Interior from the 1986 Volkswagen "Orbit" concept car (more in post)
EDIT: Wait, stop everything! I have something to say, mates:
I try to spread my posts amongst a smorgasbord of communities I find worthy of supporting, but I can tell you frankly, if the following StarTrek TOS movie post is valued so little, then to me, this community is worth the same as that one.
It's a fun movie scene, or do you disagree?
https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2389959/this-isn-t-reality-this-is-fantasy-uhura-to-mr-adventure-stiii
"As you know my friends, it all begins with "fine, Corinthian leather..!"
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=montalban+corinthian+leather
Well... actually:
The Orbit was a further refinement of previous Italdesign concepts such as the Alfa Romeo New York Taxi (1976), Lancia Megagamma (1978), Capsula (1982) and Together (1984). The concept was built on a Volkswagen Golf Mk2 platform, specifically the new "Syncro." The goal was to produce a car around 4m in length. The concept was 15cm taller than the existing Volkswagen Golf and featured a large amount of glass.
The Orbit would be developed further into the Italdesign Machimoto, shown the same year. --WP
https://assets.dyler.com/uploads/posts/265/images/5417/volkswagen-orbit.jpg
This shot is certainly from one of the testing phases. I personally find it hilarious:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qe8qpxvWbiw/maxresdefault.jpg
From this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe8qpxvWbiw
32 replies
One of my favorite (now) retro-future designs:
Okay you laugh but this was the family vehicle when I was in my teens and we lovingly called it the Enterprise. I hated driving it though because it was a land boat.
It really had like a U-shaped design curve. When it came out it was super futuristic looking. Then by the end of the 90s and into the early 2000s it was unbelievably dated. Now, I think it looks amazing again. Probably something to do with the future we were promised vs what we actually got, but I'm not getting onto my soapbox today.
When I was a bit younger my spouse at the time got a hand me down Plymouth Voyager that we named Janeway. Thing was an indestructible beast we put it through a lot but yeah part of that was never ending dings and scrapes because it couldn't turn for shit
Dashboard looks like it came out of Star Trek.
Manual Transmission. With absurdly long throw.
Idk why it just looks weird together.
Mid-80s 300ZX had a similar dash and also offered MT but it looked so much less out-of-place there. Maybe because this car isn't nearly as sporty? Or that shifter looks like it was taken out of a pickup?
Really puts the "cars" in LCARS
Modern car design is a disgrace. I want fun things again
The bean counters always win. Optimising aerodynamics gives fuel economy which sells cars. Very few come up with different aerodynamic solutions so everything looks the same
Oh yeah, it's a little rager I have inside my head...
"But these cars all look the same, dad! They all look like failed, blunt-nosed rocket-models."
"That's right, Johnny, they were designed in terms of crumple-zones and fuel-efficiency."
"But... what about style, dad? You know, Art Deco, and Googie, and all that stuff...?"
“Rich, Cor-r-r-r-rinthian leather.”
My heart goes out to Ricardo Montalban. He was basically paralysed at that point in life, had to work through extreme back pain via local anesthesia in order to appear 'standing and normal.' But he was so, so cool about it, including acting through ridiculous films like Naked Gun. (which I also adore)
That man was basically pure, undiluted cool. I grew up watching the insane nonsense that was Fantasy Island and Wrath of Khan was the first great Star Trek movie I ever saw... since I had already seen The Motionless Picture.
Also, that Columbo ep!
What an awesome performance.
That dashboard engages my warp drive.
That dash panel looks straight out of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
It’s terrible. I love it.
Volkswagen TNG
That "testing phase" pic looks like it should have involved Devo or Kraftwerk.
This car looks dope as hell.
The outside looks like The Gadget Mobile.
Reminds me of the robot taxi from the original Total Recall.
Why Nothing Looks Cool Anymore by Design Theory: https://youtu.be/HgjXjPP_p3s
That guy talks about how bad tech bros are at design, then starts dick riding Apple for design.
Apple did have cool and futuristic design for a while. It helped that Jobs was a Dieter Rams fanboy. But they certainly aren't guaranteed to turn out great designs.
He was showing the latest iPhone on screen while throating the design. I stopped watching after that.
I certainly hope we can do better than that fool, but YMMV.
I loved the attempt to use the Beetle legacy to introduce the Fox. I'm guessing the Fox never got much traction for either marketing, quality, or timing, since it's not a car I've seen around any since that time.
I still see the Fox regularly here in Germany. A lot of them are in pretty bad condition though.
I thought Foxes were just Audis.
That last picture... your knees are the crumple zone.
F u t u r e