DETROIT — A former General Motors and Chrysler design and development specialist who worked on both the Corvette and the Viper will be honored by the Society of Plastics Engineers' Automotive Division with its lifetime achievement award later this year.
Roy Sjöberg spent 25 years at GM and another 12 years at Chrysler. At Detroit-based GM, he worked on the fiberglass body panels on the early models of the Corvette and helped develop the polyurethane reaction injection molding for bumper fascia on the 1975 Chevrolet Monza, the molded-in-color polyethylene front panels on the Camaro and the first molded-in-color blow molded rear spoiler on the Chevrolet Cavalier.
At Chrysler, based in Auburn Hills, Mich., Sjöberg was the chief engineer for materials engineering and executive engineer of the Viper Project, which developed the original Dodge Viper.
During the Viper Project, Sjöberg developed resin transfer molded body panels, an all-composite instrument panel surround, composite roof and other key parts. He also helped develop the Automotive Composites Consortium, a group made up of key players at Chrysler, GM and Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co. to develop composites for the auto industry.
Sjöberg will receive his award as part of the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala Nov. 6 in Livonia, Mich.