Breaking news - Kirban

Dennis Kirban

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
BREAKING NEWS TO SHARE WITH OUR TURBO BUICK FRIENDS - 02/16/10

Here is the link to this Inner Circle on the web site -
Inner Circle

(Photos related to this appear when you click on the above link)

Over the weekend we received an email from Molly (Rollin Sanders) explaining he has been diagnosed with cancer. Many of you have personally met Molly at one of several Reunion Events he has attended for us over the years dating back to the early 1990s.

The most recent event he attended was my 60th Birthday Bash back in 2007. At these events he signed many of your trunk ID labels and was always eager to talk to Buick owners. He has always been amazed at the passion and support Buick owners have had for the car.

For those of you that are not familiar with Molly (Molly Designs), he is responsible for the Buick Grand National concept car, including the famous "Power Six" logo (also known as the Turbo Six logo) that adorns the Grand Nationals. He also did several projects for the Buick Motorsports program and the Turbo Riviera emblems. He did the very first Turbo Buick clothing line and was the design consultant for the hardbound GNX book. The highly sought after GNX jacket bears his Molly Design label.

Many people don't realize it, but they've probably already seen some of his design work. If you've ever seen the Lexus logo, a green Kawasaki motorcycle, a yellow or blue Yamaha factory race bike, a black Grand National, or any of the Toyota racecars or transport, then you've already been introduced to some of his creations!

We are deeply saddened by this news and pray for a full recovery. He has great family and friends and a terrific sense of humor, which we know will help him through this.

We asked him if we could release this information to our Buick friends, and this was his reply -

"I would be honored to have our Buick friends pray for my family and me! You can't have too many friends talking to the Lord about this. Because my E-mail gets full prematurely, I would prefer snail mail.

I know many of you may want to give him words of encouragement, so here is his mailing address.

Molly, Terry and Brooke Sanders
2959 Country Club Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I'm sure the whole Buick community will keep him and his family in their thoughts and prayers.

Here are some photos taken from our Kirban 2007 Reunion and Birthday Bash. Molly was our special guest for the event and stayed at our home for the whole weekend. It was a great opportunity for Buick enthusiasts to meet him and have him autograph their car or memorabilia.

PHOTO 1 - Shows Molly autographing items at our Reunion and Birthday Bash. He was signing a GNX book and other Buick original pieces. A Grand National banner highlighting the turbo six logo hung in the background.

PHOTO 2 - Shows an impromptu group shot at our son's home on Sunday taken by John Spina. There were over 55 Buicks and more than 100 people gathered on Darrell’s driveway. Molly is sitting in the very front row in the white shirt.

PHOTO 3 - Show Molly autographing a Grand National go-cart. That's me in my black hat along with Paul Castle with his son, Paulie.

PHOTO 4 - Shows Molly doing a presentation at the Sunday banquet. He featured some of his accomplishments and projects he has done over the years for Toyota, Yamaha, Honda, and of course Buick.

If you would like to see more of his work, here's a link to his web site -
Molly Designs
 
Sorry to hear that..... Yep, I was one of the fans who stood in line to get Molly's autograph on my owners manual back in 90 or 91 (long time ago). Get well Molly!
 
What type of cancer? Not all are terminal.

kirban

They have found cancer in his lungs and spine. They are trying to determine where it originated in order to prescribe a course of treatment. He just found out, so that's all we know at this point.


denniskirban@yahoo.com

We also sent this to our inner circle members as special newsletter as well.
 
I never had the pleasure to meet the man, but enjoyed always reading his articles, and yours about him as well Dennis.

Not all Cancer is terminal, but those sound like some touchy locations. He will be in my prayers.

When I get home next Monday a card will be enroute to California. Every little bit help in a time like this.

Ty
 
Sad news but hopefully lord willing it can be taken care of. Big thanx to his design input on out beloved Turbo regals.

