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Ford 021C Concept Car (1999)
- mc32 3y agoEven today this could work as a ‘citi’ e-car with limited range. The trunk or boot mechanism is garbage though. No need to mess with that.
- nlunbeck 3y agoYeah I was trying to figure out what that was all about. It seems it's like a desk drawer? I can only assume it's to preserve the silhouette when the trunk is opened, can't think of any practical advantages
- dusted 3y agoInteresting! They had the foresight to understand that cars would become uglier, but even they couldn't imagine the idiocy which is non-standard-formfactor entertainment systems.
- lelanthran 3y ago> Interesting! They had the foresight to understand that cars would become uglier, Hah! TBH, I actually like the outer design of this car (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Ford_021C_in_green.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Ford_021... ) very retro take on the iconic Cortina Mk2 (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/1967_Ford_Cortina_Super_1.5_Front.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/1967_For...). Better than looking like a blob of unconstrained jelly, like all modern cars.
- selykg 3y agoI think it looks rad. I'd honestly consider buying one if it were electric. Though, I'd probably go with a different color combo. I love the simple interior. The only thing I really dislike about it is the steering wheel. It's giving me the same "stupid as hell" vibes as the new Tesla steering wheels.
- TotempaaltJ 3y agoI also love the look of this car. I think the closest thing that's actually on the market might be the Honda e[0], but the price isn't worth it for the limited range imo. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_e
- ComputerGuru 3y agoReminds me of the Nissan Pivo EV concept from 2005: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pivo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pivo
- heyflyguy 3y agoI wonder how much this was influenced by Apple and iMacs of the age
- fidotron 3y agoThere was a short lived 1950s retro revival around 1999 and this looks totally in line with that.
- EL_Loco 3y agoFirst thing I thought when I looked at the pictures: "Looks like the first iBook" The "clamshell" iBook was launched in 1999, and the orange one looks like if this car was a laptop.
- bee_rider 3y agoI wonder, had Wes Anderson established his aesthetic by 1999? Because this would fit right in.
- agloe_dreams 3y agoWell...the designer of it also designed a minor product Apple built later on called the 'Apple Watch'.
- carabiner 3y agoApple what? Never heard of it.
- rolivercoffee 3y agoI remember really wanting this at the time. Amazing how jarring the design of the radio is in comparison to the rest of the interior. Also, interesting how they didn't think to design their own entertainment system because... cars had third party entertainment systems that's just the way it was!
- nobleach 3y agoIn 1999 we still hadn't realized the wonder of reading mp3/wma files burned onto a CD. Aiwa was the first brand I remember opening that up. USB slots were next.
- dsr_ 3y agoCars should have third-party entertainment systems. Everything about 'infotainment' systems is a terrible idea, because integrating something that changes three to five times in the life of the vehicle is stupid. Put a nicely anchored 1/4-20 UNC mount in two or three locations, put a USB port that speaks the standard audio protocol next to each one, and connect those to an integrated DSP/amplifier suitable for the car's speakers and microphones. It will be good for three times the life of the car, and make everyone's lives easier.
- gregmac 3y ago> Cars should have third-party entertainment systems. Everything about 'infotainment' systems is a terrible idea, because integrating something that changes three to five times in the life of the vehicle is stupid. In my mind this has been largely solved for the past few years with Android Auto / Carplay. It would be nice if there was a true standard, but at the same time, there's only two phone operating systems so it works. If you're not familiar with it, there are some huge benefits of the way it works: * The system updates with your phone, not your car. Applies to both hardware and software. * Data plans are also tied to your phone, which you presumably have anyway. * Preferences are personal; my partner and I each get our own music, podcasts, and suggested destinations. * Personally I love that my music/podcasts follow me around. I can browse and start listening to something in the car, then hours later throw in my wireless ear buds and continue from where I was while I mow the lawn. There is also some level of upgradability from the car side, too: I recently added a wireless android auto adapter to my 2016 car. It was under $100, plugs into USB, and once I got it paired to my phone, I basically get in and start the car and in a few seconds the UI is there. What I am skeptical about is that this will continue to be solved for the next few years: there's always that chance that Google will outright kill it, or Apple/Samsung/whoever will become exclusive to a single car manufacturer, or the manufacturers will somehow bungle this up with a subscription model of some sort.
- psd1 3y agoYes please to swiveling seats. For when one person puts up the tent while the others shout encouragement.
- foobarian 3y agoWow, look at all those buttons! Yes please :-)
- jeffrallen 3y agoShut up and take my money!
- ireallywantthat 3y agoSo, Futuristic Design of 2023 is actually some old used design from the past!
- FridayoLeary 3y agoCar designers for a long time have been reduced to plundering their back catalogues for inspiration. What they usually end up with is some akward, bloated parody of the original with elements that are impractical and come at the cost of common sense. Just look at the entire "Mini" lineup.
- lacoolj 3y agoThis is what I would expect to find in the dictionary under the words "nifty", "spiffy" and "cute". I would totally buy one (cuz I would also expect it to cost under $15k)
- mk_stjames 3y agoThis image gallery desperately needs a one-line addition of something like > imageElement.addEventListener('click', stopAutoScroll); I get autoscrolling a gallery of images, but if I click on one or click on some buttons, please stop! I want to look at one specific image for longer than 3 seconds! If I go back manually to look at one, don't override me and go forward again 3 seconds later. I went back for a reason. I see some irony in a designer who has a webpage that hasn't fully thought out the UX. Maybe irony isn't the right word since it's pretty par for the course.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sahaskatta 3y agoLooks like Honda actually built something that looks somewhat similar. It's real and available for sale: https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/honda-e/overview.html https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/honda-e/overview.html
- yaomtc 3y agofor sale in Europe and Japan.
