Cooper Hewitt says...
William M. Schmidt graduated from the Henry Ford Trade School in 1940 and quickly took a job at Ford as a tool designer. During World War II, Schmidt was transferred to Ford’s Air Frame Building and eventually to the Willow Run bomber plant, where he designed tools for use in the building the B-24 bomber. Though he had never designed cars before, his tool drawings were so impressive that he was transferred to Bob Gregorie’s Design Department in 1944, where he helped design the Light Ford that later became the French Vedette. In 1947, Schmidt was named head of the Lincoln Studio, where he redesigned the 1950 and 1951 Lincolns and served as Lincoln’s chief designer until 1954. He was also instrumental in developing the Lincoln Futura concept design that was used as one of the original Batmobiles in the 1960s television show "Batman". Schmidt left Ford in early 1955 to become vice president and head of Studebaker-Packard’s design department. While there, he helped design the Packard Predictor concept car. In late 1955, Schmidt moved to Chrysler, where he stayed for two years. After he left, he continued to do automobile design consulting work at his own firm, which he had started as a side business in 1940.
