Car Design: Bangle Dangles

Chris Bangle, BMW's controversial chief designer, has announced his retirement from the company and indeed the entire auto industry. While this is understandable considering the scarcity of good jobs in the autoverse right now, Bangle is simultaneously one of the most loathed and influential modern car designers.

2007 7 Series

The American born Bangle's "flame surfacing" design had little to do with Burger King but everything to do with unusual curves, angles and lines. His 2002 7 Series was widely panned, as was his 5 Series, but both were sales successes. His 7 Series trunkline in particular can be seen in a whole host of luxury cars included the current Mercedes S-Class.

2004 5 Series

He also was a big influence on the first Rolls-Royce to emerge from BMW ownership, the brutalist moderne Phantom in 2003.

Before he was at BMW he was best known for creating the slashed-sided Fiat Coupe.

Fiat Coupe

Love him or hate him, he pushed car design away from bland look-alikes and into more daring polarizing areas, surely a good thing. My favorite of his BMW tenure is the 6-series - to my eye the best blend of his big shapes and eye catching detailing.

6 Series

Bangle is succeded by Adrian Van Hooydonk who did last year's fantatsic Homage concept and the CS big sedan concept as well as the underwhelming new 7 Series. BMW has taken a turn back to conservatism of late - let's hope they allow Van Hooydonk the same freedom as Bangle enjoyed.

Car Design: Paris Auto Show '08 Part Two

In part two of our Paris Auto Show roundup we look at some more of the notable designs premiered this week in the city of light.You can see part one here.

Citroen is one of the most hallowed names in automotive design though it has been much diluted in recent years as part of the Peugeot group. The Citroen GT Concept has some novel details and a dramatic stance - even if it's lacking in the radical originality that was Andre Citroen's stock in trade.

The front is a bit heavy but the shaping of the blade-like fenders and their relationship with the vents and the front doors is intriguingly different.

The ducktail rear is similarly fascinating though the huge black diffuser underneath is a bit much.

Mercedes showed their Fascination concept, a thinly disguised look at the upcoming E-Class. After falling into a dull patch Mercedes design seems to be righting itself. This needs little more than a b-pillar to be production ready and the lines are graceful and flowing with a hint of both the bigger S-Class and smaller C. The sculpting of the sides and rear fenders are especially well handled. Though the handsome and easily recognizable face with it's squared off lamps is tipped to make production it's still unkown whether this sport wagon body style will be featured when the actual E-Class debuts.

BMW's last 7 Series presaged a slew of controversial cutting-edge designs from the German manufacturer masterminded by design chief Chris Bangle. The new 7 suggests that despite the sales boost the new look accompanied the criticisms also took hold. This is a very conservative, safe design - disappointing in it's desire to not offend. The best touch is the carved out door handle nacelles.

Mini has been rumored to be working on a mini-ute version for some time now and the Crossover Concept seems to be the prelude to a production version. Pity it's so ugly. The face takes the classic Mini headlight and grille relationship and distorts them into a sickly sour grimace. The body cladding is the lazy designers shorthand for offroad prowess and the rear quarter windows seem like a mistake.

Car Design: Pininfarina's Hyperion is No Hype

Pininfarina has been going through an especially difficult period of late, suffering from cash woes and most recently the untimely death of young CEO Andrea Pininfarina in a road accident. The storied design firm still has a future as long as Ferrari (and by extension parent company FIAT) sees value in their work. Recently they unveiled the Ferrari California, which I gave a lukewarm review of. Over the weekend at Pebble Beach the last car to be completed under Andrea Pininfarina’s stewardship was introduced – a one-off for private collector and filthy rich person Roland Hall based on Rolls-Royce’s Phantom Drophead.

Thankfully it’s a welcome addition to the firms storied legacy, and an improvement over the brutalist bulk of the original. The Hyperion features soft flowing boat-like forms stretched out to emphasize the substantial length. This is accentuated by the removal of the rear seats, the cant of the windshield and the moving of the windshield’s base back. You could land a small plane on the surface of the hood.

The side sculpting is expertly handled with a graceful curve arching over the front wheel-well to form a rib before settling into the flowing haunches at the rear fenders. Up front the setting of the classic Rolls grille is perfectly proportioned and punctuated by the comet shaped LED-studded headlamps. The lower air intake is not as graceful as the rest of the car would suggest - one of the few off notes.

