The art of automotive designers from 40 years ago captures the speed, romance and beauty of the vehicles and concept cars they helped create.

'Designing an Icon: Creativity and the American Automobile,' now in the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery at Wayne State University, features some 100 of these drawings -- some almost cartoons, many fully sketched and fleshed out in gouache, pastel, flow pen, Prismacolor pencil, markers and gesso.

Primarily muscle cars, defined by the artists as mid-size cars with large, powerful engines, plus some dragsters, the framed works were recently gathered for an exhibition by the Louisville Visual Art Association.

'Designing an Icon' will be at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, 480 W. Hancock, through January 16. It opened November 21. The gallery is open to the public, free of charge, Tuesdays through Fridays.

Although they aren't considered fine art in the strict sense, these working drawings easily capture the attention and admiration of anyone interested in design and color.

'Calling on their drawing skills as their first and best line of communication, the designers' earliest sketches were usually small, almost memo-like doodles as they explored the sea of possibilities,' writes William Porter, who shared his immense artistic talent with General Motors over a 38-year career.

Porter, who lives in Birmingham, now teaches design at Wayne State University and at the College for Creative Studies.