car design thread

Had mine a month now. The 'light show' was something I wasn't sure about, hence the Tokyo Ginza at night comment. But it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it might. The reaction from people that see it is amazing. People are amazed Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I don't believe it reduces it that much. I've given countless demonstrations and I haven't noticed a reduction in range.

 

i have to admit I am/was the biggest skeptic on the planet vis a vis electrification, and moving away from ICE vehicles. So having said that, I'm slowly coming around, but there still are major reservations. As my DD, it is great, but we still have my wife's car for 'extended' trips. Unlike CA, here in Michigan/the Mid Waste, the infrastructure still is non existent. I charge at home with no issues, out and about around town, that's another matter.

The car itself is way beyond my expectations. The exterior/interior design are a bonafide Home Run. I've had so many people approach me with enthusiastic comments and countless questions. More than any Ferrari i've had.

The driving experience has been very positive, and the interior is such a great environment. I told the dealer, ask me in 2 yrs after the lease is up whether I'm 'all in'. But so far.........so good!

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It's a complicated journey as to how I got here, but to your point, the driving force for me getting this car was the design/looks/appearance.
Not very scientific criteria, I agree. My peeps all think I've taken leave of my senses leasing an electric car, but I was so taken with the design of the Interior/Exterior I took the plunge. No one ever said it had to make any sense. I'm also a Ferrari owner, go figure. Like I keep sayin': Design, it's important.
And all the people that have responded to the vehicle bare witness to that statement.

Like I said, ask me in 2 years.

Oh, and did I mention I ordered a V6/electric Ferrari. Whoa, I'm really 'all in'. I had bigger reservations around THAT decision.

Now back to our original programming!

 

Thanks, great story and interview.

 

The 'Mini Van' story:
Ford’s Mini Max Proposal
September 16, 20221 CommentJim Farrell
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Ford’s Mini Max Proposal
By Jim and Cheryl Farrell

In the mid-1950s, George Walker, head of Ford‘s Styling Center, was frustrated because his designers had been unable to come up with a theme model for the car that became the ‘60 Falcon—that is, one that was acceptable to Bob McNamara, then head of Ford Division. Finally, Walker assigned veteran designer Don DeLaRossa, who at the time was the new head of the Lincoln studio, and Gale Halderman, a promising young designer manager at Ford, to the project. They were set up them in a small studio downstairs and told to design a small Ford that would pass muster with McNamara. Halderman and the clay modelers did most of the design work, while DeLaRossa was usually busy with other projects. Halderman said that when DeLaRossa reviewed what had been designed, he would make suggestions for a small change to a line here or there or propose addition a feature somewhere on the clay model. Halderman says he was amazed because those small changes DeLaRossa suggested “just made the design.” That clay model went on to become the Ford Falcon.

Fast forward about 15 years. Over the course of 3–4 years in the mid-1970s, DeLaRossa championed a minivan designed at the Ghia design facility in Italy. The Ford minivan proposals, called the Mini Max, were designed using differing platforms. They got as far as at least four operable prototypes. Henry Ford II—still gun-shy from the Edsel debacle—thought the Mini Max would cut into Ford station wagon sales too much, so he said “no” to the production Ford minivan. After that, it was mostly forgotten, but the prototypes were locked up in a warehouse. DeLaRossa thought Ford made a huge mistake in not marketing a Ford minivan. He forecast to friends that the decision would “come back to bite” Ford—but he also kept photographs and the plans for it.

In 1978, DeLaRossa retired to Florida and became part owner of a Cadillac agency. By that time Halderman and DeLaRossa had both become executive directors at the Ford Design Center.

After Henry Ford II fired Lee Iacocca as Ford’s president in mid-1978, Iacocca was quickly hired by Chrysler as its president. A few weeks after he started at Chrysler, Iacocca called Halderman at home one evening and offered him the job as head of Chrysler’s design department. Iaccoca explained all the troubles he had at Chrysler, financial and otherwise, told Halderman he would have to take a cut in salary, but that if he (Iacocca) was successful in turning Chrysler around, Halderman would be well compensated because of stock options. Halderman thought about the offer for a few days and then called Iacocca back. Halderman told Iacocca he was happy at Ford, but more importantly, he and his wife had a young son born with serious medical problems, and he didn’t think it fair for him to take on a new job that would mean working extra hours he thought should be devoted to his family. Iacocca reluctantly said he understood. Halderman then suggested that Iacocca hire DeLaRossa as his new chief designer. Halderman explained to Iacocca about his Falcon experience and told him DeLaRossa was exactly the right person he needed at Chrysler because DeLaRossa was a master at changing or remodeling the design of a car with very little cost and minimal effort.

Iacocca hired DeLaRossa as Chrysler’s head of design, and one of the first new projects DeLaRossa undertook was the design of the Chrysler minivan. DeLaRossa said that if he could have gotten the Ford prototypes out of storage he would have, but he couldn’t. (Iacocca undoubtedly remembered the Mini Max proposals also.) With the plans and photographs DeLaRossa had, plus some excellent Chrysler designers, by late 1983, Chrysler was able to design and market its own minivan, and we all know how well that turned out for Chrysler!

Photos: Ford Design

Footnote: I remember seeing in the hallways at GM Design Staff a rolling, full-size, fiberglas model of a minivan proposal called the MPV (Multiple Purpose Vehicle) based on the FWD X-body platform. It was very much like Chrysler’s minivan that came out several years later. Gary.

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Older (1964)Ford Styling video.



Video: Inside the Ford Design Studios, 1964
Posted on July 13, 2019 by MCG


Image Unavailable, Please Login Here’s a rare look inside the Ford styling studios in the early ’60s with an original company film called Styling and the Experimental Car.






The styling studios of the global automakers are among the most secretive and secure places on earth—-except for those occasional moments when, for reasons of their own, they decide to allow us a brief glimpse inside. One such moment at the Ford Motor Company arrived in 1964, when the Dearborn carmaker produced this film, Styling and the Experimental Car.

The early ’60s, we have to believe, were an exciting time at the Ford design studios, tucked away behind the black iron gates on Oakwood Avenue. Gene Bordinat, who in 1961 succeeded George Walker as vice-president of design, headed a talented team of stylists that included Joe Oros, L. David Ash, John Najjar, and others. And the advanced projects under way at the time included the Ford Allegro, the Shelby Cobra-based Cougar II, and the Aurora, a futuristic station wagon concept (read our feature on the Aurora here). Naturally, they are all featured here.

For the purposes of this film, the culmination of all the effort was the fabulous Ford Mustang, introduced in April of 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. And of course, it’s fair to say the Mustang was easily one of the most important and memorable designs ever created in the Ford styling studios. Here’s some of the story behind it.

 

In the case of the Cadillac Lyriq, the charger came with it, but I had to add a 220 line to the garage

 

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Ironic, this weekend I’m the ‘honorary Chief Judge’ here at the annual Cadillac show.
Allante’ we’re well represented. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login