The tapering decklid at the rear is reminiscent of classic past designs from both Pininfarina and Rolls and the clean execution is a pleasure to behold. The rear exhaust outlets echo the air intake at the front and like that intake they seem somewhat incongruous in so elegant a car.

Rich teak wood encircles the passenger compartment and there is a specially built Girard-Perregaux timepiece that can be removed from the dashboard and placed in a wristband to be worn as a watch.

The Pininfarina Hyperion is a stunning affirmation in the classic coach building tradition of the past. Here’s hoping that the successful aesthetics of the Hyperion auger well for the future of Pininfarina

Design: Hooray for Monterey - Cool Cars at Auction

By Noah Mallin

Edmund's Inside line has listed the coolest cars coming onto the block at the upcoming Monterey Auction. The lineup this year is stellar so it's hard to pick just one of these let alone ten. Up top is a 1957 Chrysler show car the Diablo, built by Italy's Ghia and designed by the legendary Virgil Exner.

Down below is a 1939 Talbot-Lago, an incredibly rare barn find and a stellar example of prewar coachbuilding:

Design: California Italian Style - Ferrari California Set to Debut

Design Critique by Noah Mallin

Pininfarina, Ferrari's favored design house, has allowed images of the new production California hardtop to trickle out. I've withheld judgement for a few weeks but having seen a fair number of images I can officially pronounce it as "so-so." Of course seeing it in the sheetmetal will be the final test. It is pretty cool to see the power hardtop go up and down in a matter of seconds like Optimus Prime's toupee however.

This is not to say the car is ugly, just that with Ferrari and Pininfarina the bar is set awfully high. The overall design is nice and some of the details are very well handled but the roofline is a bit too Mercedes for my taste. There is also the question of the convoluted rear haunches and the character line that sweeps from the side vents up into the rear fender. Sinuous indeed, but I'm not sure that it works to tie the design together.


The stacked quad exhausts at the rear are pretty cool but the overall design looks a bit busy, especially with that odd gray panel breaking up the surfaces in the middle. The front is more successful though I'm not sure I like the placement of the headlights so far forward in their nacelles.

Design: BMW Flashes Their Hot Cloth-Covered GINA -- Six Years Late

By Noah Mallin

So this is what BMW designers come up with when nobody is around. The GINA, just unveiled (if that's the right term) by the Bavarian company, was actually put together six years ago as an advanced design study by Chris Bangle's team. Yes that is high tech cloth subbing for stiff body panels covering GINA's frame. It can be split down the middle of the "hood" to get to the engine (top photo) and the rear spoiler and doors stretch and bunch the fabric at full extension.

The effect, especially in silver, is a bit Zeppelin-like but fascinating all the same. Designers often try to capture the tension of stretched fabric in sheet metal and Bangle simply eliminates the secondary medium. The solution for the taillights is ingeniously simple. Overall this is a brilliantly visionary design, impractical though it may be.

Design: Flashback 1968 -- The Best Automotive Designs of 1968

By Noah Mallin

I know haters -- some of you love the design stuff and some of you loath it. Especially the car designs, but hold your noses because here are the best of 1968.

1) Pontiac GTO



Pontiac's 1968 GTO introduced the soft plastic-sheathed "Endura" front end, allowing for a smooth seemingly bumper-free front. This would become crucial for GM styling as federal law toughened bumper standards in the ensuing decade. Though mid-sized at the time, this was a huge car with flowing, tapered lines. Note the pillarless window openings.

2) Dodge Charger

The second generation Charger was a design icon, as well as a Hollywood star appearing in the movie Bulitt and TVs Dukes of Hazzard with a very un-PC Confederate Flag on the roof. Nevertheless with the tunnel style rear window and handsome sculpted lines its easy to see why so many people caught "Dodge fever".



3) Chevrolet Corvette

The radical 1968 Corvette design is synonymous now with hairy chested men wearing aviator sunglasses and polyester sport jackets who wink at "chicks" in the next car over before burning rubber as the light turns green. Is it just me? Chevy kept the basic shape in production until 1983 and every Vette since has paid homage to a design that itself was derived from the sensational mid 60s Mako Shark showcar. The sinuous fenders and pop-up headlamps were the apogee of space-age styling at the time and the simpler unadorned first year models still look terrific.

