Great commentary. I too think the 296 looks great. It brings all the historical Ferrari design romance back into the conversation without pandering to the 'retro' school of design. There are of course some details (anyone look closely at the mirrors?), but you're right, no 'boy racer' design cues with wings and flaps festooned all over the place. I am still out on the Hybrid proposal. Not saying no, just need more time to ponder the ramifications of a plug-in. I can do a V6, no problem. All of my Ferraris have been V8's. But i'm pragmatic enough to realize that the world has changed and will continue to change, and I can either get on board or bow out. Enzo though aerodynamics were for people who didn't know how to build engines, and he was late to the party on mid-engined cars and disc brakes. But the world changed. He got on board. But I'm anxious see the 296 and stare at it for awhile. I'm confident I'll like what I see.
The Lamborghini Miura was a big hit on the show circuit. Ferrari had the slow selling 275 GTB. When the new front engine Ferrari V12 365 GTB/4 coupe showed up at Paris two year later in 1968 the crowds were not impressed. Where was the new mid-engine model from Ferrari to compete with Lamborghini? Enzo Ferrari thought mid engine V12 cars were only safe in the hands of his racing drivers and not his wealthy 'clients'. It would be three more years before Ferrari under pressure finally introduced a mid engine 12 cylinder model design and a further two years before customer cars would be supplied. Another two years passed before Ferrari introduced a less expensive mid engine V8 in two seater and four seater versions. These V8 models would evolve over the decades until their replacement a new V6 model would signal the end of the mid engine V8 Ferrari series.
Sam Livingstone from Car Design Research breaks down the 296 from his perspective. I had no clue the car was close to the ‘80’s TestaRossa in size. That puts a different twist on things. The all new Ferrari 296 design — 4 perspectives including how the new Dino is bigger than a Testarossa The 296 is the first Ferrari with a V6 engine in 47 years, although in the 7000 word press release Ferrari make no mention of its sublime Dino 246 forbearer which was the last car from Maranello to have a V6 — is this to keep its powder dry on this nameplate for a future stripped out version without the accompanying electric motor hybrid system? It may be the new baby in the portfolio, but the 296 is actually larger than the 1984 Testarossa — it is almost exactly the same length and width as its 458/488 predecessor, but an inch lower, which still makes it 3 inches longer, 2 inches taller, and only half an inch narrower than the chunky 1984 Testarossa. The serpentine nose, and the broad concave shoulder pushing low into the body side, really lowers the visual mass of the car. The deep cut-out recesses in the front and rear facias, and in the rear deck, also take out visual mass. Together with the unbroken ‘visor’ glazing (another element that takes away perceived volume) these design features make the 296 look very light on its toes. Its son-of SF90, son of La Ferrari, son of Enzo, upswept side window, and the related way its body-side wraps over and around the rear aspect, is emphasised by an unusually separated roof section — the future decapitating GTS version may likely look just like this GTB.
296 GTB by the numbers inches - L x W x H 179.7 4565mm x 77.1 1958mm x 46.7 1187mm 250 LM by the numbers inches - L x W x H 161.02 4090mm x 66.9 1700mm x 43.9 1115mm Roma by the numbers inches - L x W x H 183.3 4656mm x 77.7 1974mm x 51.2 1301mm 296 GTB wheelbase 102.4 inches 2600mm 250 LM wheelbase 94.49 inches 2400mm Roma wheelbase 105.1 inches 2670mm
Ages ago (it seems) we were discussing Italian design as "inspired" by Monica Bellucci. Where in the 296 do you see that "sexiness'"? I'm really not with you on this - If I had the money, which I don't, this wouldn't be in any way a car I would aspire to own. 458 Aperta was the best recent Ferrari for me and much less expensive than this will be -
Volvo not following the Japanese design of drooping snarling front-ends....a bit bland maybe, but far superior (IMHO) to the current crop of "man-eating" front end designs..... Image Unavailable, Please Login https://electrek.co/2021/06/30/volvo-previews-its-all-electric-future-using-its-concept-recharge-ev/#more-187547
the Miura was exotic for sure, but a poser car. it could never keep up with a Daytona on the street or track. much like racing on a dyno to see who makes the most hp. looks good but cant live up to its looks.
