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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/The_Ten_Best_Car_Design_Elements_Of_All_Time'; Proving that decades of automotive history and design can be summarized and exemplified in a few small details, we, with the help of our readers , have isolated the ten best car design elements of all time. These are ten aesthetic features that represent eras, movements and philosophies in automotive design. Not only is each element iconic, but each invokes a pleasurable response from the viewer. Hit the jump for the list. 10.) Hood Ornament Ornamentation on hoods came about as an artistic way of dealing with a technical problem: many older cars had radiator caps on the edge of the hood, requiring a removable seal. Rather than just placing a round cap on the tip, designers began adding mascots. Whether the classic flying lady from a 1930's Caddy or a leaping Jaguar from the British marque, a hood ornament signifies a period when cars were considered more than just transportation. Despite the...
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We saw the first official press shots of the Mazda Kiyora earier this morning, but we dug the flowing Nagare design language so much we had to hunt it down on the show floor and check it out in the flesh. As you can tell from these live shots, it certainly didn't disappoint and Mazda seriously needs to figure out a way to bring these designs to production. We're not demanding anything ridiculous like a Furai (though we wouldn't mind it), but even an otherwise boring hatch like this Kiyora looks fantastic with the Nagare styling. Press release below the jump. galleryPost('kiyoraLIVE', 12, 'Mazda Kiyora Concept, Live'); galleryPost('kiyoraInterior', 3, 'Mazda Kiyora Interior'); Mazda Kiyora – The Eco-Friendly City Car Mazda Kiyora is a small, friendly concept car designed to meet the needs of young urbanites and indicates the direction Mazda could take with a car this size in the future – especially in terms of technology. It features components...
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With the likes of the Porsche Panamera , Aston Martin Rapide and Lamborghini Estoque super sedans coming to the Paris Motor Show , it made sense for young Russian designer Krasnov Igor to render up his idea of what a Ferrari four-door should look like. Thankfully, there likely won't be such a product, but if there will, we sure hope it doesn't look much like Igor's design. One could argue that the basic shape, if you squint, isn't all that bad, but the roof treatment and rear end completely ruin the rest of the package, and the wavy body panels make BMW's flame-surfacing look tame. galleryPost('RussianFerrariSedan', 3, 'In Russia, Ferrari Sedans You!'); galleryPost('ferraripinin', 3, 'Ferrari Pinin Concept'); Seriously, if you're going to design a concept for a Ferrari sedan, it'd be best to first take a long hard look at the handsome Pinin. Sure it was designed back in 1980, but that's back when sedans were still proud of...
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Not content to debut just the freshly face-lifted 2009 Mazda MX-5 at the Paris Motor Show, Mazda will also be showing off it's latest iteration of the Nagare design language via the Mazda Kiyora Concept. The "urban compact concept car" features not just the swoopy design style, but also a four-cylinder direct-injection engine capable of stop-start operation and a new conceptual platform designed for optimized safety and driving dynamics. In addition to the MX-5 and the Kiyora, we'll get our first peek at the Euro-spec Mazda6 with a 2.2-liter turbodiesel, and the Mazda2 with a 1.6-liter turbodiesel, both of which we'll wantonly covet. Press release below. galleryPost('mazdakiyora', 6, 'Mazda Kiyora Concept Car'); Mazda Kiyora Concept to Make its Global Debut at the 2008 Paris Motor Show HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Kiyora, a lightweight, next generation, urban compact concept car, will be revealed at the 2008 Paris International Motor Show to be held from...
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Ah, lifestyle brands. You're a Porsche sort of person, right? You've got the 911, the Cayenne, the sunglasses , even the audio system. But then you step into your kitchen and it hits you: there's something painfully un-Porsche-like about this place! Not to worry- Poggenpohl can set you up with everything from appliances to faucets, all packed with Porsche Design style. We're waiting for the Daihatsu Design kitchen ourselves, but to each his own. Thanks to SOS10 for the tip! [Poggenpohl] galleryPost('PorscheKitchen', 3, 'Porsche Kitchen From Poggenpohl');
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Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Italian design and contract manufacturer Pininfarina, died Thursday morning in a road accident near Turin at the age of 51. Details are still sketchy, but the first local police reports say a car crashed into Pininfarina's motorbike in the city of Trofarello, Italy while he was riding to the company's design and R&D center in Cambiano. Pininfarina's death comes at a time when the family-controlled company is in the midst of a crucial restructuring. Last year, Pininfarina's consolidated net loss increased to 114.9 million euros from 21.9 million euros the previous year. Andrea Pininfarina is survived by his wife Cristiana, and two sons and a daughter. We're told the company said it will issue a statement later today. [via Automotive News (sub. req.)]
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Today's reveal of the "polarizing" look of the new 2009 Acura TL and the minor facelift on the 2009 BMW 3-series got us thinking about design. Specifically, bad design. Does the TVR Sagaris 2 really stand up to the TVR designs of yore? After a sudden revolution in design a few years back we feel like maybe some designers are just adding more lines to cars they've already created rather than going bold. Ray's orange Challenger looks pretty sharp, but it's not exactly a "new" design. We have a theory about this. In between big automotive design revolutions companies have to come out with "new" models so they get "new" upgrades, which is some variation of changing the shape of the fog lights and adding a new crease somewhere. In this case, there are so many lines on the cars already that adding more just makes them look stranger. Or maybe we're taking the narrow view. Maybe cars in general are getting better and we're just picking...
