Hasta La Ideas

Six concept cars channel Hollywood for design inspiration

As part of the eighth annual Design Los Angeles automobile designer’s conference, this year’s Design Challenge tasked six studios from Germany, Japan and the U.S. to design “Hollywood’s Hottest New Movie Car.” Each team—Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart—presented their idea through sketches, renderings, models and even mock movie trailers.

As a holistic design challenge—centered around but not exclusive to automotive concept—the competition judged each entry on how the vehicle reflects the brand within the movie plot, how it relates to their target audience, the level of imagination and character development of the vehicle and overall ingenuity of the story, car and character combination.

Standouts include the post-apocalypse-inspired Honda‘s IH (Intelligent Horse) and Subaru Horizon for their story development, while Mercedes-Benz wowed everyone with a full-scale model of their Silver Lightning—hoop wheels and all—a formula 1 inspired concept drawing a direct connection from past to future achieved through safety and style. Going after the inner child in everyone, Maybach‘s Berline gives Cinderella’s coach a futuristic transformation.

As the winner of the Challenge, the Smart 341 Parkour is reminiscent of the rocket-shooting, martini-shaking cars of James Bond lore, albeit pared down to tackle more everyday problems like small parking spaces. The Smart design team created the concept for Annie, a fictional investigative journalist in need of a car as curious as she. Thus, the 341 Parkour is capable of driving, flying and even climbing—best illustrated by Smart’s promotional trailer created for the Challenge.

For more information check 2011 LA Design Challenge online.

Extensive car porn from the most prestigious annual automotive weekend

Pebble Beach is to vintage automobiles what the Superbowl is to football and Art Basel is to art fairs. The group of events, anchored by the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, include shows, auctions and races each presenting the most celebrated works of automotive design and engineering. Drawing collectors, racers and enthusiasts from all over the world, we felt it was about time to see what this weekend is all about.

Thousands of cars and tens of thousands of fans provide an incredible opportunity to see some of the most beautiful and most innovative examples of automobile design. Driving around town is a sensory overload, with whiplash-inducing head turns to see everything from an Ariel Atom 3 to a pristine 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible. It’s also an increasingly important event for auto manufacturers, many of whom introduce new cars, offer test drives of new models, and premier concept cars. Many of the events differentiate the years by hosting specific makes, models or celebrating anniversaries, and this year was no exception. We covered many of the activities and captured more than 2,500 images. Here are some of our favorites.

The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type, Ferrari’s America and Superamerica models, Pre- and Post-War Racing Cars, Post-War Sports Cars, Super Cars, and Sports and Racing Motorcycles. The 1952 Glocker/Porsche Roadster was one of our favorites.

A highlight at The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was seeing so many Jaguars on the track celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the E Type.

Getting up close with the beautiful cars at the auctions—from barnyard finds to impeccably restored rarities of all types—provides unlimited fantasies of ownership. Favorites from The RM and Gooding & Company auctions included a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT and a 1956 Volkswagen Karman-Ghia.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which takes place on the celebrated 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links, is arguably the world’s most prestigious vintage automobile show. Each year 200 cars are selected to participate. This year’s focus included Stutz, Jaguar E-Types, Ferrari GTO, early Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts and Italian Motorcycles. We were there as the cars were driven onto the fairway at sunrise—an opportunity to not only see these vintage beauties actually drive, but also a chance to see the incredible pride, passion and focus of their owners.

All photos by Josh Rubin. More after the jump.

Four experimental fashion designers’ hand-built reinterpretations of classic Benzes

Berlin’s fashion week might not have the glitter of other fashion capitols, but then again Milan and Paris don’t have Recollection Quartett. The project, under the supervision of art director Frederik Heyman, tasked four of fashion’s more indie designers—Henrik Vibskov, Bernhard Willhelm, Mikio Sakabe and Peter Pilotto—with visually exploring how four cars from Mercedes-Benz’ “Young Classics” collection play against the contemporary context. Sponsored by the luxury automaker and Antwerp’s fashion museum MoMU, Heyman helped execute each designer’s unique vision with hand-built sets.

Henrik Vibskov‘s interpretation of the Mercedes S 123 expresses its popularity as a family car thanks to its spacious trunk. First released in 1977, the model is regarded as one of the first “lifestyle” models and a precursor to the wagons seen on streets today. Vibskov’s take on the car sees an interesting use of the anarchist’s palette of black, white and red.

Bernhard Willhelm was given the SL-Class Roadster 107 from 1971 (later updated in 1985) as his source material. An accessible sports-mobile with a powerful engine and a removable hardtop made this a big hit in the States. At the same time it enjoyed a nice slice of the limelight as the go-to car for bachelors or ladies of leisure. Willhelm’s installation sees two happily buff mannequins towing the car and a goddess-warrior-like woman in front of a large frothy wave.

Mikio Sakabe revisits the W 115 Saloon, which still operate on many European and Asian streets as taxis. Reliable, yet considered rather uninspiring, it’s a cultural icon in its home country and is typically found in the hands of company carpool drivers. Sakabe’s vision takes the business dimension of the car quite literally, save for spidery wooden legs sprouting from the windscreen like creepy typewriter arms.

Peter Pilotto gets the diplomat’s favorite to play with—the S-Class Coupé from the W126 series. While the straight lines scream ’80s urbanity, this was a subtle masterclass in quiet luxury with the long hood hiding a small coal factory of an engine. A bent-wood canopy adorns the car in Pilotto’s installation while horse silhouettes take the place of shadows in the work, hinting at the concealed pulling power under the hood.

The exhibition is open during the Berlin Fashion Week, from 19 to 23 January 2011 at the Stiftung Oper in Berlin.