car design thread

Didn't youse guys know? The new KIA logo was designed by a physician!

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New to Me - 1955 Chrysler Ghia ST Special
quite nice for the period, clean with simple greenhouse. It looks like they found a couple of '53 Chevy dog bones in the Torino back 40 tho-


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Toyota finally realized the tail lights go INSIDE the body line.

 

Awesome car!

 

Chrysler had a fabulous run of Italian-bodied concept cars in the '50's.....losing in the '60's....gone by the '70's.......

 

Did anybody take a close look at that grill? Looks like it is trying to tell a story of some kind.

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Yeah, pretty much the most complex part of the car. It appears to be a development of the grille of some of the earlier cars.
I wonder if Exner kept a record of the thought process for these cars?

BTW, I got the 'dog bone' reference wrong; right year, but not Chev but '53 Olds.
Front and back on the Chrysler!
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Who knew? Mario Bellini anticipated Level 5 autonomous vehicles in 1970...Kar-a-sutra!


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I can hear the bean bags...

All the best,
Andrew.

 

...?

 

Good observation!

 

If real I guess one plus - easy to fix if smashed as nothing lines up.

 

Where is the Sketch Monkey when we need him?

My humble attempt using the smudge filter to scrape off the gingerbread:

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Better not quit your 'day job'

This is what you're going to need.

 

not much variation
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Pro Tip- Try the erase tool.

 

Pt. 2 of thePontiac Grand Prix design story:

 

Takeaway:

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Chevy for China from investor day...


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Voodoo Magic from ex-GM Brian Booth...

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/homegrown-ex-gm-designers-voo-doo-magic/?hashed_email=9098eb71dbb5872ceda0b64fcb6d9d9fde5cc7cf13e4a1a5eb543a3e1db70b5c

 

Maybe that is really the prototype for the new 4-door Corvette people are talking about?

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She's certainly no beauty...

 

Now there's an understatement.

 

Precursor to the Tesla CyberTruck?

Linea Diamante, 2018 (1953), by Giò Ponti. The famous Italian architect designed this car and made a 1:10 scale model in the hope of producing it. He approached Carrozzeria Touring planning to have a prototype built on an Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis but they weren’t interested. Next he went to Fiat who also turned the project down. 65 years later FCA Heritage director Roberto Giolito had a full-size model built for the Grand Basel classic car show. Pirelli even provided period early 1950s tyres to the correct Alfa Romeo 1900 specification .
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Enough with the cartoons, gentlemen!

While shopping for Diecast Christmas presents today, I came across a model of a long forgotten concept car- the 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt concept built by LeBaron. An interesting story and all 6 prototypes exist today. Enjoy!

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The Thunderbolt Body by LeBaron

LeBaron was a luxury coach maker that began building cars in 1931 during the heyday of high-end coaches. At the time, Lincoln, Cadillac and Packard were also competing for the big money segment of luxury land yachts. Owned by Briggs Manufacturing, LeBaron in 1941 was still an independent company, though it had traded much of its design talent to automakers of the time, including Raymond Dietrich. By the late 1940s, most automotive manufacturers had robust in-house design groups and companies like LeBaron found themselves floundering. They were bought up by Chrysler in 1953.

This background should explain why a Briggs designer, Tremulis, was involved in designing a Chrysler vehicle that was built not by the automaker but by custom coach builder LeBaron. It will also explain where one of Chrysler’s longest-running nameplates got its moniker.

The Thunderbolt was built on top of a standard C-26 chassis with conventional New Yorker chassis fittings and a 323.5 cubic inch straight eight (143 bhp) engine from the C-27 chassis of the time (Crown Imperial). On this base, LeBaron and Tremulis did their magic.

Conceived as a sports car, Tremulis wanted the Thunderbolt to live up to its name with the sleekest style and most forward-looking build possible. The car was molded as an aluminum envelope with no protruding parts – not even door handles. These smooth contours meant integrated fenders (not to be standard for another ten years), the fully-retractable and hidden hardtop (not seen in production for two decades hence), and push-button controls for everything from the hard top to the power windows and hidden headlamps were also thoughts of high innovation for 1941, but the crown jewel of prognostication for the Thunderbolt’s interior amenities was the push-button radio – something that wouldn’t appear in production for decades.

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The Six Builds

All six 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt concepts were made to be exactly the same in all but paint scheme and interior colors. Each received a different body color, including green, blue, silver, etc. Interiors were fitted with leather and Bedford cord around the aircraft-style, minimalist dashboard.

The last car to be built by LeBaron for Chrysler, the Thunderbolt had more style and predictive technology inside it than did nearly all other concepts of the 1940s.

Of the six made, only one is currently on permanent display in a museum, the silver chassis, which is at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Detroit. It adorns the main foyer of the museum as the museum’s center piece. And for good reason.

The 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt was the last of the great LeBaron builds and one of the crowning masterpieces of designer Alex Tremulis’ portfolio.