car design thread

I owned a Reatta convertible for a couple days, great little car.

 

couple days ?

 

Yeah.... I bought it for my wife in Scottsdale, Arizona, and while on my way through Little Rock, Arkansas I was rear-ended by a semi. I was probably going 30-ish when he struck me at a good 60-70mph. That accident is the reason I am plagued with headaches. I have a nice judgement against the owner of the truck... no money, but the piece of paper looks impressive. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get a nice cup of coffee out of the deal.

The car took the hit pretty well. Both doors were still openable (despite having, for a brief moment, overlapped the rear quarters a good inch), and it was drivable/coast-able to get it to the side of the road. Under the hood, you could see where all the engine mounting bolts had shifted, and the steering wheel was bent from the car being driven out from under me.

 

Agreed...overall a nice concept but a little too busy here and there.

 

In the very detailed Reatta article John shared they mention rust free desert cars are very desirable. Too bad the Reatta didn't make it home to AZ...

 

Home from Scottsdale... and it was a beautiful car. Red, with bumper and side trim, and a tan interior (with the analog gauges).

Now she drives a '93 300ZX

 

Very fitting to the rest of the car. My only criticism would be to make the vertical openings in the body-colored "grill" a bit wider to differentiate that feature from appearing to be a solid piece.

 

And to realize that there are multiple highly placed people in each of these corporations that think this is such good work that it should be shown. They need their vision checked.

The Nissan is atrocious.

The Lexus needed whomever did the body side to have done the front instead of this embarrassment.

The Infiniti nose needed some alternative version. They are obviously trying to get some new design language going but they stopped the process too soon. The interior might be interesting but is actually picking up some old Eames chair themes.

 

Yipes, looks like the front of the car is stuck in some kind of dimensional rift!

 

Hopefully, the number of permutations and combinations for that front-end genre is nearing exhaustion. The side view is impressive!

 

Unfortunately not an improvement....wraparound headlight treatment just tagging along with Chev/GM/even Ford....tacked-on lower bumper bit.....
The overall feeling is a bit (dare I say it....) less 'manly' (maybe 'cause SO's are having more input into the buying decision?)
Bottom line: would not sway me away from Ford/Chev choice......not even from Toy/Niss.........
Lost another opportunity......

 

Also that's a LOT of brightwork on the lower part of the front. I would think that would be better suited to featuring more "rugged" and subdued materials.

 

The 'new' Dodge Ram in '94 is still the best looking, IMO... started a whole new look in pickups. Masculine and cohesive. Sales were through the roof.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Pickup#/media/File:Truck09.jpg

Many months of styling exercises led up to it... Lutz (I think) tossing designs that looked like everyone else's.

The 1960 Studebaker Champ (Lark) pickup was used as a concept. Studebaker couldn't afford to design a new cab, so they grafted the front half of a Lark sedan on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Champ#/media/File:1962_Studebaker_Pickup.jpg

 

Those bulbous / puffy interior surfaces and switchgear, though, ouch. It's just not my thing.

 

Just saw I MX-5 RF in the flesh (I don't get out much). Wow! I just might have to lose some weight. Love the size. Love the looks. Rock 'n" Roll is here to stay.

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