Mini to Volkswagen Beetle_ 10 Best Car Designs _ Mail Online

8/4/2019 Mini to Volkswagen Beetle_ 10 Best Car Designs _ Mail Online

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The humble mini to the Volkswagen

Beetle: Ten of the greatest car designsBy STEPHEN BAYLEY, Design expert and author

Las t updated at 3:00 AM on 21st August 2011

From the most influential car ever built with itsastonishing range of innovations to the vehicle designedfor Hitler and technically known as the Porsche Type 60,

STEPHEN BAYLEY chooses his favourite vehicle creations1. FORD MODEL T

1908

11Like


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Henry Ford said he had to invent his 'gasoline buggy' to escape the crushing

boredom of life on the farm. Ever s ince, cars have bee n escape vehicles

Germans may have invented the petrol engine, but it was Henry Ford, a Michigan-Irish farmer of crude, butinspired, genius who realised its social potential. Ford said he had to invent his gasoline buggy to escape

the crushing boredom of life on the farm. Ever since, cars have been escape vehicles. Ford was obsessedwith efficiency: his production lines were inspired by the meat-packing yards of Chicago. His famous decreethat customers could choose any colour so long as it is black was not to limit consumer choice, but toreduce costs: in Fords day, freshly painted cars were left in the sun to dry. Black dried more quickly andwas thus cheaper. By 1914, a Model T could be manufactured in 93 minutes and in Brave New WorldAldous Huxley proposed a new calendar based on the Year Of Our Ford. Spare parts were all availablethrough the Sears Roebuck mail-order catalogue.

2. MINI

1959


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The M ini included an astonishing range of innovations: front-w heel dr ive, a

transverse engine (with gearbox in the sump to save space) and 10in wheels

Not the most beautiful, but the most influential car ever. The designer, Alec Issigonis, was obsessed bypackaging, the industry term for efficient accommodation. The Mini included an astonishing range of

innovations: front-wheel drive, a transverse engine (with gearbox in the sump to save space) and 10inwheels. Because it was so aesthetically and technically radical, it was impossible for traditional British snobsto categorise it, and it became the first small car to be socially classless.

3. JEEP1941


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President Eisenhower said that, along with the C-47 Dakota transport plane, the Jeep

was the m ost s ignificant piece of WWII military equipment

The predecessor to the Jeep was a military version of the Model T, but when the U.S. government issued arequest for bidders, the result was another timeless and ineffable design. The contract was eventually wonby the Willys Overland Company. Jeep may be a phonic contraction of general purpose vehicle or it mayrefer to a Popeye character called Eugene the Jeep, while army slang used the word to suggest anythinglazy and worthless. Eisenhower said that, along with the C-47 Dakota transport plane, the Jeep was themost significant piece of WWII military equipment. We admire it for its absolutely irreducible functionality.

4. VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

1938

At some point in the Thirties a des ign by Austro-Hungarian Bela Bere nyi for a

teardrop-s haped car with a rear engine seems to have enter ed National Socialist

consciousness in Germany


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The German Nazi party was committed to mobilising the people (volk), and at some point in the Thirties adesign by Austro-Hungarian Bela Berenyi for a teardrop-shaped car with a rear engine seems to haveentered National Socialist consciousness. This was developed for Hitler by Dr Ferdinand Porsche andtechnically known as the Porsche Type 60. In 1936 Hitler decided the project should be sponsored by hisKraft Durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) movement and the cars were first known as the Kraft DurchFreude Wagen. Production did not begin until after 1945, British occupation forces having rejected takingover the VW factory since they thought the car had no future. In the event, Beetle production lasted inGermany until 1978 and in Mexico until 2003.

5. '49 FORD1949

The '49 Ford w as a technologically sim ple car, but comm ercially revolutionary. It

came about as the result of a design competition, with Ford's own designers

competing against freelancers

Rival General Motors produced more flamboyant styling, but it was the 49 Ford that brought modern cardesign to the American masses. Fords Ernest Breech had said: I have a vision. We start from scratch. Itwas a technologically simple car, but commercially revolutionary. It came about as the result of a designcompetition, with Fords own designers competing against freelancers. The winning idea was created in asuburban kitchen, although one of the team involved was George Walker, who became Fords design

director in 1955 Time magazine called him the Cellini of chrome. New in 1949 was the sculpted,integrated shape: the idea of a popular car as a desirable consumer product. Fords current creativedirector, J Mays, says: Its so much closer to the cars that followed it and so unlike the cars that immediatelypreceded it.

