car design thread

Why did I know the Aztec would become part of the conversation?

 

Although I find the piece less than focused; to summarize the authors position as I read it, auto designer lack the intellectual rigor of architects.
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Having just delineated the challenges of the two endeavours, he appears to place the same weight that "the economics of production" puts on automotive production and building production, completely ignoring the obvious differences in scale, materials, and "risk". On the surface the processes are similar, but in reality the context couldn't be much different. Both have a client, a brief, and an array of functional, aesthetic and technical (eg.NATSA, building codes) requirements that need to be met, but the manufacturing and financial "risks" are vastly different.
If I design a building of reasonably modest size, the risk to the client is, although not insignificant, probably not crippling or irreparable. This is a far cry from the economic damage a market missing design can cause. It seem he has forgotten the near death experience of 2008.
There is a substantial difference between the commitment in these two examples.

 

Man I miss his cantankerous reviews.

 

I absolutely love this.

 

Look up the word curmudgeon in the dictionary and there’s probably a picture of him.

 

Finally a forward cab van design... except its limited to certain markets, North America not one of them.
Hyundai Staria MPV

youtube.com/watch?v=5Th69BMWxCE
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The "new" Pontiac Trans Sport?

 

I wasn’t going to go there.

 

I dig it

 

Made me think of TexasForever's issues with big wheels.....and you don't even see the BMW-ish grille.......
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more nissan axxess, no?

 

Big wheels?
I'll raise you big exhausts & big spoilers.

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Well, yours is just for looks........mine is functional!
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Awesome.
Unbridled creativity.

 

Big Red re-discovered. (Trailers still MIA)

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https://www.foxnews.com/auto/big-red-ford-turbine-truck-discovered

(Sound on the video in article is spotty but covers some interesting proposed features that are now common)

 

What a great story!
There are countless tales of vehicles that got 'lost' or misplaced from the mfg over the years. Glad this one survived.

 

How do manufacturers lose or misplace their prototypes? I can't imagine misplacing a car.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Many reasons.
Misplaced paperwork. Nefarious reasons. Incompetence. Neglect. Theft. Etc. etc.
If you've ever dealt with the Government or a large bureaucracy, that would explain how it is possible.

 

you are still young.
there are many ways.
dementia & excessive alcohol consumption top of my list...

 

I think a better understanding of that statement is that if the justification of the "correctness" of the design takes that much explanation then it doesn't really work. All the jawing of "why" can't make a bad looking design transform to be good.

There is another version on that coming from one of the Bob Lutz books when he talked about his arrival at GM. When the car salesperson is having to use percentiles of all the competition to explain the goodness of a car (its hip, leg, shoulder, etc. room) instead of a potential buyer walking up to the car and saying that they love it means that the deciding factor becomes how many financial incentives the manufacturer is offering to make the sale. If it looks right when you walk up to it then one doesn't need to be making excuses.

 

A remember being told the story of a lost Maserati Ghibli at GM. It had been taken home by someone high enough up the organization that filling out the signout wasn't required. The car was "discovered" one day by someone driving by that executive's house and seeing it in the driveway. Nothing really nefarious, he just really liked that car.

 

(really not trying to get a ban from this thread.....trust me.....)
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Theres's more! in a new book on Burning Man Mutant Vehicles........
https://www.designboom.com/design/alexandra-lier-surreal-mutant-vehicles-burning-man-photography-book-03-24-2021/?utm_source=designboom+daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alexandra+lier+captures+the+surreal+mutant+vehicles+of+burning+man+in+her+new+photo+book

 

And for those of us that are really, really old:
‘There are a million stories in the Naked City.’ This was one of them.....

 

Did this remind anyone else of the Dodge Charger III?
Lose the glass hatches and you're 90% there...


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