July 8: From idea to reality

 Here is that wicked looking design sketch that your bright young designer came  up with. Approved by management, this looks like it could be a winner. Could be a car that lights a fire in your wealthy clientele (and the competition's) and pulls them into the dealers, wanting the latest and the greatest new BMW. This happen to be Bimmer, but the same process is used by every manufacturer. But how do they go from idea to reality. Without going into hyper detail, let's walk thru the process.


Design studios are the life blood of any car manufacturer. Sure, the engineers think they are the key people, and of course, they are, but with out a good looking suit of metal, all that engineering will just be nailed to the showroom floor (there are always some exceptions like the BMW X6). Design excites the customers. Even my dear wife notices a hot looking ride and will try to describe it to me. So design is key.

In these older studio pics, one can see the original drawings, scale models, works in progress and a complete mock up (haven't seen this many ties, since the last bankers' convention)..........

Don't know how that plain Jane full size model is inspiring the dude in the foreground to draw a hot coupe, maybe it's out of desperation?

The drawing process may have changed over the years, with the use of computers, but free hand work is still key in coming up with what you'll eventually see on the street.........

And thank goodness for today's complex computer programs, which allow the individual designers to work directly onto a screen, which, of course, is much easier to adjust and revise before or after their work is brought to a group discussion..........

......where they are told that, the ashtray being built into the rear bumper (or some other design feature), is probably not a great idea.

Drawings and computer programs are good, but nothing beats a scale model, or a full size three dimensional version, to see how everything comes together. These scale, or full size clays, have been used for years, even as the most sophisticated computer programs are being put into use. As, I said, nothing beats the real thing, either in scale or full size......

Another thing the full size allows the designers to do, is to make two cars with one clay. If the second car is a revised version, it can be done with one large model. In the case below from the '60's, a Buick Riviera is on one side, while its companion, the Olds Toronado has been made on the other. Saved time and effort. Again, with the ties in the older shots.

But as we all know, cars are not sold in clay, so from these models, the "real" car has to emerge. How? Easy, assuming that you are a craftsman (please don't get hung up on the "man" in this term). Sheets of coloured material are painstakingly applied to replicate the final car. Chrome is very thin foil, like I use on my much smaller scale models. When finished, the model is exactly like the finished car, without an interior, of course.

Now the "finished" model can be shown to the decision makers, maybe even with a dummied up interior, like this pic, again from the '60's, showing a German Opel, that eventually made it into production.

Once approved, the process that started with  a sketch..........

.........will turn into a beautiful full size, fully functional sales success (they hope).........

It's interesting to me that, over the years this process of going from idea to reality has remained much the same, while also changing dramatically. You've heard the old saying, the more things change, the more they remain the same, or something like that. And in the case of the gorgeous Gran Coupe, traditional BMW design cues have been rendered into a stunning modern day interpretation. From idea to reality.

Until next time.......

July 5: Why Borgward and why now?

Recognize these vehicles? Recognize their name? You don't? Ok, so read on.........

Recently it was announced that the old German car company, Borgward, defunct for many, many years (55, if you are counting), would be resurrected beginning in China. Well, at least the name would be brought back to compete for sales in the burgeoning Chinese market. Why? That's a very good question. Obviously, someone, or group of someones, with mucho dinero has seen an opportunity to bring back a great(?) old name. Borgward? Did anyone miss this brand? Does anyone even remember it? Again, good questions.

Borgward was German, which might be the only good thing going for it. Do you remember these models......

......the Isabella sedan and coupe? I think that I remember seeing the coupe at sometime in the past, but probably that's just my over active imagination or bad memory, as I'm not sure they ever came to North America. At one time this company was one of the major players in the German market, but closed in 1961 due to bad management. So, this brings me back to the question, why Borgward?

Here are some of their other ads from back in the day. One features the sporty Isabella coupe, which for its day was rather attractive. The panel vans are...........well, panel vans. The purple car is a Pullman, which translates to a small limo. Not a great ad.

The current belief in China (as well as everywhere else) is that German cars have a very good reputation for quality, so someone saw the chance to trade on this old brand, as opposed to starting from nothing. In my mind, resurrecting the Borgward name after 55 years is like starting from nothing. It didn't work for Mercedes with Maybach. Sure, the name is still used, but only as a sub series of their S Class. So will it work for the new Borgward?