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Inspired by the split rear window and svelte shape of the 1963 Corvette, Bo Zolland created this speedboat as homage. The designer pictures it at SEMA, being towed by some monstrous GM SUV, but we'd rather use it to run up and down the river outside the RenCen to remind the General that they used to make cars that inspired people. Honestly, with all the retro rip-offs that have gone around, why hasn't someone re-made the '63 Vette? Bo pictures the boat being powered by anything from an LS-9 marine engine to a Volvo diesel putting out 550bhp, but we see a Viper engine peeking out in at least one of the pictures, never purists, we'd take ours with a V10. galleryPost('63corvetteboat', 6, '63 Corvette Speed Boat');
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By incorporating a cab capable of moving from low and forward for driving to high up for controlling the boom, designer Jiri Kubec hopes to eliminate the compromise necessary in mobile crane design. We like this concept mostly due to our child-like fascination with driving cranes, but also because the idea promises to pack more function into an existing design without sacrificing practicality. [via Yanko Design ] galleryPost('lynxcrane', 6, 'Lynx Crane Concept');
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Thursday is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, but Ford designers have been told to keep their kids at home.
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Someone who has experienced a car-on-tree collision first hand generally never wants to reenact the event, but if you do, there's now a company that caters to you. Crash Bonsai provides a means of reenact your tree collisions — in like 1/8 the scale. That's right folks — it's essentially nothing more than model cars crashed into bonsai trees. galleryPost('crashedbonsai', 9, 'Crashed Bonsai'); The artist, John Rooney, goes through the painstaking process of precisely denting, damaging and melting model cars to look authentically wrapped around a tree. The catalog of models includes the likes of Porsches, Fords, a Barracuda, Chevelle, ML 320, TT Roadster and more with prices beginning at $75 and going upwards of $150. We're hoping he'll have a personalization service soon — merely so we can order everyone's favorite Mazda RX-7 chasing a cat up a tree and landing on it's ass . [ Crash Bonsai via DVICE ]
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Rather than dumping millions upon millions of dollars into alternative energy engine design to compensate for the ridiculous high fuel prices and desire to be green, Ford is taking a different route: nanotechnology. Nanotechnology allows for the average vehicle to shed anywhere from 250 to 750 pounds of weight without compromising the structural integrity of the vehicle. Lightening the vehicles can significantly boost the mileage ratings, but that isn't the only area receiving some nanotech love. And as a side explanatory note, nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials at a molecular or atomic level to change properties of the material. We've seen nanotech help devise anti-fog glass and play a part in fuel-cell technology , but some of the German Ford designers have even gone as far as creating nano-particle spray-on coating for cylinder liners that reduce friction and more. [ Autopia ]
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A "luxury car manufacturer" from southern Stuttgart has invested a lot of money into something that isn't even real. We're thinking it was the brainchild of Dr. Z., but the unnamed company has picked up six of the ridiculously expensive Christie HD8K 1080p DLP high definition projectors that creates virtual factory floors and production plants to maximize production efficiency. It's quite the elaborate setup as individuals have to don special 3D goggles to get the full, stomach churning experience. galleryPost('mbpowerwall', 3, '3D HD Auto Plant Design Wall'); Will the elaborate setup have any affect on the buyers of the unnamed vehicles? More than likely not, but it's still a nice helper for planning out a lean manufacturing strategy. [ Christie ]
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The man responsible for a lot of the design trends BMW produced in the 70s and 80s, Claus Luthe, is dead at the age of 75. Luthe is known for the refining the design of the 3, 5 and 7 series BMW as well as designing the 1967 NSU Ro8o. The New York Times did a decent job burying the other reason Luthe was so well known—you know, how he was convicted of murdering his own son in 1990—until the very end of the obituary. The NSU Ro8o helped influence modern vehicle design and is the direct ancestor of the Volkswagen K70 which later evolved into the Passat. So what's the protocol in a situation like this? The man was a pioneer of auto design, but then again, he's a convicted murderer. We'll just stay neutral about what that all means. Not that we want to stay neutral, we're just more interested in hearing what you have to say. [ NY Times via NY Press ] ( Image )
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newVideoPlayer("reactivesparks.flv", 463, 387,""); A new art installation by Markus Lerner is turning the agony of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic into something a bit more pleasing on the eyes. "Reactive Sparks" is an art installation commissioned by lighting company OSRAM. It watches traffic patterns and maps the patterns into seven light towers that sit alongside the road. Each tower contains 110,000 LED lights, likely provided by OSRAM. The installation sits outside the OSRAM headquarter in Munich at the Mittlerer Ring, a busy roadway. When a car passes by the installation, a single line flashes across the top of the tower and is added to the light wave at the bottom. As more cars pass the bigger the wave will be. While the lighting towers look nice from an artistic standpoint, they are just asking to be a victim of road rage. [ Neatorama ]
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