4) Aston Martin DBS

The DBS saw Astons getting bigger and more Grand Touring oriented, mixing sport and luxury together. Though it's taken longer to become a classic than it's DB predecessors the bluff chiseled exterior is perfectly judged. The body formed the basis of Astons well into the 1980s.

5) Ferrari P6 Concept

Pininfarina has long enjoyed its status as Ferrari's favored design house. The P6 concept was both of its time, particularly in the roof louvers, and a window into future Ferraris. The sculpted side indents would find their way onto models like the 308 in the late 70s and the front end shape was echoed in the Berlinetta Boxer in the early 70s. The smooth wedge shape hinted at the importance aerodynamics would begin to play over the following two decades as well.

6) Ferrai 365 “Daytona”

One of the most popular Ferraris ever, the 365, also known as the Daytona, is a perfect sinuous coupe. The convertible became very hot as a collector car in the 1980s thanks to TV's Miami Vice (which ironically used a cheap replica). This lead to a spate of dingalings chopping the roofs off of the gorgeous coupe to pass them off as factory convertibles. Mores the pity as the coupe is far better looking. The radical plexi-covered front fascia was replaced with more conventional pop-up headlights in the US due to outmoded regulations.

7) Jaguar XJ8

A truly gorgeous machine the XJ6 would stay in production with a few updates through 1986. The flowing bodywork has heavily influenced all subsequent Jaguar sedans for better or worse, but none have captured the elegant simplicity of the original.

8) Lamborghini Espada

Lamborghini could be counted on for original and sometimes oddball styling in the late 60s and this fits both descriptions. A long 2 + 2 that appears even longer thanks to it's low height and planed roofline. The body tucks under radically at the sides, complimenting the side glass angle above.

9) Opel GT

General Motors design was in the last stages of its golden age in the late 60s, not just in the United States but in Europe as well. The GT, made by their German Opel subsidiary was a tiny sport coupe subtly reminiscent of the much bigger Corvette. There are also elements of an aborted mid 60s Pontiac project called the Banshee. The proportions are exquisite, building on their clear Lotus inspiration into something original.

10) Lincoln Continental Mark III

Pimps need cars too. Until the Lincoln Continental Mark III they had to make do with Cadillac's Eldorado. The Mark III however sported then novel "retro" styling, baroque and over the top yet somehow still elegant. It would be a few years before the oval cutout windows would show up in the C-pillars but when they did the pimpmobile was born.

11) Oldsmobile Cutlass

The Cutlass was Olds family car, though the fire breathing 442 model was not to be trifled with. This was the best looking of GM's new intermediate bodied cars for 1968. Long, low and wide, they met the standard for typical Detroit design at the time but added great detailing like the hood and tapered rear deck and headlight clusters.

12) Bertone Carabo

Not to be confused with the awful Phoebe Cates film Princess Caraboo, the Bertone Carabo concept was Italian design at its most radical. Silly yes, but breathtakingly so. Again we have louvers like the comparatively restrained Ferrari P6 concept but here they are all over the rear like the Batmobile in safe mode. The wedge design is the ultimate in edgy and the scissor doors had not yet become cliche.

13) Bizzarini Manta

As you can see, louvers were big stuff in 1968. Design superstar Giorgetto Giugiaro penned his first independent design for this Bizzarini showcar. The wedge was also big but the elements here are handled with a light and deft touch, less in your face then Bertone and not as delicate as Pininfarina's Ferraris.

Design: BMW Pays Homage to Original M

Design Review By Noah Mallin

Back in the 70s car designers all had a big wedge of Gouda on their desks which they used to trace their latest sports car designs. Well not really. But the contrast between BMW's mid 70s Turbo concept (on the right) the original M1 supercar from 1978 (in the middle) and their just revealed M1 Homage (on the left) show that straight lines and creased corners have given way to curves and voluptuous waves.

Also notable is how petite the original looks in contrast to the wide bodied Homage.

The Homage cleverly picks up key cues of the original car while morphine them into it's own approach. The rear window louvers and BMW badges at the leading edges of the rear deck, the shape of the sideglass, the prominent seam from the rear quarter windows that flows into the tail and the wheels all nod to the original model.

Up front, pop-up headlights have given way to low profile lenses tucked into the extended T-shaped mask, which also houses a very brutal interpretation of BMW's grille.

