that thing looks bad ass

http://features.conceptcar.co.uk/scu...sign/index.php

http://www.conceptcar.co.uk/news/des...signnews42.php

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"if you want to drive an exclusive car, drive a Lamborghini, if you want to drive a normal car, drive anything else"
Valentino Balboni

Heres one mans reaction....worth about 2 cents...just kind of venting here...Im not an engineer nor do I know what constraints were placed on the students, or really what the assignment was in terms of moving away from the old...

HOWEVER, I especially love Espadas and have stared at beautiful (to me anyway) cars for hours and hours, from every possible angle...

and after studying these designs and descriptions, I am almost physically/pit-of-stomach disgusted about them. Its one thing to do a study for a blank-slate car, but if the idea was to recreate the feeling of the Espada...what a huge responsibility and an honor...what a disappointment...I cant even understand how they could all go so WRONG...

so the question to me naturally becomes, "well smarty-pants, explain how YOU would go about it..."

My (not a professional designer or engineer/so naturally naive) answer?

well, I would start by taking a hard look at an Espada. For a few days maybe. I would shine lights on it, I would drive it, most importantly, I would have it driven by me very fast. I would watch it corner, I would follow it for a few hours. I would stare at it at daybreak, and then again at dusk. I would look at every line and crease and duct and reflection. I would measure the relationships between design elements....I would seriously try to spend enough time with the car that I could 'feel it', so that when I put pen to paper I would know that an evolved Espada would come out, not just a drawing with a Lamborghini badge...

Did any of these students do this? I honestly cant see it...and I tried really hard... but I dont know what the state of the art in terms of learning automotive design is - I am sure that there is some involved process - and certainly there are amazing tools that will allow for neat colorizing and shading and treatments - and EVERYTHING looks modern with giant wheels...and I am sure that there are terms for things, so again, this is a naive perspective....

here are (few top-of-mind) things that I personally see when I look at an Espada profile that I think are NON-NEGOTIABLE when updating the design....

- Where the A-Pillar meets the roof is the tallest point of the car. It creates a "peak".
- There are - obviously - only two elegant horizontal lines that create the profile of the car - one that starts high in the back and sweeps forward to the aforementioned peak...
- and a second - impossibly low, flat line of the hood that pierces through the car and curves skyward at the c-pillar.
- the two lines are like two "c"s - gently massaged and facing each other....(see sketch - the two critical espada character lines (to my eye): one red, one blue)
- The four headlights and black grill that form the serious face of the car - the 'eyes' of the car - the update has the opportunity to make them really angry, with a couple of easy, graceful lines.
- The 'mouth' of the car. Subtle - but it is shaped like this: <


Obviously whatever I would sketch would be informed by all of the vehicles that I have seen in my lifetime (Im 30), and I would know what is possible given technology and what is not possible given the constraints of safety etc...so no matter what I would create would be my own, and updated, but still honest to the Espada....

In my opinion, the assignment should have been this : The new Espada shape has to be correct/loyal to the point where if one blew by you at night, in the dark, with only the moonlight, you have to know - or feel - that A) it was a Lamborghini and B) it was an Espada.

Well, Its not fair for me to just sit here in Nebraska and yammer on and on without at least giving it a shot myself....

so, below is my "one minute sketch" attempt at the basic shape of a modern Espada - five minutes ago - no fancy software , no training- just a pen, a piece of paper and an old photo of an Espada

findings...maybe these don't stray 'enough' from the original, but the basic shape is here, and the refinement process would allow for proper adjustment...

- I think it would be neat - and honest - to create an Espada vent/design element in the c-pillar ....kind of reflected in this sketch....(maybe my best idea)
- I figure the hood could be swept/curved a bit more than in the original
- I think the hood could be angled forward more than in the original
- I think the horizontal line between the wheels should be curved a bit (its flat in the original)
- OF COURSE LOWER, MEANER and WIDER than the original....

I don't know. I guess I should go buy an old one and shut up, leave this business to large teams of "experts"...

Collin

(I'm just ticked off about the "updating" of the 6 series BMW - how cool should THAT have been - and my fears about the upcoming 928 replacement P-car....I guess I should shut up...Incidentally, I was happy with the RR Phantom and the Ford GT)

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Current: 1986 Alfa Spider Quadrifoglio, 1969 Mercedes 280SL, Former: Lamborghini Jalpa #370, Porsches 928S4/944S2/968, BMWs 325ix/528iA/318is/z3 1.9, '67 MGBGT, Sentra Se-R (college car), and one VERY DEAD Fiat 2000 Spider

Incidentally, in my opinion, one part of Andrea Borgognis's effort is closest....She/he "saw" the critical A pillar peak... (still, the proportions of the car are all wrong. Its not an Espada)...

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Current: 1986 Alfa Spider Quadrifoglio, 1969 Mercedes 280SL, Former: Lamborghini Jalpa #370, Porsches 928S4/944S2/968, BMWs 325ix/528iA/318is/z3 1.9, '67 MGBGT, Sentra Se-R (college car), and one VERY DEAD Fiat 2000 Spider

Preach Collin... preach!!

You're ABSOLUTELY right... that was what I thought when I saw those new designs of the Espada!! I was gonna say something but decided not to and kept it to myself.

But then again, those designs arent final, hopefully they'll refine it or something. Audi/Lamborghini, if you're reading this : YOU BETTER!!

Andrea Borgognis's concept reminds me of a Saab.

Ehh...not so sure, the yellow protottype models look OK. The one on the bottom left of the yellow 4.

yeah i likd the yellow prototype model.

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If one's going to live, live well.


*Looking Forward to my first Lamborghini, whenever I shall have her!*

http://www.autocar.co.uk/popups/gallery.asp?NA=216715

could be tempting??