In Summer 1955 a team led by Clare MacKichan started work on the new General Motors A-body, to be used by both Chevrolet and Pontiac for their 1958 models. Harley Earl signed off the original sketches and a new longer, lower, wider GM car started on the road to production. Clare MacKichan had designed a 1955 Chevrolet hardtop coupe and then been posted away to Germany. In his absence the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air was launched, and the public did not like its Ferrari-esque grille, so MacKichan was called back to hastily come up with a new front for the 1956 Bel air. MacKichan and Harley Earl then had to repeat the whole exercise again for 1957 fearing that the brand new Ford of that year would conquer the market since Chevrolet could not provide a new body until 1958. In the 1962 Clare went to Germany and created the Opel Kapitan, Opel Admiral, and Opel Diplomat, partly with an eye on selling these in America to combat the rise of the VW Beetle. He also oversaw a project to creat an Opel GT car, which was exhibited at the 1965 Paris Salon. Clare called Chuck Jordan from America to restyle this coupe for production and it was launched as the Opel GT in 1968.