There will be three models, a couple of suvs (surprise, surprise) and a sedan. As for styling, which is so personal, the sedan is a big nothing. The suv's on the other hand are almost Lincoln MKC and Audi Q3/Q5 clones (why mess with success?). Let's take a look......

Borgward

Lincoln

Get my point or do you still need some convincing?

Borgward

Audi

This might fly in China, but I wonder how it will work in Europe? Borgward's plan is to get established in China and other growing economies, before tackling their home base of Germany and surrounding areas. Pricing? Similar to VW.

Starting any new car company is a tough job and requires so much more money than expected. Will Borgward survive and provide competition to the other big players in that market, like VW and GM, as well as the homegrown brands? Will this lady in a Borgward ad from the past, entice new buyers into a brand, which probably means nothing to China's new monied class?

Like anything in the future, it remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

Until next time.......

June 30: Those Hearse Ads

When was the last time you saw an ad for a new hearse? What's this, Barry, you think we all subscribe to Mortician Daily? You know, the publication that runs articles like, Looking Good in Your Casket or Urns to Die For. Well, no, I didn't expect anyone would put up their hand when asked that question. The point is, that of course, there are ads in the trade publications for these custom built conveyances. I'm fascinated by hearses for all the right reasons. They are custom built. They use a variety of cars. They use a variety of body styles. Then, of course, there are the over the top names. And over the years, their advertising has also changed.

Back in the day, a much broader variety of cars were used as the basis for hearses and their kin, ambulances, as seen in this ad for a plain Jane Ford, perfect for the underachieving funeral parlour...........

But, now with station wagons being a thing of the past, the opportunities to use any old wagon with upgraded rear springs has gone by the wayside. Ads like this are history.

But one thing has stayed constant over the years, high end luxury cars like Cadillac and Lincoln form the basis of the best hearses. These cars that, will haul our remains to the graveside, represent the final bit of style our bodies will ever experience.........

Great ads showing all the exclusive features that, make our final ride something we'll remember (use your imagination, ok?). Ever seen a hearse with this colour combo? Or like this Olds........

My favorite kind of funeral car is called a combination, as seen and explained in this magazine ad.........

Combination? Means that with the removal of the hearse landau bar panel, it becomes an ambulance, since many funeral homes also provided the local ambulance service. Two questions. One, would the funeral home have an incentive to rush the patient to hospital in order to save them? And two, you are feeling poorly and the local hearse rolls up to your door, albeit with one minor change. Of course, if you had read this ad, you would know the difference. Rest a little easier.

Let's get a newer with this creative and classy ad for a Cadillac.......

All those great selling features. Its end user? An individualist in life, an individualist in death.

But what's with this Mercedes van hearse advertisement? Are they trying to say, one could use it for deliveries, when its funeral duties were done for the day? Maybe, they should have been tastefully clearer?

Talking about an interesting message in your colourful new hearse ad........

Are they saying that you should end it now, so you can experience the classic beauty of this late '50's Cadillac today? Or, are they simply saying, get used to it, since you'll never get out alive, at least one should go out in a Cadillac? Play around with it - what can you come up with?

Today's ads are less, well, shall we say that, they are simply less..........

Low key in the new millennium kind of way. No fancy colours, no grandiose backdrops. Let the hearse's beauty speak for itself. Or, in the case of the Lincoln, scare the funeral director towards the traditional styling of the Cadillac.

We see funeral vehicles all the time and thankfully from the outside, but we never see ads for them. My blog today has shown you what you will have found in Mortician Daily or Undertaker Weekly over the years (we've only scratched the surface, folks). And as expected, there are other options, than what would be considered traditional.........

Make of this ad, what you will.

Until next time.......

June 28: Why change?

This is the culprit. Maybe that is too gentle a term to use for this gear shift lever that may or may not work, depending on the unit and the driver. Let me clarify things for you. This is the gear selector on the newer model Jeep Grand Cherokee. Although its problem was common knowledge and a recall was in place, it gained more prominence last week, when a well known actor was killed. His Jeep, thought to be in gear, wasn't and it rolled back and crushed him. The issue, is that with this selector, it is very hard to tell for sure whether it is actually in the gear the driver has selected. Very dangerous. Now, my point in hearing about this is, why re-invent the wheel?

