Ahead of the launch, we built this new concept, just like the rest and put it into a fuselage. We again fabricated it in every detail and shipped it down to Gatwick. That's where he had the public launch and my guys were frantically working through the night to make sure it was all perfect. Things were happening really quickly, and the press were all scheduled to start turning up by morning. We had electri=onic guys making sure all the switches worked. We had all my mates from Aston Martin working and tweaking all the upholstery.

 

But at like 2:00 am one of my guys was dangling out the bottom of the fuselage working to secure something and he feels a tug on his feet. When he slipped down and out, he finds none other than Sir Richard Branson himself. He had stopped simply to thank one of us personally and so how appreciative he was of the hard work we were putting in.

 

The whole episode was filled with irony and serendipity. But when I look back, I realize the whatever it was that made me turn that day, that fancy seven-signature check in hand, and simply ask a question, express my desire. Those are the moments you never forget. And make life really worth living. And they show you how even in adversity something amazing pops out.

 

As a designer you can do something and it can be great, or groundbreaking – but people will knock it down and say no, or it's not feasible or they don't want to do it or they prefer something else - but once you've invested in a design and know it has value, it will often have another life. It doesn't matter what or where, but sooner or later, what you've learned and done can immediately translates to another project. Perhaps it’s another Saudi Prince and he says we want you to do us an aircraft interior and it's got to be different and all this sort of stuff. In that case I've already got stuff in the drawers. I've got stuff there that's never seen the light of day but sometimes those archived concepts need time to mature and find their opportunity. I may want to mix draw #7 with drawn #3 and draw #5 - and suddenly there is something fresh and appealing and timely. It’s the turn on of the creative process. I know you know what I mean Rick.

 

Indeed I do. I mean honestly, I believe that if I if I wasn't born with that creative gene or whatever, my life would never have had the level of fulfillment it has. Business aspects withstanding, raw creativity brings so much joy. In an intellectual context, if that was somehow was taken away, I truly can’t imagine my life.

 

I know what you mean. It is hard to imagine.

 

So, Howard, when you look back on the whole Cathay / Saudi / Virgin episode, what did you learn from that? Were those life altering moments for you, for Design Q?

 

Ahh, so there were many lessons. Firstly, there were numerous turns that could only be attributed to irony and serendipity – good old fashion luck. But I also realize that much of our fate as humans, rest in our own actions. Whatever it was that made me pause and turn around that day in the conference room and boldly blurt out my broader desire to Branson - changed the course of my life. And there is a lesson there…you don’t ask, you don’t get!

 

OK so one of the other things I want to ask you has to do with automotive design. I believe high-end car interiors lead a powerful influence on aircraft interiors – and have for a long time. At least that’s my perceived notion. I think high end automotive production cars are sort of the pinnacle of mobility design and is often looked to as the standard by many aviation designers. I know you have spent parts of your career in both spaces, so I first want to know if you agree and if so, get your thoughts on that.

 

Well, yes in an overall sense, I agree of course. As you know, I spent most of my young life training to be a car designer. That's what I wanted to be. It was my dream. I was told many times it was impossible and then when I got to Jaguar and eventually became a principal designer at Jaguar, I no longer worried too much about the naysayers. By the way, my job at Jaguar was the best job ever! I mean just the best the best of the best! You're dealing with a motorcar brand that you’ve known all your life and that you feel genuine passion for. And then all of the sudden, I was helping to shape the brand and design the new models. It was a dream come true. But more to your question, yes, the level of refinement and the fit and finish in high-end cars is sort of the pinnacle, and so certainly in that way, we do often strive to hit those same levels in aircraft interiors. There are many things like far more rigorous certifications etc that make that hard to achieve – but we nonetheless strive in that direction.

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While we’re on the subject, can you tell us a Jaguar story?

