Makes the original renders look good in comparison…… They’re a parody of every “safety” design cliche bundled together into one……
Rumor has it that a certain FChatter consulted on the size ratio for wheel:body. All the best, Andrew.
The Blue Job—Buzz Grisinger’s Test October 28, 2022Leave a commentJim Farrell Image Unavailable, Please Login The Blue Job—Buzz Grisinger’s Test By Jim and Cheryl Farrell Handsome as a movie star and a physical fitness nut all his life, Buzz Grisinger would often astound his co-workers by doing numerous push-ups or pull-ups on command. He was a prize-winning competitive swimmer into his late 80s, and stayed interested in car design until his death at age 91. Grisinger graduated from the Boeing School of Aeronautics, taught at Boeing, and was a designer at Chrysler in the 1930s. He worked on the Manhattan Project (atomic bomb) during WWII, and then designed cars at Kaiser-Fraser until 1952, when he and co-worker Rhys Miller became independent Detroit area designers. Grisinger and Miller submitted a proposal for the Mark II design contest and were later hired as Ford designers. Grisinger’s first assignment at Ford was to design the continental kit used on the ‘56 Thunderbird. He was then named head of the Mercury pre-production studio, where he designed the Blue Job. Before starting the Blue Job, Grisinger was told there was not much chance it would become a production car, but management wanted to see “what he could do.” Grisinger acknowledged that “Blue Job” was a funny name for a concept car, but he was more interested in its design. Grisinger was a hands-on designer who was involved with every aspect of cars designed in his studio. Other studio designers who worked on the Blue Job included Ed Westcott, Dick Kessler, Bob Cheida, Jerry Morrison, Ed Iser, Herb Todd, and Chuck Berry. Doug McComb was the head clay modeler. Grisinger and many of his studio designers were aware the Blue Job was Grisinger’s test. They recall that Grisinger made most of the decisions concerning design of the Blue Job, and was actively involved even in the clay modeling of the car. As was customary, the Blue Job was a concept car designed differently on each side. When done, management was impressed enough to have the car built as a full-sized clay model, although it had no interior and the doors, trunk, and hood did not open. When a workable retractible concept became common knowledge at Ford, all studios at the Styling Center wanted to produce their own retractible model. Studies showed that a Lincoln and Mercury retractibles were feasible, and Thunderbird and Edsel full-sized clay model retractibles were built. The 1957–59 Ford Skyliner was the only retractible produced at Ford, although the retractible mechanism was later used on Thunderbird and Lincoln convertibles. Dick Noe was a design engineer Grisinger recruited from Chrysler. Noe was an MIT graduate who, after he came to Ford, designed and engineered a retractible model of the Blue Job called the Strato-Top. It was simpler and less expensive to build than the retractable model earlier developed by Continental Division. Because there was no money in the Mercury studio budget, Noe’s innovative retractible model only got as far as detailed renderings and a full set of engineering drawings. Features of Noe’s Blue Job with Strato-Top included the following: A light-weight Plexiglas sliding top panel over the front-seat area that retracted back over the rear section of the roof and then into the trunk. An anodized aluminum sunshade that could be used to block off the Plexiglas panel. Easily adjusted top channel guides. The entire retractible mechanism slid on inexpensive nylon bushings. Weather seals and header bumpers were made of nylon and inexpensive. The header was easily attached and had built in drains The headliner was molded plastic cemented to the roof. Inexpensive flexible driveshafts that were operated by reversible electric motors and located at the centerline of the roof. The trim and the outer part of the backlight folded inward and retracted with the remaining backlight into the trunk. A folded and stamped roof structure with interchangeable right and left side panels. Because Noe’s Strato-Top retractible roof design was simple and inexpensive, Grisinger and management thought it could be produced for far less cost than the Ford retractible, and that it would look more like the standard two-door hardtop model than the Ford retractible. The failure of the Ford retractible to sell up to expectations ended any hope for a Mercury retractible model. Grisinger’s Blue Job and the other cars his studio produced led to his appointment as head of the Lincoln-Mercury studio when Gene Bordinat was named Ford’s new chief designer in 1961. Grisinger retired in 1971, and moved to California, where he continued to be actively involved in car design, and at one point, was recruited as a clay modeler at Concept Center (Ford of California). Grisinger enjoyed the weeks he spent at Concept Center so much he said he was sorry to leave. 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A lot of the early electric cars were deliberately hideous. For example, the BMW i3. It certainly made them stand out on the road and make you notice them. It fit in with a kind of eco-warrior who wanted to be seen driving an obviously hybrid/electric car, so it was about making a statement. Could something similar be going on with the mail cars but for safety reasons? By making them as deliberately hideous and ungainly-looking as possible, will people more readily notice them and therefore might not crash into them when they're moving slowly and stopping frequently? All the best, Andrew.
Andrew, I wish your theory was correct. But I highly doubt it. It would appear that a specific set of criteria were established, and the so called 'design team' followed the criteria religiously without regard for any aesthetic sensibilities. I could be wrong, but........... "Well we followed all the rules."
OK all you Pontiac aficionados, Adam posted the first of our Pontiac design videos. And all you Pontiac haters, you’re welcome to just move along.
And we all know there's no rules for aesthetics.......right? ooops, hoist on the petard of our own "rules".....
One of the first statements I would make to my Trans Design classes was: "There's only one rule in design..........there aren't any." But the Postal vehicle had their own set I guess. I know what it was like to have a set of criteria/rules that were cast in stone. It's not fun. This particular vehicle had an impossible set of criteria to deal with, and the final result certainly showed it. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not a bad angle! Guessing a flavor of small block, and parked in the Heritage Center - though was recently at the Petersen ... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Is there a link anywhere you know of that discusses how low vol tooling is done? Im just curious since my biz also has different tooling depending on volume
MISTER, WE COULD USE A MAN LIKE ZORA ARKUS-DUNTOV AGAIN: 38 Amazing Vintage Ads for Chevrolet Corvettes From the 1950s and Early 1960s. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Kirksite dies: Kirksite dies are used in our rapid prototype, and low volume production area (Typically less than 5000 pieces). Kirksite is an alloy comprised primarily of zinc with aluminum and copper additives. The key advantages of using kirksite to make a die is it's low melting temperature of 750 degrees. https://www.eazall.com/kirksite
