car design thread

The Centurian was a design by Chuck Jordan.

 

Yes it was. Among other vehicles.

 

I built a model of the Lincoln Futura when I was a kid....

Was surprised, years later, to see it painted black as the Batmobile.... interesting history, copies...

 

COULD. NOT. AGREE. MORE.

 

Paging Raymond Loewy!

Amtrak has unveiled its new Acela high-speed train (top photo). Looks like the designer took their inspiration from Thomas The Tank Engine. As Fred Sanford might say- ugly as Aunt Esther.

If you have ever had the opportunity to observe the existing Acela (bottom photo), it is a thing of beauty and hard to take your eyes off.

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Looks like they're going back instead of forward with the design.

 

Maybe they are doing like the automakers and trying to camouflage the beautiful new design?

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Maybe they hired an aerodynamicist from an F1 team...

 

Nissan Apx
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Ferrari Design is hitting their stride IMO. From Ferrari Magazine.

How a completely fresh design language has emerged from Maranello, from SF90 Stradale to Ferrari Roma
Words
Chris Rees
Ever since Ferrari set up its own dedicated design department, Ferrari Centro Stile, under the direction of Flavio Manzoni in 2010, design at Maranello has evolved in bold new directions.

This evolution truly came of age in 2019, with the launch of no fewer than five new Ferrari models, heralding in a new era of design language. Just like the spoken tongue, Ferrari’s design language has many dialects, conveying the multi-faceted make-up of its model range. The common theme is an expressive confidence that represents a true symbiosis of design and engineering teams.

Chief Design Officer, Flavio Manzoni, says: “One of the key reasons why Centro Stile was created, was to be able to work with a very high level of synergy with the engineers – to combine art and science. There is a very close relationship between form and content, between the external surface and internal components. Perhaps it is only experts who can really appreciate just how interconnected form and function have become.”



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The Ferrari Roma’s cockpit epitomises Ferrari’s Dual Cockpit ethos, with two spaces that wrap around driver and passenger, extending into the rear cabin


The first of the five new models unveiled during 2019 was the F8 Tributo, about which design team leader Carlo Palazzani comments: “The F8 Tributo’s shape is quite disruptive for a Ferrari berlinetta; it’s the most extreme look ever on such a car. It represents a bridge towards a new design language at Ferrari.”

Just what the F8 Tributo was bridging towards soon became abundantly clear with the unveiling of Ferrari’s SF90 Stradale – a truly epoch-changing car that completely rewrites rulebook on mid-rear-engined sports berlinetta proportions.

“The design is something between a race car and a spaceship,” says Flavio Manzoni. “The cabin has a small frontal section, like an aeronautical cockpit, giving a cab-forward effect. This helps provide a lot of tension between front and rear – a slingshot effect.”

The SF90 Stradale’s cab-forward look also has an emblematic meaning, perhaps: the design is forward-looking and innovative. It truly conveys the car’s mission as an extreme supercar, with performance and technology to the fore.

One of the main areas where design and performance synergise is aerodynamics. The F8 Tributo, for instance, features front ‘channels’ that not only funnel air to cool the brakes, but also form a strong design element that’s replicated in the side body air intakes.



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The F8 Tributo’s spoiler appears to ‘wrap’ around the twin-light rear clusters, visually lowering the car’s centre of gravity


Of course, every new model has to be instantly recognisable as a Ferrari. While the latest designs undoubtedly draw inspiration from Maranello’s iconic classics, they are resolutely focused on the future.

The SF90 Stradale’s rear end design is a prime example, says Manzoni: “The flying rear buttresses are a highly characteristic Ferrari element – as in the 330 P4, for instance – but with an absolutely futuristic interpretation.”

Lighting, too, illuminates the road ahead – almost literally. For instance, the F8 Tributo’s LED technology allows for very compact headlamps, and therefore space for a cooling air intake above the lights. The SF90 Stradale’s headlights move firmly away from the L-shaped look, to a slender slit design, while its rear lamps are no longer circular but sliced top and bottom to give a very aggressive look.

Design is as crucial inside the car as it is outside. In the SF90 Stradale, a track-derived “eyes on the road, hands on the wheel” philosophy significantly influences the interior. For instance, the all-digital instrument cluster is a 16-inch curved HD screen that’s fully configurable via the steering wheel, which features an innovative touchpad.

