We think far beyond the car as such, with a focus on mobility in general. We do this regularly in concept teams made up of specialists with a mission to look into the future and give up existing conventions. – Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg
The two wheeler above is Volkswagen’s latest bid in their mission to become the most innovative and environmentally friendly car maker in the world. Of course the VW Bik.e looks just like a bike, though I didn’t notice the lack of pedals at first (indicates how often I ride a bike). This folding contraption is battery powered and has a range of 12.5 miles, with a top speed of 12.5 mph (apparently allows legal helmet-less riding). Given these specs it’s definitely intended as an supplement to your car. In its collapsed state, it easily fits inside the spare tire compartment in your vehicle. Check out the video below for the animation showing it going from bike to tire. Sounds like it might actually be for sale too, eventually.
As an idea I am skeptical. I don’t like the reliance on cars to get you to a place where you can practically bike about. If you don’t live in a dense city or a city center, this solution is always going to be a car + bike situation. While the design is obviously a step in the right overall direction, I prefer urban mobility solutions that remove cars from the equation completely. That said, this is definitely the coolest looking folding bike concept I have seen. (Here is another one if you are interested, this one with pedals.)
Every time I’m at Faye’s Video (btw they’re not just about VHS tapes and employee film ratings, they make awesome espresso too) I notice the cover for Jaques Tati’s Trafic. I’ve never seen the film but the cover art is striking to say the least. I finally decided to look it up to get more info and came across this post at Balduin about the various versions of the poster for international release. While the cover is great, I was really blown away by the titles (second image), that’s got to be my favorite part. Now I’ll have to rent the DVD just so I can screenshot it and print it out.
One of the best tracklistings and mixes i’ve seen and heard in a while is this one from St. Louis’ Phaseone that Pitchfork posted yesterday, download it here. Check the tracklist out to see if your interested, i’m sure many of you will be very pleased:
TRACKLIST Slowdive – Miranda Curren$y – I’m just dope Aphex Twin – Fingerbib Nite Jewel – Want you back (phaseone remix) Lukid – Hair of the dog Talking Heads – Listening wind Tricky – Bad dream Polanski – punked out J Dilla – Oxtopus boom boom Falty DL – Made me feel so right James Pants – Shower party Fleetwood Mac – Isn’t it midnight Teebs – Humming birds Actress vs. Zomby – Aazz2 Phaseone – Sandra
Was reminded of Mercedes’ beautiful 1969 C111 gullwing design after their recent concept unveiling. Beautiful Pictures; I’ll go ahead and file this under “things you can’t have, ever”. I’ve always loved cars; I used to collect die-cast models when I was a kid. I guess I picked the wrong thing to be obsessed with though because it’s becoming increasingly apparent that a 1959 Testa Rossa just isn’t in the cards for me.
I suppose it’s for the best though; nice cars are so impractical and besides, this is the sort of thing that has me dreaming these days. ($8700 MSRP!!! why do you torture us?) I feel like we as designers sort of got a raw deal; we’ll never be able to afford what our taste dictates as acceptable to us (except for that one guy who redesigned the Louis Vuitton monogram maybe? He could probably buy the car and the guy driving it). And then you see MTV Cribs and these people’s houses look like they hired Scarface and the set designer from Full House to do their interiors.
I’ve been up in Tahoe getting in a few days of skiing in before I hit the road and happened to come across some related reading. Black Crows make some very well designed skis (can’t speak to how they ride, I’m loyal to Armada) and now they make a well designed Cube. Nissan has partnered with the French ski maker to create these two special editions of Jakub’s favorite logo-shaped conveyance. The cars are interesting but the skis are the real story. I’m always complaining about the abysmal state of ski design these days but Black Crows have shown that there are still some people pushing the minimal vibe even in this age of x-treme-sports-informed maximalist design. The only problem is they’re too pretty to ride, I’d hang them on my wall though (see a couple pics below or check their site). Via We Heart
BTW: according to the EXIF on those shots they were taken with the GF1. Pretty nice, been thinking about getting something in that range (like the Canon G11 et al.) for traveling light. The shots below were shot with the mighty (yet inexplicably video-less) D700.
Ski images via Pixelcollector
I’ve been geeking out on ’70s supercars lately and came across these gems depicting a BMW concept from 1972. The “E25 BMW Turbo” was commissioned to celebrate the 1972 Munich Olympics. BMW tasked famed automotive designer Paul Bracq to create the concept of which only two were ever built. Honestly, I love the front angles, but not really feeling that rear end. It feels very hatchback/kit-car-ish and the doulbe logos are killing me. Thankfully some of the finer points made it into production in the form of the M1 and some others.
That first shot is just off the charts; in the background you can see BMW’s Munich headquarters which was designed by architect Prof. Karl Schwanzer shortly before his death in 1975. In the other shots you can catch the games tent and the communications tower providing apt backdrops for the Turbo.
Beautiful shots of the original LP400 and concept models of the Lamborghini Countach before Crockett and Tubbs got back from Kragen with all the wings and spoilers. You may recognize some of the lines from the Bertone post, that’s because Bertone designer Marcello Gandini also designed the original Countach concept in 1971.
This is such a beautiful design, shame they had to go and muck it up with all the over the top junk. Although I guess if it didn’t have all that stuff we wouldn’t have such a perfect cliche ’80s car as a reference point in video games and movies.