 

So, when I was working at Jaguar, they had been taken over by Ford so, I got into Ford a lot and learned a lot of things, good and bad, about Ford. If you watch Lemans ‘66 the movie, you will remember how Ford is portrayed as this big company with lots and lots of layers of people that if you've got a great idea, by the time it gets to the top - there's nothing left of the idea. And it’s entirely true. It’s perhaps one of the best examples of bureaucratic erosion in a corporate environment. In my job at Jaguar, I saw that and it seemed foolish for anyone that really had something great and needed it to rise to the top. So I said to myself, why let my ideas filter through a million people when all you need to convince is the guy at the top?

 

Again referring back to the movie Lemans 66, there's a shot with Carroll Shelby in the GT40 with Mr. Ford junior (the second)- Ford’s chairman at the time – and Shelby drives until Ford almost craps his pants. More good is done in those moments where you have the man at the top as a captive audience. It’s easier said than done of course – but if I really wanted my ideas to be seen, I know there was maneuvering to be done.

 

Now cut to 1995 back at Jaguar. I found myself in a proposal, my proposal, one my boss didn't believe in, both an interior and an exterior which a lot of people resisted and marketing we're not really up for because they said we're only gonna sell 200 - that's all we’ll ever sell and it's not a program worth doing. Anyway, somehow in the hours that followed, I ended up in the car with the CEO - the man himself. The design review had taken place and the entourage of ‘yes people’ all around him pretty much all believed the boss subscribed to the ‘200 car no go’ as well. But it was my opportunity.

 

As soon as he closed the door, I said to him, you know it doesn't matter how many we sell because if we do something that is so revolutionary and desirable we won't be able to make enough of them. We need courage, your kind of courage. This was me trying my best to be a politician and I could tell something was resonating. I said, we've done everything we can to give you something to appeal to a different sort of customer. We were after the Germans basically – no chrome, no burl walnut. It was all very sleek and minimalist and Germaine. And it was also likely to be the fastest saloon Jaguar ever made. It had very large wheels and a lot of other things pushed to the limit for the day. I told hom we have an opportunity to put the saloon car on the map, to find a new market of younger, more hip buyers.

 

He said all of those suits out there. They have no idea what we're talking about he said but you're you're absolutely right. If we sell 200 of your new saloon car, well at least we've got a flagship, he said. But if we sell more than 200 then you're right, he said. I think we should do it. I think we should go for it. Marketing had reasoned that they would only sell 200 units because at the time, we had 200 dealerships – and since it was a radical, and therefore a perceived risky deign, they believed each dealer would find one buyer, because there’s always one buyer that will buy anything, simply on the off chance that it will become a classic.

 

But in the end, I’m happy to say, Jaguar sold 118,000 of them.

 

And what car was it?

 

It was the XJ6-XJ R and it was the supercharged performance version. In 1995 Jeremy Clarkson took it out for the very first Test drive at a castle launch, which is another whole story. But the importance of the moment, was that as the creator of Top Gear, he wielded a lot of power. If he didn’t like it, you were dead and vice-versa. None of us had a clue how he was going to react. All we could do is hope! And on top of that, every automotive journalist on the planet had flown in for the car’s debut. After three months of relative silence, he went on his show, I think it was a Thursday night, and said…

 

“This is the best car to come out of England for a very long time.”

 

Well, I asked for a good story…that was a good story!

 

So, Howard my friend, we’re at 5000 words so, I reckon we need to wind it down as we’re dangerously close what the esteemed Research Society for American Periodicals calls the threshold of reader attention melt-down! And we can’t have that. So, despite the fact we both know you have gobs more stories and chapters to your career – we probably need to to let ‘em go. But before we do, we have to honor our commitment way up in the beginning. We promised them your third and final childhood inspiration, the more, let’s say…esoteric one! And the best way to do that I think, is to let them run the little film below. That way they can sit back, enjoy and picture the four-year-old version of young Howard Guy, with a bowl full of Kellog's Corn Flakes in front of the telly, gettin’ his career on!

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