So I was thinking about this the other day, and I was wondering if anyone else does a similar thing when they need inspiration for a car or whether they associate there cars with ‘something’.
While, naturally, many of my cars are inspired by real world vehicles, I often try to base them off of something else. I try to stylise them in a way that - brace yourselves, exceptional levels of hipster nonsense inbound - looks how a song sounds.
Okay that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever said, but bare with me, let me explain:
For example, my inspiration for the 1996 Erin Berlose X-AllDrive was Massive Attack’s Angel. I just feel like the car embodies the tension and power of the song.
And the ErinSport GT95 S1 was inspired by Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine. Though this time, it was just because I wanted to make a car as monumentally insane as that riff.
Maybe I’m just a little bonkers. I can’t explain how it works, but long story short, I associate songs with cars and try to base said cars off of those songs. Maybe it’s how much I obsess over certain songs, artists and albums. I dunno!
Which therefore begs the question - does anyone else do this? Or perhaps to word it a little better, does anyone else draw inspiration in unusual ways?
I come up with a basic plan of what I want to do, then build the car that does exactly that. The styling ends up following the plan of what exactly needs to be done to make that plan functional.
As a result, the exterior design reflects the insanity I intended to build within. There’s plenty of available cooling, I took advantage of lips to make low-profile aerodynamic adjustments, and I gave it the loudest green color scheme I’ve done to date, because I wanted this car to be noticed. Then it was aesthetics, to make the car look like a car and not a heavily-ventilated shoebox, and so I took inspiration from the 60’s and 70’s, and a smear of 80’s in order to come up with something that felt right. I gave it T-Tops, because I didn’t have a sunroof to put up there. It has a shaker hood-scoop because it has a V8 in there.
Only after the aesthetics had been finished, that’s when I decided to see what I could get from the engine, to match the loud, obnoxious hooligan’s car. 324 horsepower and 1052 kg. Not quite as stupid as the Shelby Cobra’s 425 horsepower for 1068 kg, but as bloody close as I could get with 4 liters against 7 liters (the 427ci).
So, I suppose, in a way, I take inspiration from real cars, as well as from a few basic intended thoughts.
When it comes to the Car Shopping Round challenge, I build to Storm Automotive’s core values, but I build what is wanted.
I don’t generally draw inspiration from outside the automotive field as cars are, to a large extent, my passion. I’d like to believe that I instill a sense of balance and harmony in my designs drawn from my TCM training but I’ve never tried to explicitly design from a non-visual medium.
That’s not weird at all; most car designers look to outside influences for inspiration. Naked females, predatory cats, birds of prey and packing crates have all been used as inspiration for many iconic designs!
Dunno, having to work around the restrictions of only having a limited amount of bodies available limits my enthusiasm to design cars somewhat. If I had the time and modeling skills I’d model each car from scratch. But for the time being I try incorporate certain motives or recurring themes, each differing by era. Many of them are still all over the place, the ones with a clear design language are the 1960-1980s and from 1995 onwards. Those from the 60s all have elliptic headlights like this 1968 specimen-
One very important recurring theme are clear-cut diamond shapes in the headlights or taillights, which is a subtle homage to Diamond T trucks as well as a symbolism for the extraordinary quality of IMP vehicles. Same 1968 specimen and one from the 1970s:
When it comes to Rennen, I always follow the brand’s mantra: perfection in performance. My cars from Rennen are very athletic and often I’m moved by music. I usually listen to Future Bass and Indie Dance on a daily basis and do the same with Rennen.
I try to focus on tried and true with a gradual improvement. Most of my cars are stretched out longer than the base templates, (mostly when I need to accommodate a bigger engine) with a fair number of exceptions. Basically I look at what I have and think about what I’m missing whether it’s in the sports category, economy, utility, general purpose, or luxury. A close examination of my lineup will show a contrast between different models as I try to keep each niche filled. Which is why the 6.8 mpg Stag RTX sport pickup truck is made by the same company as the 36.7 mpg Ace budget subcompact.
Two vehicles that are dramatically different, yet I have them both because they fill different needs. I try to keep a solid range of gas guzzling V8s, fuel sipping 4 cylinders, versatile six cylinders (I6, later V6s), and my latest engine which embraces modern technology to combine the benefits of fuel efficiency with performance.
I find myself inspired by real cars though I try to mix things up a bit.
My 1980s Montauk J-body was inspired by the fox body Mustang though the 20th anniversary edition and slayer models used a twin turbo V6 inspired by the Buick Grand National.
I have also tied cars into the story I have written for my company. My Petoskey Indian for instance was designed around an inline six, though I made a V8 model “as a means of using up excess military surplus” The Indian made its debut in 1951 yet the military surplus V8 was dated from 1942 specs.
Some early CMTs feature subtile Art Déco reminiscences, as they should have an exclusive image. Perfect examples are the 1940 Deliveroo, and even more the 1952 Nestor and the 1957 Enterprise, whereas 1956 Indianapolis got a little away from that.
