Modern Breadvan https://www.thedrive.com/news/37272/theres-a-modern-ferrari-250-gt-breadvan-homage-in-the-works-using-a-v12-maranello .
What the hell were they thinking? Something like: if we pre-crash it won’t make it any uglier? Image Unavailable, Please Login
He lost me in the first 30 seconds - "a very typical designof the fifties early sixties" - seriously? There was absolutely nothing typical about the "Breadvan"; it was a one-off with nothing to do with "design" and everything to do with aero. Revisionist history to justify charging $large to mangle a nice new Ferrari. This has nothing to do with the intent of the original car; ie. pretentious bogus "design"!
In the race to be “different” they seem to have completely discounted trying to look “nice” if not beautiful... or handsome... or pretty.
Back in the 90s, when i was working in the Hollywood effect industry, there was this one designer who went by Screaming Mad George and everything he designed was way out of the box. Sometimes it was a homerun and sometimes a complete failure. I remember one time a client said to him, 'George, different isnt always good.'
I know this is going to sound argumentative, but the auto manufacturers arent sitting in their offices saying 'lets see how ugly we can design our next car and if the suckers born every minute will still buy it.' The manufacturers think their vehicles look good, if not at least cool. So its not on the buyers, its on them.
One of the great creative design talents recently passed away. He was an early mentor of mine. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/11/17/for-40-years-elias-russinoff-passed-up-promotions-just-so-he-could-keep-designing-cars-at-gm?refer=news&utm_source=edaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-11-17&fbclid=IwAR1p9UjPzio1cXjOGeibVfX9J9ejszcQHIOAWtFV2MQiGICu0p0njoMlEHE HEMMINGS FEATURE For 40 years, Elia Russinoff passed up promotions just so he could keep designing cars at GM By Daniel Strohl on Nov 17th, 2020 at 8:15 am Image Unavailable, Please Login Elia "Russ" Russinoff with his Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild model. Photo by Ron Will; renderings via The Henry Ford. Comments: 9 In This Article Category: Featured posts Elias "Russ" Russinoff could have name-dropped to beat almost anybody in Detroit; he'd met Harley Earl, was personally hired by Bill Mitchell, and worked alongside Chuck Jordan. Russinoff could have climbed the GM ladder like many of his contemporaries; he showed initiative and leadership capabilities alongside the requisite creativity for a GM designer. But the avowed auto design enthusiast never did, preferring instead to keep designing cars up until his recent death at age 90. "It was my dream come true," Russinoff wrote of his design career in 2002. "And yes, I still have gasoline in my veins." He'd set his heart on auto design as a teenager just after World War II ended. He'd already filled all the margins in his schoolbooks with car sketches for some time, according to the essay he wrote for John Jacobus' The Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild: An Illustrated History, so at 16 he signed up for a correspondence course advertised in the back of Popular Mechanics. According to the ad for the Woodward Avenue-based Detroit Institute of Automobile Styling, the course was "personally directed by Harley J. Earl" and the students got "the sincere help and advice of a staff of outstanding designers currently working on top car styling." Image Unavailable, Please Login "What a break!" Russinoff wrote. "The course taught me the do's and don'ts of car design." Specifically, he told other interviewers, the course reiterated Earl's "design rules" of making cars longer, lower, and wider. Not long after, he'd get a chance to put those principles to use. His father, who had started as a die designer and engineer at Ford in 1920 and later moved to the Fisher Body division of GM, showed Russinoff a flyer for the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild contest and supplied him with a block or two of wood he could use to carve his entry. It took me a year to design and build my first model... After submitting the rather crude model, I visited the GM building to see all the entries on display, and was flabbergasted! What a rude awakening: the top models boasted chrome moldings and aluminum wheelcovers that were turned on metal lathes. Those models featured bumpers, plastic headlights, window moldings, license plate brackets, hood ornaments, and everything a finished production car would have. My wheels had been turned on an inexpensive lathe, which was not very accurate, since the wheels were not exactly round.Humbled but not dissuaded, Russinoff gave it another shot the next year and took third place in the Michigan state competition. Then in 1949, after he'd perfected his techniques of carving mahogany, hand-filing and chrome-plating brass components, milling the wheels on a tabletop lathe, and painting using a spray gun attachment for a Hoover vacuum cleaner, he took first place in the national senior division with a rear-engine sedan. For his 500 hours of labor over eight months he won a $4,000 