All Entries Tagged With: "Video"
Your Maserati’s Next Garage
Feeling at home.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG DesignDriven.us | YouTube
PARKED smartly in the sweet intersection of automotive design and home architecture, Maserati placed an advertisement recently (10/09) issue of Architectural Digest that was pretty slick.
The Italians sponsored what they called a “Design Driven” competition which asked architectural firms to submit their cutting edge designs for a garage where “a Maserati might feel at home.”
The winning bid for an existing garage was awarded architect Holger Schubert for his rectangular, minimalist, glass-fronted masterpiece set in the arid hills outside of Los Angeles – where else? It’s not clear what Mr. Schubert won other than the spread in AD.
Featuring an entrance that’s reached via a car-length-long, glass-sided bridge, the garage is an open space – like a small modern art gallery – that includes a sitting area with fireplace, bare walls, well placed lighting, a solar paneled roof which provides 100% electricity to the property (good for Cali’s rolling blackouts), and a six-inch hydraulically lifted ramp that, “allows the car to roll out without starting the ignition.”
Delicious. But, one thought: you’ve got to wonder what kind of car actually lives there.
It’d be sweet if the poetry of the ad followed reality, but my money’s on a silver Boxster.
_
[Linked: DesignDriven.us]
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Video
By Gunnar Heinrich
WITH all the tragicomic melodrama of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Automobiles De Luxe’s review of the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is back online.
This story (TRT: 9:51) covers no ordinary “standard steel” Cloud, but rather a Series I, long-wheelbase, aluminum trimmed saloon was built -custom tailored if you will – by coachbuilder James Young expressly for its original Palm Beach patron.
Hewn from an era of cast iron engine blocs and solid craftsmanship, the Silver Cloud and this particular Nimbus is a testament to over-engineered, over-the-top luxury. A grand car.
Enjoy.
Olde Top Gear Review of Lexus LS400 versus Traditional Euro Set
By Gunnar Heinrich
TOP GEAR wasn’t always Top Gear.
And there’s no better proof of that than this clip of ye olde Top Gear from the Y.O.L. nineteen hundred ninety one. In it, a very un-Clarksonesque presenter takes us through an arc-storyline presentation of the Lexus’ then new LS400.
Assembling a crowd of “The traditional European competition” – a BMW (E32) 735i, Jaguar (XJ40) XJ6, and Mercedes-Benz (W126) 420SE (with those bloody Euro-spec lights ‘n bumpers) – the presenter performed a rather matter of fact review of all three’s kit and tags next to the cheap ‘n cheerfully stuffed and hushed LS.
The presenter’s notes on the Europeans was firmly stiff upper lip.
- Speaking of the Jag, “It’s got exceptional ride and handling… and extra instrumentation; something the Americans demanded.” Hey don’t blame us, pal.
- The Bimmer, “Very much a driver’s car. Very efficient in design and layout.” Naturally.
- The Benz, “Long in the tooth. Good performance, ride, and handling.” I beg your pardon?
- And the Lexus, “Toyota have undoubtedly produced a quality car.” Quite.
And that’s about as heated as the review gets. No rants nor raves. Just a mild assessment of the qualities and shortcomings of four luxury sedans.
Top Gear really wasn’t always Top Gear.
Cut From The Same Cloth
By Steane Klose
Well, not really but BMW has revealed a rather unique take on the convertible sports car this week just gone: the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model. Gunnar ranked it quite highly on his ADL Matrix and that – as you and I know – means it has De Luxe.
Now, you may be wondering why there is a picture of a World War One era Fokker Triplane at the start of this article and how exactly the brave Manfred von Richthofen fits into this story.
It’s simple really, Manfred doesn’t…but the plane he flew does, you see it was built by the Germans and features a fabric skin stretched over a wooden superstructure, a construction method that BMW are now somewhat familiar with.
In designing the GINA, BMW took a step back in time, swapping the wooden frame for a metal space frame and the fabric for…better fabric. They ditched the wings and guns added some cool LED lights, a bunch of solenoids and electric motors and once again before you could say “Red Baron”, a fabric-skinned machine built by the Germans is at the forefront of technology and design.
Easily the most remarkable feature of the GINA Light Visionary Model is its ability to shape shift. At the push of a button (presumably) electric motors will move sections of the underlying structure altering the GINA’s shape.
The headlamps showcase this ability. When not in use they are covered by the fabric bodywork which opens in a very ‘eye-like’ manner to reveal the lights when the driver requires them.
BMW say that the fabric skin or flexible textile cover as they like to call it, can be replaced in a matter of hours should it be damaged.
The GINA Light Visionary Model is the purest type of concept vehicle. It does not appear to preview a future production model, we can be reasonably certain it won’t be available in BMW showrooms next summer, it is solely an exercise in design and technology. BMW’s way of keeping one or two of their designers and a dressmaker off the streets.
I think it is marvelous.
The video (below) is worth watching just to see GINA wink.
[Fokker Triplane image source: Airport Journals]
"The Car That Nice People Drive"
Classic Top Gear. Classic. Have a look see.
NEW ADL VIDEO > Riding On A Cloud
Eight months on, nine phone calls, two days of shooting, and the best crew any producer could ask for …
I will now fulfill my end of the bargain to you, dear reader.
Why I Did It
Q: I thought you were a Mercedes-Benz enthusiast?
A: Growing up, there were four or five cars that were seminal to my appreciation of what a luxury sedan should be. Of those, one stands alone and the other takes a vaunted second place.
1st: 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL
2nd: 1988 BMW 735i (E32 gen., 5-Speed Manual Trans.)
Q: Why the E23 7-Series?
A: In 2000, BMW of North America formed an online 7-series club in advance of the E65 (current gen.) launch. In the forum, there was one disgruntled owner of an E23 7-Series – the first recognized generation of BMW’s now-signature flagship line – who complained bitterly that his was “the black sheep” of the 7-Series lineage.
At the time, I agreed with his assessment.
Then, some years later, I actually drove the model in question and my perspective changed for the better. The E23 proved to be a solid car.
Will it ever approach the exalted view I hold for the E32 or E38 generations? No. Those generations were, simply put, vastly superior designs. But for a start, the E23 was a giant step for BMW and remains a durable classic.
And, I must say, from some angles the cross-marque, Teutonic resemblance between the E23 and W126 S-Class is uncanny…
Tap the Link >>> BMW 733i
