a window at the West end of his shop. Andy went on to enroll at the Art Center School, where he became a classmate of well-known industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist Syd Mead. After graduating in 1960, Andy landed a job at General Motors in the Styling Department. In 2012, Andy reached out to Kustomrama and shared some of his early sketches for the Kustomrama Styling Studio. Unfortunately, Andy passed away in 2018, but early in 2022, we received an email from his daughter Michele. Michele could tell us that before he passed away, her dad received a phone call from a person, "a peddler of sorts, claiming to have his portfolio several years ago. After describing the contents, it was clear that it was indeed his old portfolio from the 60s. The man happened to be passing through LA, where I live, so he dropped it off with me. Upon unzipping the dusty, old portfolio, a treasure trove of gorgeous car illustrations were revealed. There were various non-car-related sketches inside as well." Somehow the portfolio had been left behind at a house, and it ended up being sold to this peddler. "He took a few pieces he wanted and decided to find the owner. Thankfully he signed his artwork!" Michele has been kind enough to share these unique designs with us, so thanks to Michele for keeping Andy's memory alive.