From the December 2017 issue
Jim Dunne modestly dismisses the idea that he is the father of automotive spy photography, noting that various newspapers in the 1950s had printed snapshots of development prototypes from time to time before he elevated the game to a professional level. But in 1964, Dunne and modern spy photography got serious.
Employed at the time by Popular Science as its Detroit editor, Dunne had been augmenting his reports with photography of new cars as they were rolled out at official press previews. Dunne?s shots of the second-generation Chevy Corvair were different; they were snapped from a covert vantage point overlooking the fence of the secured General Motors proving grounds in Milford, Michigan?a hideout later dubbed Dunne?s Grove. The car was months away from its public reveal. Dunne sent the shot to his Pop Sci editor and waited for a reaction. The editor wrote back: ?Jim, it?s electrifying. Can you send us more"?
Dunne was off and running. During his career with Pop Sci and later with Popular Mechanics, he expanded his client list and range of lurks. From standing hip deep in snow near Bemidji, Minnesota, in the middle of winter to enduring triple-digit heat in the Arizona desert, Dunne chased engineering drives and prototypes with dogged determination. To make his life a little easier, he acquired a parcel of land abutting Chrysler?s Arizona proving grounds with a convenient view of the test track. It took a while before Chrysler caught on ...