Though it's not a design that will please everyone the detailing and surfacing around the rear flanks is particularly nice and the overall impact of the car is substantial.


The original M1 (above) kicked off BMW's vaunted M division which has since spread out to become the in-house tuning brand for the Bavarian firm.

Design: Happy Earth Day! Peterbilt Based Hot Rod Says "I'm Draining Ur Natchrul Resorcez"

Stunned Admiration By Noah Mallin

Rogue designer Michael Leeds is one sick pup -- this here is a 1950 Peterbilt semi cab transformed into a hot rod. Though Leeds estimates 12 MPG out of this monster I suspect that has to be downhill with a howling tailwind. (More pics including the one above can be found at MyRideisMe.com)

Leeds also designed the way, way cool Blastolene for Jay Leno, a guy who's car nuttery is in inverse proportion to his late-night lameness. The Blastolene is powered by a tank engine (!) and probably has a turning radius similar to an aircraft carrier. Here is Leno behind the wheel.

Design: Claus Luthe, Star-crossed BMW Designer, Dies

By Noah Mallin

Former Head BMW designer and VW/Audi designer Claus Luthe has died at age 75. His single most classic design is the NSU Ro80 from 1967, a radical rotary-engined aerodynamic sedan that became a touchstone for many automotive designs of the 1980s and 90s including much of the Ford lineup and Audi's 100/5000.

The Ro80

Sadly the pioneering rotary engine was one of many quality sore spots that led to the Ro80's failure in the market, and NSU's takeover by Volkswagen. Volkswagen quickly made use of Luthe's talents on a variety of models across both their VW and Audi range including the first generation Volkswagen Polo and Audi 50.

Perhaps his best car of the period was the Audi 100, a lithe second generation version of their top of the range sedan. Sold in the U.S, as the 5000 it would eventually be supplanted by a car that ironically advanced most of the initial design innovations of his Ro80.

The Audi 100

In 1976 he jumped ship to BMW where he oversaw a crisply tailored evolutionary approach that coincided with the remarkable rise in world stature for the Bavarian firm which had long struggled in the shadow of Mercedes and Volkswagen.

Under his leadership, the BMW design team codified the "same sausage, different length" philosophy in which standard cues were applied to different platform sizes. His first major BMW was the 1981 E28 platform 5-series. The conservatively bluff design seems to be the antithesis of the groundbreaking Ro80 but it's distinctive elegance and menacing aspect when tricked out as the top of the range M5 made it a hit.

The BMW 5 Series

His third generation 5-series added some modern aerodynamic cues that would be fully developed into the stunning 1991 3-series re-do. By the time that model hit the market though Luthe had resigned from BMW after having been convicted in the killing of his son during an argument over the son's drug use. He continued as a consultant throughout the next decade with BMW however.

The 1991 BMW 3 Series

Design: Former Chrysler Designer John Herlitz Dead at 65

An Appreciation by Noah Mallin

Chrysler designer John Herlitz started with the company in 1964, just in time to experience the end of the Elwood Engel era and retired in 2000, just as the Tom Gale era was coming to a close. Though he didn't extend a reach as deeply and publicly known as the aforementioned design heads, he was a quietly influential and respected designer who moved through the ranks to become a top design executive.

During Chrysler's design revival in the late 80s and early 90s Herlitz championed a series of well-received concept vehicles under Tom Gale's direction that signaled the company's move away from the boxy boredom of the K-Car years. He insisted they be runners and many of them were harbingers of production vehicles like the Dodge Viper.

He first made his mark with the vehicle shown above, the Plymouth Barracuda SX Concept. Herlitz was on the team responsible for the second-generation Barracuda and the concept was meant to envision what the car would look like if it were given it's own platform rather than being built off of the Valiant. That would not occur until the third generation, one in which he had a direct hand in.

His own favorite and the one for which he's likely to be best remembered is the 1971 Plymouth Road Runner/ GTX (below). This was one of the last great designs of the muscle car era and reflected the best example of what Chrysler called "fuselage" styling -- a wide, low, long tapered smooth-sided look inspired by contemporary jumbo jets.
Check out the way the front bumper frames the face, and the draping sideline that extends halfway down the squared-off wheel arches. Then there is the fantastic roofline and pillarless side glass. Herlitz's death comes as the company he spent his career at is once again in the design weeds and facing the kind of product crises he helped lead it through in the late 70s and again in the late 80s.