scholarship and, more important, gained the conviction that the had the talent to become an auto designer. Image Unavailable, Please Login Russinoff's 1949 Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild model. Image via John Jacobus. Where exactly he should spend the scholarship money, though, was a problem. Art Center in Pasadena was renowned for turning out auto designers, but was too far away, and no other school had an automotive design program at the time. Russinoff spent a little time at Meinzinger Art School to learn how to render, but on advice from GM designer Homer LaGassey, he applied to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, which had an established relationship with GM. After my school day, I would meet with three or four other students who were also car enthusiasts to talk about and sketch (what else?) cars and more cars. General Motors offered a student program at its Design headquarters during the summer, in in my fourth year at Pratt (1954), I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the program. I learned that summer that car design is a collaborative effort. Our full-sized airbrushed renderings were critiqued by the professionals on the design staff. An unexpected highlight of the summer was a visit by Harley Earl himself! It was great fun. Bill Mitchell, assistant head of GM's styling staff, came to Pratt during my final year in search of design talent. After seeing my portfolio and model he remarked that I had "gasoline in my veins." I was lucky to be hired by the styling leader, and by General Motors... What an exciting time that was!The Army drafted him right out of college, but after a two-year stint, he took up his post at GM in 1957, specifically in Ned Nickles' Chevrolet studio where, alongside Ken Genest and under lead designer Pete Wozena, he contributed sketches for the design of the Chevrolet Corvair. Image Unavailable, Please Login Elia "Russ" Russinoff renderings via <a href="https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/search-results#advancedSearch=1&tab=artifact-results&s.0.in=creators&s.0.for=Russinoff,%20Elia,%201930-&years=0-0&perPage=10&pageNum=2&sortBy=relevance">The Henry Ford</a>. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Assignments in a number of other GM studios followed, from the Pontiac and Oldsmobile production studios to the Aero and Advanced Vehicle Concepts studios. Russinoff took credit for the 1966 Pontiac Grand Prix front end as well as some third-gen F-body elements, but most of his designs focused on more far-flung ideas, all rendered as long, low, and wide as possible. "I don't think he ever worked in a production studio," retired GM designer Paul Tatseos said. "It doesn't surprise me that he passed over opportunities for promotion. He was very intensely into car design right from the beginning." Since retiring in 1995, Russinoff remained active in auto design circles, contributing to the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild reunions, participating in the League of Retired Automotive Designers activities, and displaying his work in Detroit-area exhibits of original automotive renderings. One of his renderings is currently on display in the Detroit Institute of Arts's current exhibition, Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950-2020 while his Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild models are currently on display at the Gilmore Car Museum. Russinoff died on November 11 at the age of 90.
So was he always in one of the Advanced Studios and remained one of the board designers; no assistant studio chief?
Russ had an interesting career. He spent probably 98% of his career in the Advanced Design Studios. I think near the end of his career he was made an Assist. Chief Designer. Russ was more of an idea generator than a production oriented designer. He didn’t lack for wild ideas. Both types are necessary for a successful design. However, the money and power/control resided in being near the final product in a Production Studio.
To be fair I dont think the consumer has much of a choice to choose an affordable (including running cost), yet reliable car that's beautiful... why? because there's an automotive monopoly and in this system companies can finesse the consumer to ever replace their products as appliances are. If life was simple these companies can throw money at Rolls Royce designers to achieve true beauty. interesting post by the Sketch Monkey. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I’m not certain you understand how the process works. The designers at Rolls, while very talented, are no more talented than those at most other companies. Given all the constraints, they would probably reach the same design conclusions. While I certainly agree that most cars/SUVs look the same today, super car design has become plagued by a similar sameness.
Perhaps electrification will further design differentiation as a result of less limiting package constraints. Looking at Cadillac, the pivot towards crisp and contemporary as, presumably, a signal to modern EV technology/power. Maybe we get simple beauty, angular or curvaceous, as opposed to that of tacked on elements.