Saturday

I heart back to the future









Man am I a sucker for gullwing doors. Sure, the practicality is questionable, but I like them because they're sexy. Sometimes, that's what design is all about. Sometimes you need to throw practicality, value engineering, and even sometimes ergonomics aside to design a true piece of art. I'm not saying this is a true piece of art, but I certainly admire the designer's uncompromising vision.

Besides the doors, I'm not sure I like it. It certainly mixes well with the other Mercedes in the line up, which I tend to like in some, if not most cases. The BMW Z8 was a near perfect example, in form, of what Mercedes should have emulated, but at some point, there were too many air ducts, and they just kept on going. There are so many interruptions in each body panel that the over all form is lost.


If I ever see one of these on the road, I may just follow it to it's destination, just to see the doors in action. Hopefully Michael J. Fox will be inside. It's a predictable upgrade from the DeLorean.

3 comments:

Neil said...

Wow, those pictures make my car design brain parts happy too.
I saw a Cavalier with gullwings. That was simply bizarre (and kind of funny).

Butch said...

The more I see MB and the more I learn about them the more I want one. Doesn't have to have the doors, couldn't afford them, but the cars have evolved with the times more of late. They really did have the appearance of being the most mundane car on the road. Now, they are anywhere from casual to get the hell out of my way.

The German Touring Car Championship is now playing on TV. Audi vs Mercedes. Exhausts flaming from the lower part of what would be the doors and out of a grove in the sheet metal, halfway between the wheels. Four second pit stops, fuel and 4 tire change.

Butch said...

Forgot to mention, also taping the Australian Touring Car Championship and the British TCC. Three seperate classes of racing.