After that, the design became rather conservative, 1960 Nestor II should be the car that everyone could agree with. As CMT had a German and an American division, the cars differed a lot, as German-developed ones were always tighter and sportier.
In the mid 80s, CMT tried to estsblish some kind of corporate design, as each CMT should be identified as such. But my thread is still in 1982, but you will see these cars soon.
An exception is the Commuter IV and V, as they look a little strange, as they are designed on a compact platform bloated to maximum interior space without being a van-like car.
oh cheeezus christ that is soooooo hipster like where do you even-
haha jokes. Actually it would only be hipster if you were also listening to hipster music, whatever the hell that is. I don’t think I can talk. All these new shows on popular song trivia are popping up and I’m bloody hopeless at all of them because my favourite radio segment any time of the week is “Something Else” starting 11pm on Sunday night, i.e. all that weird experimental shit that nobody wants to listen to so they put it on the most graveyard of graveyard shifts. For this reason, it would probably be unwise of me to make a car based on how what I listen to sounds, because you could get anything from an ultra douche WUB frat boy Escalade with 13 1000W subwoofers in the trunk that shatters the windows everytime you turn it on, to an amorphous blob with bioluminescent skin that runs on a cocktail of LSD, pot fumes and universe juice.
Anyway, basing the car on a song is a mad cool idea. Then when you reveal it you can link to the song and it’s just there you know? I get it. People have soundtracks for their life and other things, so why not cars?
I have spent a lot of time talking about the process of my design. I also alluded to the inspiration for my company designs. When it comes to cars that aren’t my company’s cars, I’m making them for contests so inspiration there is generally either homage to or subversions of existing cars. For my own, my company’s tag line is Rare Beasts of the Track, so I focus on mythical or fictional creatures/figures. How this manifests varies a lot, because I could simply be seeking the personification of a specific figure, or I could be aiming to capture its concept and symbolism by using other symbolisms. Mercury, for example, is simply named because it was a car of unprecedented outright speed. To that end the styling was geared largely towards being as low and flat as possible and not much else. Mephisto was named because it represents the temptation of excess and indulgence. Thus I aimed (with limited success) to make it an amalgam of outrageous curved shapes, with motifs of horns and bat wings, and the overall impression of a muscle Batmobile with two jet engines flanking the hood.
Now that the company is taking more shape, I’m weaving the elements of different designs into subsequent models. The naming, therefore, also starts taking sub-themes alongside. The bodies are really mainly about exploring different approaches to aerodynamics and seeing how much I can get the car to look like an LMP racer without making it road illegal haha.
Real life. All my cars have obvious IRL counterparts. Fits the theme of my company being like a GTA car company.
But mostly, IRL references are mostly mechanical. Visual cues and general theme I do take from real cars, but rest of the styling is just plop whatever works from various other cars of the era.
Well what can I say, no wonder my cars are more simply styled than most of y’all.
So function over form then, eh? I like how you do the outside of the car first before fiddling with the insides.
That is true! And certain companies seem to like designs inspired by packing crates more than others…
Same here. It would be brilliant to be able to craft every car right from scratch. But then again, that limited number of bodies also encourages people to design their cars better so that they can be distinguished from other cars using the same body.
Pretty much what I do. Get a feel for the song and then put that into the car.
I suppose that also comes from more of a company-wide ethos to have a car for every niche?
Now THAT is good source for inspiration!
Deep man. Deep.
Yes! I should do that more often. In fact, I will from now on!
Now to me, that really does sound like you’re talking about art. I like.
Isn’t that what we all strive for?
Nah, complexity isn’t always better. It’s about making something you think looks brilliant, which can just be a case of a few fixtures, or on the other hand it could be a massive number of fixtures.
I think that’s pretty cool. I guess originality isn’t always essential, and it’s good to have a company in the Automation world that mirrors the real world
Well, I do try and be more original these days to pretty good reception so far. And besides it’s more of a build whatever I like deal rather than something like Saminda. Now that is dedication.
That is dedication indeed. And with wording like that- “build whatever I like” - you sound like an independent car company who don’t need no GM or Volkswagen A.G. to tell them what to do!
I usually use cars from the same era and place to get the ideas flowing. Sometimes though, the fixtures just lend themselves to certain shapes and looks.
Whatever pops into my head frankly, it sounds really corny and/or cheesy but since I stopped designing cars with pre-existing automation parts it’s more been like putting music onto paper and I imagine what each design gives off in their presence
You know, I lose track of what the C stands for. Chuck? Which Chuck? Norris? Is it for people too edgy to use WWJD who want to say Christ instead? Conan? Which Conan, Conan the Barbarian? Or is it Cena?
JOHN CEEEEEEEEEEENAAAAAAAAAAA
Depending on what the C stands for, your mileage may vary
I like how you do the outside of the car first before fiddling with the insides.
And besides it’s more of a build whatever I like deal rather than something like Saminda. Now that is dedication.
Just haven’t killed a few smaller car companies due to management incompetence yet.