[Trisha]

There were days long ago when computers, and their aid to design, hadn't been thought of, or applied. To design a car a man picked up a pencil, and designed... a car. They didn't make a bad job of it. Did they?

 

[Trisha]

 

[Trisha]

 

[cbwho]

I think those were designed with clay?

Very iconic

 

[Trisha]

Nope, but modelled in clay.

 

[Trisha]

Even the V16 Auto-Union started life with... a pencil.

 

[tamar.nelwan]

Trisha, as for the first car designs...even today's cars first renders are still done with a pencil...and whether it's done with an HB pencil or a digital one...makes no difference at all.

What has changed however...is the paper. Those first designs were done on a clean sheet...where as the modern day designer has to scribble his ideas...between the directives already penned down by the Marketing department.

With kind regards
Tamar

 

[Anglocanadian]

What has changed however...is the paper. Those first designs were done on a clean sheet...where as the modern day designer has to scribble his ideas...between the directives already penned down by the Marketing department.

I believe Gordon Murry may be an exception to the rule

 

[Kevan]

Adrian Newey does all his designs in pencil.

 

[Kevan]

I do all my chassis designs in pencil, it's miles quicker and problems can be worked out before wasting hours on CAD.

 

[mickey thumbs]

There were a few that were ???

 

[Trisha]

Nope, not everything was a success, and the Edsel was among the failures, Michael. Most nations have produced their automotive horrors, but if it ever came to a competition, I'd place Russia way out in the lead.

 

[Trisha]

 

[Trisha]

 

[Trisha]

The simple, humble pencil/pen brought civilisation to the world, along with tea, toast and marmalade, of course.

 

[munter]

 

[merkit the grof]

This man would disagree Pierre Bezier or how to start with a pencil and move to something much more powerful.

Joel

PS: They say the pen is mightier than the sword, is that why it's poor relation the pencil is so humble?

 

[Gripping Pneus]

Looking at that first tranche of photo cameos really drives home how universally bland and similar today's cars are.

I would do a much better job of identifying car silhouettes from the past than full colour photos of cars of the present.

 

[Cdub]

It has been interesting to watch the CAD "revolution" unfold. The computer allows average designers to make models and drawings of things they otherwise couldn't do by hand. However, they are still just average (at best) at design or engineering for that matter, so you see a large volume of mediocre work.

Before the CAD tools, only people with some genuine talent could really design anything.

I also think drawing by hand forces the designer to think through their choices and ideas much more completely. It is easy in modern CAD to just keep stacking features and parts until the desired objective is achieved, but it doesn't guarantee any elegance in the results.

 

[Trisha]