Aug. 23, 2019—Jim Dunne, a photojournalist who perfected taking photographs of cars that automakers wanted to keep secret, has passed away. He was 87, per a report from The Detroit Free Press.
Dunne's career stretched from the muscle car era to the dawn of autonomous vehicles. He dressed as a young engineer to sneak into design centers and take snapshots of cars. Professionally, he was what’s called a “spy photographer,” a term for the journalists who knew where to get photos of upcoming vehicles while they were still secret, and how to get details about their performance and features.
Dunne eventually ended up owning a piece of property that was actually inside Chrysler’s Arizona property. It gave him an inside look on the automaker’s new vehicles.
Dunne was born Dec. 13, 1931, in Detroit. He is survived by five daughters, two sons and 12 grandchildren.
