Calling jm2......jm2.......chime in..........The Story of the Pontiac...
Jack Folden sketch. I had 2 Fieros. The 1st was a 4 banger and then a V6 GT. Fun cars. GM finally 'fixed' them and got them right........then cancelled the car The next generation was going to be cooler, but never saw the light of day. I was in Cadillac working on the 'downsized' Eldo & Seville , when the Fiero was being developed so I wasn't involved. I went to Pontiac later after the Fiero was DOA.
Did Chevrolet ever try to get their own version of the Fiero built for production or as a prototype design idea?
Not to my knowledge. Don't remember seeing any Chevy models built around the Fiero architecture. The Corvette was their 2 seat entry. I'm sure they weren't happy that Pontiac had the Fiero.
Are beautiful cars a thing of the past? : http://cardesignnews.com/articles/design-essay/2017/12/are-beautiful-cars-really-a-thing-of-the-past
Okay, I love this design. And it's American. They say it has an, "American stance" with the cab a little further back than the Italian cars, and I think that's right. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/12/01/american-supercar-have-1-150-horsepower/912441001/ I like this better than any current Ferrari design, but not what I consider the classics. And it's fairly original. Image Unavailable, Please Login
J.Mays on the future of car design: https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/rca-blog/mobility-futures-j-mays/
Fascinating. I loved this bit: "J Mays: Absolutely. I’m of the opinion that – as a designer – unless you control everything, you control nothing." In my formative years at the Guitar Institute, our motto was, "Freedom is control." You want to be free on the guitar? Then you have to be in control of it. Almost a universal truth.
I have a request for my F-Chat peeps to help me out at school. Next semester I'm teaching an Exterior Studio class where we don't have a sponsor from the car industry. With no sponsor, i've got to come up with a meaningful assignment that would be a great learning experience, a good piece for the student's portfolios, and a good PR piece for the school. Clay models would probably be an integral part of the assignment. It's a 15 week assignment consisting of product research, customer research, developing an architecture, sketching, rendering and a clay model of the final design. What do you think would be an appropriate design brief? Autonomy? A sedan? An SUV? A 'future' scenario such as carless cities in 2030? A beautiful car for Pebble Beach in 2040? A Pick Up for 2040? What would you like to see as an unbridled creative design effort from hungry students. I have my own ideas, but i'm interested to hear what the 'general population would like to see? Whatta ya got? Let's hear it.Give me your most creative suggestions.
Probably nothing like you're thinking of, but I'd give them the hard points of an iconic car, and assign them to create a new design on those hard points. The musical equivalent would be for me to assign a student to compose a fugue on an already famous subject (Theme).
Good thought. Getting students to work over hard points of existing cars is what they'll be doing for the next 40 years., But i'll think of some examples, thanks.
Lot's to choose from. I would say either: Autonomous vehicle (maybe each student has a unique user to design around) SUV 15-20 years from now, what will they look like? Pebble Beach 2040 - if you throw out the more mundane constraints to vehicle design, can you design a car that is more beautiful than a Pebble Beach winner? It's pretty hard to do. Sounds like fun! -F
Alternatively I was thinking, take an ugly duckling and recast it into a beautiful swan. The other ideas are better. I mean, what you rather do, create a future Pebble Beach winner or redesign the damned Aztek? -F
Thanks for inviting us to weigh in – it's an honour! What if your students tackled a problem along the lines of a live-driver city/commuter car with a small-displacement ICE, hybrid, electric, or fuel-cell powertrain which can be collapsed into half its rolling volume when stationary (i.e. parked)? This could draw inspiration and solutions from Gordon Murray's OX, Japanese Kei cars, collapsible bicycles, Transformer toys, rolling luggage, etc. It could also open the door to 'alternative' sponsors such as Gordon Murray Design, industrial design firms, car-share companies, and so on.
Nice idea.... I think you should mix it up a little. Maybe have them do everything from a future 18 wheeler or bus to a moon buggy (since Mr Trump says we are going back). Also try a few really hard retro's. Make them do a 1959 Chevrolet or Cadillac and tell them to make it attractive in a modern interpretation. Test them!! I remember the old 1960's GM bus and truck concepts were very interesting and inspirational. And as always a few sportscars.