6. MERCEDES-BENZ 300SL1961


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Signature feature s of the M ercedes -Benz 300SL are the gull-wing doors hinged at

the roof. Never mind the advanced and very light and rigid structure, as s culpture ,

the 300SL was totally original

No single car better demonstrates the German inclination to become an ubermensch (superman) when left

alone to design and manufacture an advanced automobile. The 300SL (the abbreviation is for SuperLight) came about when the U.S. importer said he could sell 1,000 road-going versions of the Mercedes-Benz that had won the 1952 Le Mans 24 Hours race. Design was by Friedrich Gieger with engineers KarlWilfert and Walter Hacker, although the colourful French sculptor-designer Paul Bracq also had a role.Signature features are the gull-wing doors hinged at the roof. Never mind the advanced and very light andrigid structure, as sculpture, the 300SL was totally original. Crisp details give a confident, graphic clarity. Itis not, however, all race car-derived functionalism: Bracq added a fake power bulge on the bonnet and,long before branding became an obsession, the 300SL featured a very prominent three-pointed star asthe commanding feature of its nasal intake.

7. JAGUAR E-TYPE1961


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The Jaguar E-type has been called the 'optimum expression of steel'. The design

checklist is: stance, proportions, composition, details, symbolism . The E-type t icks

every one

A direct descendant of the Jaguars that dominated Le Mans in the Fifties, the E-type is the most beautifuland exciting car ever to have gone into mass-production. Significantly, no designer was involved. Instead,it was the product of the genius of Sir William Lyons, the man who founded Jaguar, and his aerodynamicist,Malcolm Sayer. The E-type has been called the optimum expression of steel. The design checklist is:

stance, proportions, composition, details, symbolism. The E-type ticks every one. However, economies wereinvolved in its production; the rear lights are borrowed from a contemporary Jaguar saloon, but turned ontheir sides. The E-type was the first production car to be acquired for the permanent collection of NewYorks Museum of Modern Art.

8. FIAT 500

1957


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Perhaps the smallest viable four-seater ever made, the Fiat 500 was designed towork its cute way through narrow Italian streets. Simplicity and economy were to be

decisive

Along with the Vespa scooter, the Nuova Cinquecento (New 500) is the favourite symbol of 20th-centuryItaly. Perhaps the smallest viable four-seater ever made, it was designed to work its cute way throughnarrow Italian streets. The designer was Dante Giacosa and this successor to the pre-war Topolino wasconceived in the ricostruzione, Italys period of reconstruction. Simplicity and economy were to be decisive.For cheapness, the car has (nearly) flat glass, but clever contouring of the body panels give it a generousaspect. The 500 remained in production until 1975. Yet its appeal endures: in 2007 Fiat introduced a re-edition paying homage to Giacosas original.

9. CITRON DS1955


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The enginee ring of the Citroen DS was directed by Pierre Boulanger (k illed testing a

prototype), w ho had told his team: 'Study all the possibilities , including the

impossible'

To many, the DS is the single greatest car ever made, an unrepeatable combination of bold art withadvanced technology. The body was drawn by Citrons chief designer, Italian sculptor Flaminio Bertoni,who had exhibited with the Surrealists. The engineering was directed by Pierre Boulanger (killed testing aprototype), who had told his team: Study all the possibilities, including the impossible. Specificationincluded self-levelling suspension, power brakes, a plastic roof and an automatic clutch. The Frenchphilosopher Roland Barthes wrote a rhapsodic essay about the car, calling it the very essence of petit-bourgeois advancement.

10. SMART1998


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Smart became a joint venture w ith Mercedes-Benz in 1994, with the new vehicle

aimed at addressing the problems of congestion and pollution, but in an amusing,

pleasurable and stree twise fashion

Smart has many shortcomings: terrible ride, weird transmission and an inclination towards instability manyearly versions were photographed in German magazines up-ended on their tails like struggling ladybirds.But it is the most radical re-think of what a car should be since the Mini. Originally a project of Swatch(which revolutionised the staid Swiss watch industry), early development was in California as theSwatchmobile. It became a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz in 1994, with the new vehicle aimed ataddressing the problems of congestion and pollution, but in an amusing, pleasurable and streetwisefashion. The ultra-strong and safe steel frame is made into a visual feature, while the plastic body panels

are recycled and replaceable. Within an improbably tiny footprint, the car offers two passengers the samecomfort and convenience (but much, much more manoeuvrability) as a full-sized saloon. Like the Mini,smarts designers realised that a small car doesnt have to economise on pleasure.

STEPHEN BAYLEY PICTURE BYLINE: Rebecca Reid / eyevine

Places:

Chicago,

New York,Germany,

Italy,

Mexico

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SBK 2011 (X-Box 360)

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Portal 2 (PS3)

At its heart, Portal 2 is a s imple game, being a series of rooms full of puzzles that become more fiendishly difficult as you

progress.

Ben 10 - Cosmic Destruction (PS3)

This latest instalment in the franchise sees Ben travel round the world collecting artefacts in an attempt to fend off a

mysterious 'cosmic storm'.

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Mini to Volkswagen Beetle_ 10 Best Car Designs _ Mail Online