Challenge to auto designers on the forum

the Aztek is exactly the kind of thing I spoke of earlier, the mediocre looking (awful) product that everyone on the development team must not reveal their true feelings over. In all likelihood it was designed within and by a bureaucracy. Moreover it was emblematic of the outdated and dysfunctional business model for GM that ultimately bankrupted that company. It was the crowning curtain call of a fallen company out of touch with the times and the customer. No wonder Pontiac itself went extinct. You do wonder: what happened? How could a company be that clueless to its own creations?

Now about Ferrari and the 458. Clearly that was a wind tunnel over anything design. Downforce, benchmarks, tenths of seconds, nanometeres of tolerances, are what begot the 458. It's not the Aztek but it is not a car that you look at and love every angle of like you do the 288GTO or 250SWB or even a 355. The whole primacy and obsession with downforce is how high performance exotic cars are designed. The routing of the air, the high and low pressure zones, the vortices created, the "venturi tunnel," the rear diffuser, are now the cast of characters that either add or detract from a car design.

So you end up paying over $200,000, thereabouts, to justify making the excuses for the odd performance enhancing features that most drivers will never take full advantage of. But the benchmarks sell magazines and enshrine Ferrari's development history for posterity.

You can carry F1 ethos into consumer design only so far before you have to draw a line in the sand. The F1 car is nearly purely function and the form's beauty is virtually unimportant. Form is at least the slave bi1tch to performance. That ethos is taking over consumer products bit by bit.

 

The one element of car design that doesn't make any sense is the front license plate area.
It seems no car designer likes to integrate a U.S. sized license plate into the design of a car's front end.

For example, the C6 Corvette and new Camaro seem to be purposely designed with a pointed front end to be completely incompatible with the required front plate.

And every car magazine shows every new car picture with no front plate mounted.

If we all hate front plates so much, let's get behind some lobbyists and get the requirement dropped. Otherwise, designers should work it into the design just like any other regulatory requirement.

Ferraris have this issue also but I can understand it a lot better since they are designed for the European regulations for the most part.

Thoughts?

 

Omitted Kip Wasenko 246 Dino

 

Kip's is the ex-GM car, right?

Had not noticed before that Cherry had a 275 GTB. That moved him up in my opinion. I clearly remember Chuck refusing to talk about him at all. And we all know that Chuck really wanted Jerry to be his successor anyway.

Jeff

 

Sounds like the making of an interesting evening.

I remember seeing a hot-rodded Aztek at the Heritage collection a few years ago... while it didn't look like it would have mass market appeal, I thought it actually looked OK

 

He hasn't driven it in 25+ years !

That Aztek was awesome.Talk about over the top.I'm not sure if it was ever shown officially to the public.One of Mr. Lutz's projects IIRC.

 

Are you thinking of Dick Ruzzin's Chev powered Mangusta ,or Jerry Palmer's GM Engineering 308 ?

 

I thought I remembered that Kip's Dino had been ex-GM/Mitchell.

Was the 308 GM engineering or Design? I remember Mark Jordan driving it so it came from the Tech Center and assumed it was bought by Design. did GM have more than 1?

Remember Mark trying to impress a girl he started going out with (her father was an attorney not related to automotive) so one night he used his dad's Daytona, another night the GM Corniche coupe and then the GM 308. The relationship didn't last long but it made for a good story.

At Chrsler they had a Maser Merak for a while and I drove it briefly; not impressed. I was a lot more interested in the Citroen CX they had but never did get to drive it.

Jeff

 

I believe the 308 was an Engineering car.
Great Mark Jordan story.I recently reconnected with him ,and we might wind up doing a project together. Still not sure.

 

Ask Mark about mis-shifting Pegasus during a party his parents were hosting. Car OK but Mark's idle into the driveway wasn't pleasant.

Jeff

 

I agree...

Unfortunately, the average buyer is interested in a point A to B appliance, nothing more. Example, the Camry and Accord have been best sellers for more than a decade.

Currently...

1 – Ford F-Series
2 – Toyota Camry
3 – Chevrolet Silverado
4 – Toyota Corolla
5 – Honda Accord
6 – Honda Civic
7 – Nissan Altima
8 – Honda CR-V
9 – Ford Fusion
10 – Dodge Ram

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/06/top-20-best-selling-vehicles-of-2009/

 

The trucks are actually nice looking vehicles listed there, particularly the Dodge. But the cars: pppffffftttt generic appliances as you say.