Pic in honor to his contributions
 

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Sad news but hopefully lord willing it can be taken care of. Big thanx to his design input on out beloved Turbo regals.

Pic in honor to his contributions

Unfortunately, that red GN prototype ended being crushed once GM didn't have anymore use for it...:(

Claude. :rolleyes:
 
I appreciate all the comments both here and pm I have received and will be passing the word to Molly as well. Molly had a chance to buy the prototype Grand National which is pictured in red earlier in this thread. He never envisioned the excitment that the car would generate in just a few short years after he did the project.

You have to remember that one was done on a 1983 body reason the nose is slightly different. It was then painted black and as they say the rest is history.

I can remember him telling me when Toyota approached him in the late 1980s...they were going to come out with a new high end car line. The car would be called Lexus.

He did the L in the oval that adorns every Lexus from day one. This emblem has probably become the most recognized emblem he has ever done for a car company. In sear numbers. Buick tinkered with his design of the power six (turbo logo) reason you see it overlapped one way and in some places overlaped the other direction.

As we learn more from Molly we will post information.

For GNX owners, it was his address you sent the post card in to get the GNX jacket in the size you wanted once you provided proof. I remember several years ago buying all the unclaimed remaining GNX jackets from Molly.

The very first year Toyota Solaras the ones that have the ground effects on them you can see a small badge on them that says Molly Designs. That is also his work. Later they changed everything to read TRD under one heading. He has done work for that Toyota division and done some work on the Scion as well. His design efforts can be seen on the side of Toyotas Racing Division tractor trailers as well.

denniskirban@yahoo.com
 
Bad Boys Bad Boys , Whatcha gonna do?! (inner circle)

I am saddened to hear about the cancer deal , I will pray for the best ---
 
Another tribute to Molly

For those that don't know, Molly was the original designer and painter for the Kenne-Bell Skyhawk. It was shortly after he painted the Skyhawk that he got involved with Kawasaki. Wonder where he got the Kawasaki "Green"? Molly was very helpful in getting the correct colors for the restoration. Hope I get to meet him one day. Get well soon Molly.
 

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kirban 2 cents worth

Molly has accomplished quite a lot that many of us don't realize over the years. Appreciate the above photo with the connection to Kenne Bell.

I have somewhere a magazine called Signs that also covers some of his accomplishments. Will try and find it and post.

denniskirban@yahoo.com
 
I'm saddened to hear the news of Molly's cancer diagnosis. My prayers go out to him, his family and those close to him for.

For those who would like to do more but think they can't, there is something you can do. Stanford University has what they call "Folding at Home" (Folding@home - Main) program that is similar to the SETI (Search For Extra Terrestrials) program that many of you may have heard of. Basically it is a program that you install on your computer that runs in the background and is designed to not slow your computer down when you use it.

Many people join a team that brings comradery and competitive nature to the program. There are hundreds of teams to join. I belong to Team MaximumPC and have to say it has been a very positive experience. I am not saying "You should join my team so that we do better", but I am saying there is something you can do. You don't need to join a team but it does make it a more enjoyable and fun experience, not to mention all the advice you can glean from the veteran folders there.

If this interests you, I encourage you to visit the link above and read for yourself to see if this is something you would like to try.
 
For those who would like to do more but think they can't, there is something you can do. Stanford University has what they call "Folding at Home" (Folding@home - Main) program that is similar to the SETI (Search For Extra Terrestrials) program that many of you may have heard of. Basically it is a program that you install on your computer that runs in the background and is designed to not slow your computer down when you use it.

Many people join a team that brings comradery and competitive nature to the program. There are hundreds of teams to join. I belong to Team MaximumPC and have to say it has been a very positive experience. I am not saying "You should join my team so that we do better", but I am saying there is something you can do. You don't need to join a team but it does make it a more enjoyable and fun experience, not to mention all the advice you can glean from the veteran folders there.

If this interests you, I encourage you to visit the link above and read for yourself to see if this is something you would like to try.

:confused:
 
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