Ron Bradshaw - GT40 body designer

Does anyone have any information about Ron Bradshaw, credited with designing the GT40 body. I recently discovered that he also designed the Unipower GT, a successful small GT car utilising 1960s Mini engine and transmission installed in the rear of the car.

I hadn’t registered that he was designer of our car and haven’t been able to find a great deal about the man. Any info would be gratefully received.

Kind regards,

Mark
 
Ron Bradshaw was my boss in the Ford design office during the preparation of the GT40 for the assault against Ferrari! Not to diminish his achievements, Ron is not responsible for the design of the GT40. The original GT40 was designed at the Ford US design office (Styling) and shipped to the UK for preparation for the Le Mans race. Ron and I had the responsibility of bringing the exterior and interior design to a race ready condition. That meant that we worked closely with the Ford racing group at Slough, following their guidance, and Specialised Mouldings, who were responsible for the production of the fiberglass shells. We worked directly with John Wyer, Eric Broadley and Roy Lunn. I was responsible for the first front end used on the first Le Mans cars that was aerodynamically a disaster - Ron worked with later aerodynamic guidance and was responsible for the subsequent front ends, along with the tail spoiler. We both worked on the interior and Ron was primarily responsible for the ventilated seats that were made by Harold Radford. As a side note, I designed the steering wheel and Ron the center medallion. When I took the designs and showed them to Eric Broadley, he insisted they were both too bulky and weighty and insisted I go back and redesign them taking as much weight out as possible, which I did! Quite a learning curve! I still have one of the original flat black center medallions as redesigned and used on the first Le Mans cars!
 
Ron Bradshaw was my boss in the Ford design office during the preparation of the GT40 for the assault against Ferrari! Not to diminish his achievements, Ron is not responsible for the design of the GT40. The original GT40 was designed at the Ford US design office (Styling) and shipped to the UK for preparation for the Le Mans race. Ron and I had the responsibility of bringing the exterior and interior design to a race ready condition. That meant that we worked closely with the Ford racing group at Slough, following their guidance, and Specialised Mouldings, who were responsible for the production of the fiberglass shells. We worked directly with John Wyer, Eric Broadley and Roy Lunn. I was responsible for the first front end used on the first Le Mans cars that was aerodynamically a disaster - Ron worked with later aerodynamic guidance and was responsible for the subsequent front ends, along with the tail spoiler. We both worked on the interior and Ron was primarily responsible for the ventilated seats that were made by Harold Radford. As a side note, I designed the steering wheel and Ron the center medallion. When I took the designs and showed them to Eric Broadley, he insisted they were both too bulky and weighty and insisted I go back and redesign them taking as much weight out as possible, which I did! Quite a learning curve! I still have one of the original flat black center medallions as redesigned and used on the first Le Mans cars!

Hi Peter,

I have messaged you. I'd love to talk to you for possible inclusion in the Ultimate GT40 Book. You are already in there with photos but you can probably help me with a lot of things.

Regards,


Graham.
 
Ron died a couple of years ago here in Victoria, Australia. I became friendly with him in the 1980s when I was in Product Planning and he was in Design in Ford Australia. He was involved with the interior design of the EA26 Falcon. I am getting more details of his death date. There were no death notices in the main newspapers here in Melbourne. Ron was also a painter of landscapes and Australian country outbuildings.
 
Interesting reading.
In all this history i did not see Len Bailey showing up, from what i have read he also paid an important role on the path to the final bodydesign.
 
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