As far as the outside rear view mirrors there is no technical reason they can't be replaced with subtle cameras projecting the rearward view onto small screens on the dash except the auto importers are too chicken to get legislators to push it through each country's NHTSA equivalent. They are too timid to insist on it though doing so would have aero advantages and save gas and eliminate the damages that mirrors get in parking lots.
As long as they are placed at the ends of the dash/instrument panel where we are trained to look for images........ Related to this: will this "expectation/training" change in the future? Will we only look to the big screen in the middle to see whats up? (evolve or die?)
Another design POV from Frank Stephenson Ex-Ferrari Design Boss Analyses & Redesigns The Ferrari 296 GTB!!
Reluctantly I would agree that it is not an improvement , but it is ‘different’. I wouldn’t use abomination however.
Older article on the design of the original Mustang logo. From Sketch to Production: Evolution of the Ford Mustang Logo Categories: Automotive Image Unavailable, Please Login The Ford Mustang is about to become the newest member of a very exclusive club – vehicles in continuous production for 50 years. April 17, 2014 will mark the Mustang’s 50th birthday. More than 9.2 million Mustangs have been sold since the car’s 1964 debut. Mustang has made more than 3,000 appearances on film and TV – including “Bullitt” (1968), “Gone in 60 Seconds” (1974 and 2000), “I Am Legend” (2007) and “Drive” (2011). In 2014, a modified Mustang will be the feature car in “Need for Speed,” based on the long-running video game series from Electronic Arts. During the process of designing the new sporty car that would eventually become the 1965 Ford Mustang, the various design proposals went under many names including Avanti, Allegro and Torino. Even the design by Gale Halderman that was chosen as the basis for the production model was originally called Cougar until the Mustang name was chosen. The Mustang name first appeared on the Mustang I sports car concept of 1962 and it featured a galloping horse badge conceived by designer Phil Clark. The emblem was evolved further for the production car in 1964 and has continued to receive updates in the nearly 50 years since. Image Unavailable, Please Login In early summer-1962, as California-based race car constructor Troutman and Barnes was assembling the running version of the Mustang 1 concept, the Ford designers gathered in the studio back in Dearborn to review sketches for the badge. The goal was to create something that reflected both a horse for the car’s name and that the car was American. Phil Clark had been sketching ideas for a horse badge for several years and the team preferred his concept for a galloping horse with a a red, white and blue tri-bar design to reflect the Mustang’s American heritage. Image Unavailable, Please Login While the Mustang concept was being completed in September 1962, a competition was held among the Ford designers for a four-seat sporty car. More than a dozen very different designs were proposed but ultimately a design by Gale Halderman was selected as the basis of what would eventually be sold as the 1965 Mustang. Each design had a different name to distinguish them and Halderman’s proposal was called Cougar. The grille featured a stylized big-cat contained by a surround that would eventually be known as the pony corral. Image Unavailable, Please Login There was considerable debate about which direction the Cougar or pony should face; left or right. Various design models during 1962-1964 can be found with logos pointing in either direction. Image Unavailable, Please Login During 1963, Ford prepared a second concept based on one of the production prototype body-shells that would eventually be called Mustang II. The proportions of the pony logo as used on the Mustang I were deemed too tall to fit nicely in the production-style grille corral. Design studio modeler Charles Keresztes was tasked with creating a new version of the pony for the grille of Mustang II and the production car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Charles Keresztes’ final wooden sculpture of the production grille pony. