Raymond Loewy Studios had also worked with Austin on the initial designs for the Austin A30, but Leonard Lord has his own Dick Burzi revise the proposals. Ken Howes worked for Ford after leaving Raymond Loewy Studios, possibly on the Ford Thunderbird. It is said that he designed the portholes in the fibreglass hardtop fitted to the 1956 and 1957 hardtops. Whether this is true or not, it seems likely that he was inspired by the Ford Thunderbird and used its forms in the 1959 Sunbeam Alpine. The Sunbeam Alpine project began in 1956 with Howes working for Rootes.