A sideways glance into the mind of filsmyth (previously Phil Smith), author of Virtual Dreamer.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Design of the Times


All my life, I've been an automotive designer. In public school, no one ever encouraged me to pursue it as a career. Had I been encouraged, I might have lived a very different life thus far.

Just because I wasn't, and just because I didn't pursue it later, doesn't mean I'm not still an automotive designer. And, just because I do not hold a degree in Industrial Design, that doesn't mean I don't have the talent and passion for it.

There is nothing that holds my attention more than automotive design. I continue to think about it every day, and I continue to come up with new designs of my own. Can I be forgiven for not being interested in employment? The one thing I'm meant to do, I've been unable to. It's not an easy industry to crack your way into, now is it? And, at this point in my life, there's no way I'm going back to college.

HOWEVER.

However, having recently come to terms with this dilemma and realizing that I should make it a definite goal to get at least ONE of my designs built, I've come up with something new...

...and this latest design just happens to be something that a couple of companies may be interested in building -- and so, if I can present it to them well enough, I just may be able to finally break my way into the world of professional automotive design. Better late than never, right?


EXOVAN

It's a vehicle designed specifically for Mattracks -- rubber tracks made to replace wheels and tires on four-wheel-drive vehicles. To my knowledge, no one except the Mattracks company has built a vehicle with those tracks in mind -- the Gladiator. I actually didn't know about Mattracks' little TUV until after my own tracked utility vehicle concept had taken shape in my mind.

The other company I'd like to involve is Tesla Motors. They are demonstrating, with their Tesla Roadster, how well electric vehicles can perform. I understand they're working on a sedan, but haven't heard of anything for off-road.

It's important for EXOVAN to be electric -- I've given up on internal combustion for new vehicles (though not, it must be said, for customs and hot rods I'd like to build). The Brubeck twin-engined sports car (conceived while listening to Dave Brubeck albums on vinyl) may be the last of my designs to use internal combustion. The future is electric, and Tesla Motors is leading the, um, charge.

My concept is called EXOVAN because it's a van with its frame on the outside. For me, and for this vehicle, the term 'exoskeletal frame' is shortened to 'exoframe', and it's more than a rollcage added to the outside of a rock crawler's sheetmetal. Any serious off-roader can expect a certain amount of body damage -- this vehicle is designed with its frame on the outside to minimize such damage while avoiding the extra weight of a body-on-frame or unibody with an external rollcage added on.

The name also refers to the outside, as in 'the great outdoors' and/or 'outside the realm of experience'. Photovoltaic panels in the roof may offer only a very slow charge, but a properly outfitted EXOVAN could theoretically travel far into the wilderness, having been charged perhaps at home but returning on power harvested from the Sun -- or for that matter travelling a great distance without once having its charging port opened.

One area in which the Tesla Roadster excels is in its range -- up to 250 miles per charge. For this and many other reasons, you can see why Tesla Motors is the company I want to deal with.

And what about the other company, Mattracks? Just take a look at the videos presented on their site. Vehicles can do astonishing things when their wheels are replaced with Mattracks. Plus, they look really cool...

This vehicle represents a real challenge, as there are two distinct layers of exterior design. I intend for the exoframe to stand on its own (which will be a good thing, as one version of EXOVAN has no body at all, open to the air for the dunes) with sweeping curves of tubular steel -- while the body, in stark contrast, will be comprised of flat glass and flat aluminum panels, and flat solar panels. Now that I think of it, the open version will have the option of some roofing, in the form of those solar panels.

I had indeed worked up a preliminary sketch of a flat-panel van with Mattracks before, and not too long ago. It made me think of a van design I used to draw way back in the 8th grade, and it was yet another thing I'd like to see and own and drive -- but it didn't have the cachet of the EXOVAN.

Since it IS a van, EXOVAN can be built in any number of configurations. It can be an ambulance, a party car, a small camper, or a cargo hauler. Anything you want. And, it can go anywhere (if relatively slowly, since Mattracks can't take sustained highway speeds). The layout I keep thinking of, though, is 8 seats with the rear 6 on swivels, packed to the rafters with electronics.

At least 2 more companies can be brought in on the project, those being Skyjacker for the suspension and Rhino Linings for the tough coating (in any colour) that the exoframe should have.

This is a vehicle that should be the star of SEMA and gain attention at many other auto shows, attention that will be beneficial for any company involved.

It is a vehicle for these times, the early 21st Century. It is the very model of mobility and eco-friendliness (one thing about Mattracks, by the way, is that they scar the landscape much less than tires do).


I've got much work ahead, doing pencil sketches to scan and manipulate with a few graphics programs before I actually approach Tesla Motors and Mattracks. An image or two may show up here on this blog before I send them anything at all.


It won't be for everyone -- no vehicle is -- but if I'm right about it, it will damn well get built and cause a minor sensation. If it ever reaches (limited) production, my guess is that each example will go for somewhere over $100,000 and be greatly prized by each and every owner.

It's up to me to turn this dream into a reality. I've left a few details out of this blog post, partially because of the time it would take to describe them. EXOVAN may not be the best design I've come up with, but it's the ONE that will get me noticed as a designer.

Slacker I may be, but this is my life. Automotive design is one thing I truly care about, and this is (finally) my chance to make a contribution.

This is something I feel strongly about, something I have to pursue. Someday I'll be designing flying saucers, but EXOVAN is the thing that will have people asking me to pen those space yachts for them.

Nation of Earth? Will anyone ever credit me for thinking of something that is inevitable? Do I even THINK of being credited for things? No, I only want to CREATE, which in the world of automotive design is not an easy thing to do. I've built furniture of my own design, which was immensely rewarding in its own right, though a few projects got left undone. Over the decades I've drawn countless automotive designs, but only several furniture designs.

Automotive design is my passion. Maybe, just maybe, I've come up with something that someone else will care enough about to build. I was barely able to build wooden furniture of my own design -- no way I could construct an entire VEHICLE myself.

This is it, this is my chance. Wish me luck.



Phil Smith
April Fourteenth, Twenty-Oh-Seven

_____

Followers