- ricardobeat 3y agoI’ve driven it, it’s a very nice car but not very close to this concept. It’s pretty much a “normal” car on the inside, with B pillars, a center console and standard seats. Apparently production has been stopped, which is understandable given the price (about the same as a Model 3), but still a shame.
- twoodfin 3y agoConceptually it feels much closer to my much loved, much missed 2003 Sunset Orange AWD Honda Element. Suicide doors & no fixed B pillar was awesome.
- greggsy 3y agoIt looks like the same era of small SUV experimentation that brought the Pontiac Aztec into the world.
- datavirtue 3y agoHonda? Talk about found on road dead.
- rasz 3y agoSo did Nissan in 1989 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Figaro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Figaro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pao https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pao https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Be-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Be-1
- Aloha 3y agoIt has real 1960 Falcon feels. If it looks like a toy car, it is, it'd be virtually impossible to fit that body onto a modern engineering package.
- aidenn0 3y ago> The floor, which remains completely flat due to the front-wheel-drive technology, ... What about the exhaust? I always assumed that's what the bump in the back-seat floor of all my FWD cars was for.
- amacbride 3y agoThe hump is typically housing the drive train in RWD or AWD cars; the exhaust is relatively small and can be routed along a flat floorpan.
- Domenic_S 3y agoCivic doesn't (didn't?) have a hump. It's for: 1. If the car is available in AWD, they don't have to make a new floor pan 2. Structural stiffness 3. Exhaust/fuel routing
- xwdv 3y agoI don’t like this car, it’s infantilizing. Feels like you’re in a Pixar movie driving this thing.
- nowooski 3y agoI'll take it.
- thecosas 3y agoOrange is a signature color of Ive and Newson.
- shlubbert 3y agoThe car is actually named after the color code for that particular shade of orange — Pantone 021 C!
- 1-more 3y agoKarim Rashid was doing NUMBERS making orange plastic stuff at the turn of the millennium too. display piece https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/2562 https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/2562 watch https://acmestudio.com/products-watches-wrist_watches/Karim_Rashid/BI_ORANGE_Wrist_Watch/BI_ORANGE%7C/QKR15W/ https://acmestudio.com/products-watches-wrist_watches/Karim_... chess set https://chessantiques.com/product/bozart-karim-rashid-chess-set-orange-green/ https://chessantiques.com/product/bozart-karim-rashid-chess-... stacking chair https://www.black-by-design.co.uk/homeware-c2/furniture-c78/chairs-c80/umbra-oh-chair-orange-p1392 https://www.black-by-design.co.uk/homeware-c2/furniture-c78/...
- adolph 3y agoThe seat hinges remind me of those early Microsoft Surface multilink hinges, although on second look are clearly different. The drawer trunk might be an improved solution to the trunk challenge of the Kammback form [1], which often becomes a hatchback but sometimes results in a smallish trunk hatch like the Audi A7. It probably is not as crashworthy insofar as packaging squish-space though. A big miss is the steering wheel. Reaching through the wheel to the horn seems difficult. It's also been done before on various Citroens. I would have liked to see something more interesting using a mechanism like a Sbarro centerless wheel. [2, 3] Enter the hinge. Or, as Microsoft dubbed it, the dynamic fulcrum hinge. The connective tissue between the Surface Book’s base and display is an isopod-like piece of aluminum that flexes back and forth thanks to four rotational points. It’s “almost like a carpet that rolls out,” Groene says. [0] 0. https://www.wired.com/2015/10/story-behind-surface-books-crazy-new-hinge/ https://www.wired.com/2015/10/story-behind-surface-books-cra... 1. https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Kammback https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Kammback 2. http://sbarro.phcalvet.fr/technique/roue_orbitale/roue_orbitalegb.html http://sbarro.phcalvet.fr/technique/roue_orbitale/roue_orbit..., https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Centreless_wheel https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Centreless_wheel 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_(automobile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_(automobile)
- agloe_dreams 3y agoAs someone who sold their Surface Book Recently...Microsoft said a whole lot of words to make a truly awful hinge with a very compromised design while this makes complete sense here. The outcome of the hinge int he SB was that the product couldn't fold flat. Part of the reason for the hinge was that allowed less wobble due to their heavy 'clipboard' tablet half, which was caused by a want to have a detached mode. The cost of detaching was massive to the whole product, not only was the hinge bulky and heavy, it also meant the system had to manage multiple batteries and force the CPU to throttle aggressively due to a lack of cooling in the thin frame. Power would need to flow between halves but ultimately the top half needed to charge more often than the bottom as the bottom half could not directly power the CPU, this meant being on power still discharged the battery. Simply put, the choice ruined the product unless you had that specific need; especially when those batteries started to wear. Did I mention that the clipboard had less than 2 hours of battery life? It's no Galaxy Chromebook, but it was a sadly compromised design. I sincerely hope they rethink the surface laptop studio as well. What they really need is to just make a thick Surface Pro that can just do it all.
- bastardoperator 3y agoI'd roll it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- fumeux_fume 3y agoWatching period British shows had me wishing they'd bring back the suicide doors on cars. Glad to see them here for the rear passengers at least.
- 7speter 3y agoMaybe I’m crazy but I definitely see some of the Bronco’s front end design here.