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Mustang II concept featured the first public appearance of the pony in the corral on the grille in October 1963. Image Unavailable, Please Login Other horse-oriented logos that were considered included this horse head reminiscent of a chess knight. Image Unavailable, Please Login Just as the Cougar logos could be found at various times facing left or right, so too with the pony. This design prototype used the right facing horse because some felt that was the way people were used to seeing horses run on race tracks. Image Unavailable, Please Login Ultimately, Lee Iacocca said “the Mustang is a wild horse, not a domesticated racer” and designer Gene Halderman felt the pony should always face left, the way Phil Clark had almost exclusively drawn it. J, Walter Thompson account executive, Frank Thomas, who worked on the name research, is quoted as saying that Mustang rose to the top “because it had the excitement of the wide open spaces and was American as all hell.” Although no concrete evidence can be found, numerous anecdotes have been told that the left-facing pony represents a horse running west corresponding to that direction on a typical map. Image Unavailable, Please Login The production grille Pony emblem surrounded by the corral on the 1965 Mustang. Compared to the Phil Clark’s original design, this and subsequent versions of the pony show more of a running stance rather than galloping. The head and neck are more horizontal and the tail flows out behind. Image Unavailable, Please Login 1965-66 Mustangs used a revised version of the Pony emblem on the front fenders with the pony on top of the red, white and blue tri-bar. Modeler Wayno Kangas designed the fender badge and the horse is somewhat flatter with less relief than the grille badge. Image Unavailable, Please Login The production 1965 rear gas cap with the embedded pony and tri-bar emblem. Image Unavailable, Please Login When the Mustang II arrived for the 1974 model year, the tri-bar fender badge was reworked to a Roman numeral II and the horse was re-sculpted with its head more upright and a straighter tail. Image Unavailable, Please Login After disappearing from the exterior of the car during the 1979-93 Fox body years, the tri-bar pony badge returned to the fender of certain models of the 1994 SN-95 Mustang. Image Unavailable, Please Login A number of special variants of the pony fender badge appeared over the years with different backgrounds including the 40th and 45th anniversary editions which used a horseshoe and the 2009 Warriors in Pink edition which featured a pink ribbon to raise awareness for breast cancer research. Image Unavailable, Please Login The pony got its most recent revision for the updated 2010 models with a crisper, more muscular appearance. Source: Ford
A horse is a horse, of course, of course........... My cleaning people seem to think this collage on my office wall is an antique Mustang hood ornament! Image Unavailable, Please Login
New Lotus Emira. Pretty nice. Supposed to be cheaper than an Evora, which I had been shopping for on and off for years. Looking forward to seeing one and seeing if I can fit in it. https://www.lotuscars.com/en-US/
The presentation was really good. The headlights are very cool. It's like a modern version of the pop-up headlight. I really like that feature! I'm not that keen on the huge tablet dashboard, but it seems like that's going to be ubiquitous with most manufacturers going forward. All the best, Andrew.
I tried to watch this video on the Emira: But I couldn't get through the technical part of the presentation. The guy being interviewed was so vague as to be completely uninformative: "Yeah, these are the engine options and it opens up all the markets with the various gearbox options as well." "The rear subframe and chassis lends itself to what we want to do: bending, stiffness, torsion, and the weight - and also for us, weight distribution and how we manage it. Combine that with the front subframe and we're making our own chassis and subframes and making them in Norwich, which are transported here to Lotus." "The steering is important. It's a Lotus. We might adopt new technologies in the future as we need to, but we need to stick with our core values that people expect from Lotus. The design guy was much better. I particularly liked their idea on the interior to make the stickshift mechanism visible from the sides. All the best, Andrew.
All those sharp lines on the Lotus side is like an anorexic horse with its ribs sticking out. Ugly mouth grill too and Im not impressed by the rear. 7/10
Lmao, check out the @thelonelycardesigner on Instagram. A lot of hilarious car design meme’s. If you are a sketch monkey fan don’t look though. He takes a beating there.
