Tag Archives: retro

future Saab ideas.

I gotta say, i’m excited to see what SAAB comes up with in the next few years.  I always loved SAAB as a company, but found GM to be a corrupting party in their uniqueness and product line.  Here’s to hoping SPYKER brings some fun back to the brand.

The rumour is that the original SAAB 99 is the inspiration behind a new working concept under the working name “92” or”9-2″

About a year ago, IEDEI had ranted about SAAB and it’s lack of current identity.

It is starting to look more and more that SAAB may find it again!

some renderings/possibilities that have been circulating:


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Renault revives vintage livery colours for F1.

Reviving the yellow livery from the 70s Elf F1 cars….Renault today introduced promo shots for the 2010-2011 Formula One season.  Check it out!

ORIGINAL (1977)


NEW (2010)


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Mercedes-Benz introduce: SLS AMG Gullwing

I’m hearing $225,000+ and mid 3s for 0-60 for the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing.  It’s been tested extensively on the Nurburgring, so i’m guessing it’ll have some handling behind it.  I think the styling is a bit BLAH, considering the glorious original Gullwing it is attempting to replicate the feeling of.  Obviously, this is one of those ‘modern retro’ type projects (e.g. Camaro, BMW Z8, etc…), and although it may look several times more striking in real life; the photos don’t seem to really give out the feeling of ‘classic’ just yet.  I do love the interior though…..very sharp—-even though the automatic transmission looks like crap sitting in an interior as nice as that one.

IEDEI has turned the ‘official’ SLS photos into B&W, to see if it fits the bill of ‘classic’…..download the photos in hi-res after clicking each one twice…..and then YOU decide whether it’s a classic or not!

Mercedes_Benz_SLS_Gullwing_1

Mercedes_Benz_SLS_Gullwing_2

Mercedes_Benz_SLS_Gullwing_3

Mercedes_Benz_SLS_Gullwing_Interior

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automotive design: going backwards?

With all the technology, flair, and innovation on the side of today’s automotive engineers and designers—how is it that they cannot make classic designs anymore. Once in a while, you get a design like an Alfa Romeo Brera, Audi TT, Audi S5, or Mercedes-Benz CLS come into play. Cars which have character and verve. But in the 60s and early 70s, there were so many amazing designs which were thrown around.

Point in example, one of THE most desirable cars in the world is the Porsche 911. It has been for 40 years now. Why? because it captures imagination, steers clear of in-the-moment design cliches—-and instead aims for a timelessness which is quite valuable and unwavering.

Dodge recently re-introduced a new version of the Challenger for 2009. The original Challenger was a classic—in a time of cheap gas, muscle, and war. Right now, we have expensive gas, muscle, and war. The 2009 Dodge Challenger is a well designed car, albeit a bit contrived. I find it surreal that 30+ years after the original Challenger, you have a similar design looking back on the original. So is it really 1970 again? No, not really. The original Challenger had CHARM—bucketloads of it. The new one does not have charm. The original Challenger was loud, raw, sloppy, and frankly a bit of a design mess—-BUT it came together in a way which felt organic and natural. The new one is perfectly molded, with stiff suspension, 20″ wheels, and organized body parts.

look at the picture down below—-in fact there is NOT that much similar between the two cars at all. The charm of the original is gone! The new one evokes the old one in a slight, sort of alzheimer-ish memory problem type of way.

So what is in the future of the state of cars? I’ll tell ya that CURVES ARE COMING BACK. They’ll be back in the next 5 years. We’ve had enough of the straight-edge-wannabe-modern-look. Curves are modern. Curves are timeless. No one is gonna look back at the Cadillac CTS in 25 years and say—–“oooh that was a classic”!

Oh, and Dodge should fix their new Challenger. Take out those demented 20″ wheels, and make it less ‘thick’ looking.

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