Detroit News Feature: The World Of Auto Design And Clay Models

In an era of computer-aided design and 3-D printing, one traditional craft remains in automakers' design studios: full-size clay models.

For 80 years, clay modelers have used their hands and tools to make real the two-dimensional car designs sketched on paper. Clay is extremely malleable. It allows modelers to fair a line here, to tuck a curve there, until the body design is perfected.

"We're good with the technology, but nothing speaks to 3-D like a clay model," said Joe Dehner, head of Dodge Ram Truck exterior design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, inside the automaker's Dodge design studio in Auburn Hills. To continue reading, click here.