Let's see who else has a better(?) idea...........

I'm in the car business and experience a wide variety of cars, yet when I get into a Mercedes and am faced with the stalk in the picture above, I'm flummoxed. Why? Easy. This is not intuitive and so it is hard to get the selector into the gear one wants. Up, down, sideways and then there is that push button on the end. Aggravating would be a mild term.

I remember a few years ago, when BMW came out with a new selector, the Car & Driver magazine testers said it took them about twenty minutes to figure out how to get the car into drive and to get the test started. The good thing? No carjacker was going to jump in your car, when you turned the other way and drive off. Unless of course, you were turned the other way for quite some time. But fear not, since BMW now has a different gear selector, but again like the Mercedes, it is not easy to use and extremely easy to get mixed up.......

Why, oh why?

Now Acura has come up with another new idea. Well sort of a new idea........

......push buttons. Intuitive? Not really, but actually this idea is not so new. While Acura has thought their attempt to re-invent the wheel might be a hot new concept, not so. Let's look back at this ad from 1957.........

.........or these pics from around the same time of another brand of car.......

So, Acura's hot new idea isn't so hot or so new. All those push button gear shifters came and went like the hula hoop. But the point here is not whether it is new or not, but whether a new type of selector is really needed. The old gear selector on the steering column and eventually on the centre console had worked for many years and continues to work today on most cars, so why try something different for the sake of being different? Especially something as important as a gear selector. And in the case of our first example the Jeep, their new selector equaled a deadly change.

So why try to stand out with something that is different, but not exactly better?

Why not stay with what has been proven, is easy to use and is safe? I know what gear my Maxima (shown below) is in and the shifter moves easily between the choices. And I'm not taking my life in my hands walking behind or in front of my car after I've parked.

Trying to be new and different is not always the best route to take, as Jeep has so tragically proven.

Go with what you know. Fancy it up as much as you like to make it look new, but for the sake of your customers, why not make it easy to use as well? What a strange and unusual concept.

Until next time.......

June 24: Bugatti - rap(per) it up!

The late and beloved Prince had his Little Red Corvette, but that was only a song. What would he have driven in real life? Easy to find out these days, since no matter where a star is, someone is taking their picture. Don't believe me? Then Google "celebrities in washrooms". But, I'm interested in star cars and one particular type of star and one particular type of car. Any guesses? One look at this blog's title should give you the answer.

Apparently nothing says rapper like a Bugatti, since it seems like they all drive this rather costly ride like a rite of passage, as these pics of Drake in Toronto attest......

What's the psychology behind this? Why this one car for this one type of celebrity? At well over $1m, this car takes a certain level of success to own and another level to have it customized to your standards, no matter how questionable they may be.......

.......and no, this is not the same car, as the bottom one belongs to Nicki Minaj and the top one Flo-rida (I think, since rap is not my music of choice and these guys and gals are a little foreign to me). You have to admit that, they can get rather creative. By the way, Nicki has a pink obsession or passion, as this is just one of her tastelessly done up exotic rides.

What, your standard Veyron doesn't stand out enough, particularly when you hang with your sick rapper friends?

Maybe some chrome fenders will do the trick? And every time you walk by your ride, you can check your, ever so cool, look in those mirrored fenders. Good to see that common sense prevailed, when it came to the hood.

No shrinking violet drives a Bugatti, but this rapper dude seems to be camera shy........

I'm of a certain age that misses the point of the look, but the red Veyron ticks almost all my boxes (affordable is left empty), except where my golf clubs go. Rappers have some interesting views of themselves with their rare and valuable rides.......

........yes and oh so creative. If I had the time and the inclination, I would try to come up with snappy captions for these rather unique rapper shots with their exotic rides. Enough to say that they are all rappers and they all drive Veyrons.

Think I'm generalizing? Check out Drake, Jay Z, Birdman, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Flo-rida, xzibit, Chris Brown, Game, Nicki Minaj and Soulja Boy to name a few. Think that they all prayed for success, so that they too could drive a Bugatti Veyron? Think they all prayed that, they could continue their success, so that they could afford to maintain it? If you don't think so, then what is happening in the pic below?

Whatever.

But the question remains, what is with rappers and Bugattis? I guess, if I have to ask, I just haven't enough money and here is Drake to make that exact point........

You got it, bud!

Until next time.......