Oliver Winterbottom

Oliver Carton Winterbottom (24 February 1944 – 6 November 2020) was a British automotive designer who designed cars for Lotus, Jaguar and TVR.

Early years Winterbottom was born in Ashford, Kent. His father was born in Oldham, Lancashire and attended school in Shanghai before coming to England and public school. His father took up medicine and qualified at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington where he met Oliver's mother who came from Lincolnshire.

In 1952 Winterbottom was sent to boarding school in Staffordshire and at the age of 11 he was committed to becoming a car designer after having made some preliminary attempts to draw a racing car in 1952.

He attended Denstone College like his father and had science on his curriculum, but also was a cross country runner and skilled marksman in the winter season. Towards the end of this college period his father accompanied him to Jaguar Cars in Coventry to discuss an apprenticeship. He was accepted as an apprentice automobile engineer and in mid-September 1961 he started at Jaguar in Coventry in their apprentice school.

Career At Jaguar, Winterbottom was part of the team that designed the XJ21 prototype that never reached production.