Kaptor would frequently bring plaster-cast models home of early General Motors designs.
It was one of these times that Robinson stopped the neighborhood street baseball game to study a new Cord (automobile).
At the age of 13, Robinson built a Soap Box Derby racer that incorporated adjustable suspension and a windshield into the body design.
“There's nothing I’ve done more in my life that's taught me more than building that racer.”[1] Bill Robinson was a graduate of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School.
[2] Robinson’s first job was an advertising and brochure illustrator, later moving on to Kaiser-Frazer where he had designed proposals for many early stages for 1950s Packards.
[3] Robinson moved on to the Briggs Manufacturing Company where he designed details for forthcoming Packard models.
[7] After retiring from Chrysler in 1980, Robinson started teaching transportation and industrial design classes at Detroit's College for Creative Studies (CCS) for twenty two years.
In recognition of his decades of service, the Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church (USA) in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan named its "William (Bill) Robinson Pastoral Residency" program in his honor.