The final car unveiled by Ferrari in 2019 is the Ferrari Roma, a very different design inspired by the golden age of Italy’s ‘dolce vita’ era of the 1960s, whose epicentre was Rome.



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The headlights of the SF90 Stradale have a ultra-slender slit design, marking a clean break away from traditional shapes


The Ferrari Roma emphasises ultra-modern minimalism, as Flavio Manzoni explains: “The long bonnet and compact coupe glasshouse recall the Italian design language of the sixties, but this car is not nostalgic in any respect. It’s extremely modern: the soul of the sixties in a contemporary design.”

Matteo De Petris, head of Advanced Design, adds: “We worked long and hard on the shape of the cabin volume to make the car even sleeker, characterised by a prominent ‘shark nose’ look and a set-back A-pillar.”

That sense of sleek, alluring elegance is carried into the interior, as Fabio Massari, Interior Lead Designer, says: “When you open the door, you find two inviting, almost symmetrical living spaces, two cells that wrap around driver and passenger.”

The Ferrari Roma occupies one extreme of the design spectrum, while the SF90 Stradale is very much at the other end. Such contrasts demonstrate with absolute clarity how Ferrari’s new language of design is evolving in very different and excitingly fresh directions.

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looks like an insect

 

We've been here before.
The domestic take on Cadillac 'art and science' before>

Art
The “art” part of the name refers to what we traditionally imagine when we think about design. Cadillac’s latest design language isn’t new: it was adopted in 1999 and has been in part attributed to the brand’s ongoing resurgence. In the ’90s, Cadillac models had become softer and friendlier, with rounder bodies that departed from its earlier cars with big, bold square grilles.

This remained true for a few years after 1999, but as it developed the Art & Science design language, Cadillac began going back to its roots. The idea was to “incorporate sharp, sheer forms and crisp edges,” and it’s easy to see that coming together on the automaker’s most recent models. The big bold grille is back, and the edges look sharp enough to accidentally cut yourself should you try to lean against them.

Science
The other part of the design language is “science,” which is all about imparting to onlookers that the car is equipped with state-of-the-art technology features through the way it is designed. Cadillac describes it as “a form vocabulary that express bold, high-technology design and invokes the technology used to design it.” In other words, it hopes that people can look at the car and immediately understand that it packs high-end technology, even without having any more information than what it looks like.

That’s a tough thing to do, though the automaker’s arguably succeeded—after all, when was the last time you looked at a Cadillac and didn’t assume it had the latest technologies on the market? Then again, that might be down to the reputation that comes with the badge more than anything else.

 

Ha.
I wasn't even going to mention Cadillac and Art &Science. Cadillac developed that strategy/ design language/moniker 20+ yrs ago.
But Cadillac no longer embraces that design vocabulary.
So if Ferrari wants to embrace it, so be it.

 

Bertone Corvette Nivola
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Long ago, Bertone did this Corvette proposal, the Ramarro, to see if GM wanted to use his talents. He visited GM Design with his car. I cornered him and asked if he'd sign my Bertone book. He was surprised anyone would want his autograph. Cool guy.

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Man I love Bertone

 

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a very aggressive shape compared to what Ferrari chose for the 308 series...

 

a crisp look>

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He was certainly one of my heroes as a young designer. Loved his work.

 

At the time I thought that car was very cool.
Now..........hummmmm

 

Its what Toyota stole for the first gen MR2

 

This is exactly like my '74 FIAT X1/9, and those are exactly the colors for the paint and interior. And, this is exactly the ad that made me dream of that car. Got one a year old with 4.5K miles on it. Well off guy from Alamo Heights bought it for his wife, but it had no AC, so he got her something else. Got it the last months of '75, and I was hooked on Italian cars and the idea of "handling" immediately.
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I still think it's one of the coolest designs ever, for a light sports car. I liked it more than the MG's and Triumphs.

And I drove an MG, and the X1/9 was much more refined in the handling department. Gymkhana sleeper.

My favorite all time Bertone design. It won the WRC from '74 to '76 when I was in high school. Subscribed to the mags.

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I wish Ferrari had done more with Bertone.

 

Yeah, It would be better without the roof.

 

Coolest. Car. Ever. Ever!



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https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/the-story-behind-bertone/?fbclid=IwAR0nPtaFAEnemmosytcFaWLC7hX1v5zwJwqJKoUzilg_iowPJcxuaEKuckc