Carfreax

LIFE ON MARS

My opinion has changed. The four wheelers that rattle through the inner cities look out of place; cafe posers from another planet.

But these days I discover the true qualities of quads. And yes, it might have to do with the fact that it is me that has landed on another planet.

We have enjoyed the "summer in the winter" at Fuerte Ventura for a couple of days. Now it is time to sign up for a slightly different exploration of the volcanic island.

The good thing about rental cars is that you don't own them and most of the time they come pre-dented. Nevertheless it is still a challenge to get a reasonable speed out of the little four potters, especially when you are winding heavy gravel roads to find that perfect surf spot. We leave the climatised comfort zone of our Polo and head up to the cramped box office of the local x-trailers. After signing the usual papers with tiny letters we find ourselves sitting on the whirling contraptions. The instructions are brief; brake, another brake and ,most important, the thumb gas lever. "Have fun guys, but no rocks, right?!"

Four hours of sheer fun follow, trailing the hidden paths, volcano sites and dunes of Fuerte Ventura. Could this be Life on Mars? Although we have to follow our african guide as a convoy we quickly find out that there is more in racing than overtaking. Uli drives in front of me as he displays the first power drift of the day. Many will follow, increasing in length and drama. These machines are fantastic! With speeds well beyond 80 km/h we dust through the landscape, circling around the stones on our path.

It is at lunch time that we find out the "no rocks" part of the instructions did not apply to avoiding stones themselves, but more with the way we have dealt with it so far.

No drifts, no fun. During the second half of our trip we use every possible alibi to get the fat tires into spin. Driving quads is a drug. We come home with a brown tan, out of thick dust that is. That same night Floris and I experience a cold turkey and decide to go back the next day. We try to make a deal with our guide: "we want to go for the two hours trip, but you can leave the touristic bullshit out of it, speed is what we crave for!" The man, dressed in authentic african style, smiles. "I knew you guys will come back for more, don't worry you will have fun! relax."

Unfortunately our need for speed is disturbed by the unexperienced rest of the group. In the first bend, the first Italian tourist decides to go straight ahead into the stones. At the first touristic stop Floris and I get the sign. "I promised you will have fun!" We trail off with full throttle, leaving a long tail of dust behind us. In the broken rear mirror a can see the beginners taking pictures of  the "wonderful volcano panorama".

More impressions at the other channel after the bleep.

2.4 S

A colleague of mine at Kiska found this car a few years ago and after a small photoshoot we got into talking about it's history. Despite looking like a wreck, this is one of the most desirable classic 911's amongst collectors because it's a '72 2.4S, which was the only production year that featured the oil filler cap on the right rear quarter panel.

The story behind it's demise and rediscovery is a bit of a mystery. In 1976 it was put in a barn with only 48k KM on it. It was left there until 1986 at which point it was moved outside. Soon after this a tree fell on it and crushed it. I found the car in Milan in 2008 in a terrible state, along with the passport of this mysterious girl that must have left it in the glove box. The girl who owned it was only 18 when she got the 2.4S and nobody knows what happened to her or why she hid the car away in the garage. 

Marc Ischepp

 

CFX YEAR 10

Happy New Year!

For those not able to attend the CFX|New Years Reception here's something to get you in the mood nevertheless... and help brainstorm to set our agenda for 2010. 

We're entering our 10th year of existence this year so the sky is the limit for CFX events. Since we already have an honorary member with a proven track record to arrange us the silver R8, all we need now is someone with good ties to Maranello. I seem to recall a friend of a friend by the name of Enzo?

Hope to see you all soon, be it Geldermalsen, Geneva or Goodwood.

Happy New Year!

- G

Sub-culture: AutoSalon Tilburg (reprise)

About a month ago I posted a last-minute event alert on our CFX|NL sister site, to try and tempt some of my Dutch buddies into visiting a one-off local 'car meets art' happening downtown Tilburg; the AutoSalon. Rik picked up the gauntlet and brought his son Henk along, while Gerard went to check out the Auto Salon's audio channel on the 013 rock temple stage.

I wonder how many unsuspecting car-lovers were lured into that underground parking in the city centre, only to find out that some local artists (a.k.a. the illustrious Tilburg CowBoys) had set them up for something completely different. Spread out over most of the bottom level of the multi-storey car park were not cars, but art. Automotive art. Well, there were parked cars in between. And a couple of show room exhibits. Or was this all part of the event?

