U.S. automotive designer born in Toledo, Ohio who attended the University of Michigan for two years starting in 1936, and took evening courses at Cranbrook Academy. In 1939, he was accepted into a styling school being started at General Motors in 1939 by Harley Earl, and received an initial salary of $75 per month. In 1940 he was promoted into the advanced styling studio, then into the Chevrolet studio where he worked on the 1942 Chevrolet. During World War II he became a supervisor of the wartime M4A2 tank program at Fisher Body for GM. He later served in the U.S. Army Air Force, and rejoined GM as a senior stylist after the war. Bordinat left GM and joined Ford in 1947 as supervisor of advanced styling with the Lincoln-Mercury Division. He became vice president of design in 1961, succeeding George Walker, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1980, longer than anyone in Ford Styling. Designs during his tenure included the Ford Mustang, Falcon, Pinto, and Lincoln Continental Mark III. His staff at Ford included famous designers John Najjar, Elwood Engel, Joe Oros, Damon Woods, Herbert Tod, Gail Halderman, Charles Phaneuf, John Foster, and David Ash. He was a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America since its formation in 1965.