All was kind of difficult to fathom. The first surprise came pretty soon though. After a harmless collection of photographs (Dutch owners of American muscle), some of the more unsettling exhibits grabbed us before we knew it. Not aware of what could be our part, we sat down in an old boxy Volvo 740 - only to witness a modern dance performance from the comfy seats in this safe and protective Swedish enclosure.

The dance... was very modern indeed, and seemed inspired by creepy horror movies if anything. Our car was standing still, yet a hysterically running damsel chased it down the deck. And before we knew it, we'd hit and run over something (someone) in the front. Disturbing. The Vloeistof ('Fluid') dancers kept disappearing and popping up, out of nowhere, did a 'Blair Witch' closing scene under the ramp and ended up perched right onto our windscreen, eyes staring as possessed body snatchers, out to do something unspeakably horrible to us, harmless passengers. They finished, of course, on the roof of the Volvo, rocking it about while peering down the sunroof. It was not a very comfortable feeling when, at the end, they suddenly jerked the doors open.

Car related, yes, I guess. But from quite a different perspective.

On that same note, a bit further down, a collection of road kills had been artistically framed and arranged by Bart Jansen. Not a lot of time was spent on preparation (or should I say preservation) of the artwork though - the stench was unbearable. Thank God, Bart had decided not to also run his second exhibition piece, 'Fuel Press', there and then; this perpetuum mobile was pressing seeds, in order to extract oil - to run its own engine. Weird and wonderful.

While one artist had violently fired rounds at a white UN car before compressing it to a small package of rusted metal, rubber and textile, another one had merely painted shadows and refections of a car on the concrete floor, setting off the alarm of this invisible vehicle if one approached its 'private space' footprint too closely.

Others had taken a more straightforward approach and built tangible visions of their dream vehicles - be it a stationary, dragster-like tribute to 30's and 40's silver arrow race cars in welded steel, or a bizarre polyester trailer that looked like an amputated Beetle with large tumor-like bulges on its back. The tumor-bug, also known as Appenda 3000, was towed through the city all weekend long, leaving behind bemused (or just plain confused) spectators.

 

The (moving part of the) exhibition had in fact started off on Day One with the 'Merry Go Roundabout', a 'live' merry-go-round on one of the city's roundabouts (this time including full size icons like the obligatory fire truck, a convertible, horse cart and two motorcycles, side-by-side of course) and also included a driving Boom Car Concert, which randomly appeared throughout the city. Next to these 'traditionally' tuned hot hatches (is there such a thing as traditional customizing?), the 'Ben Hur Tuning Studio' offered a more ground breaking pimping service for individual cars - applying large, hand painted decals that varied from imagery of flames and animals to ...Frankfurter sausages.

 

That all? Well... no.

Hand drawn animations (including one of a thumping engine in line art) were projected by artist Nick Castricum on the hood of a white Daihatsu, while Paul Veroude -of Jenson Button Honda F1 fame- had meticulously arranged and laid out all the components of a torn-down Toyota 1000, resulting in an almost religious pattern. Danitsja van Dijk re-created a traffic jam with inflatable youngtimers...

  

...and all of this inside a poorly lit car park. 

Truly underground - in more ways than one.

- G

THE DAUPHIN COLLECTION

Our Audi Design team in Munich thought it was about time we had a “workshop” Now, for me workshop is somewhere you do woodwork or repair cars. But no, apparently für zee Germans a workshop is a long, long meeting to discuss future projects and scenarios. Luckily someone had the bright idea of kicking off the workshop day with a visit to the Dauphin private collection.

 Ignorant Englander Das ich bin, I hadn’t heard about Herr Dauphin or his collection. First stop then, Internet, www.dauphinspeedevent.de to find out more about this mysterious museum.

Friedrich-W. Dauphin made his fortune designing, manufacturing and selling ergonomic office furniture under the brand label Human Design® (no! I hadn’t heard of them either) 

Founded in 1969, the Dauphin group today employs over 820 staff and produces approx. 2500 chairs a day. In 2008 Dauphin achieved a turnover of 153 million euros. 

Originally an enthusiastic collector of historic firearms, Friedrich-W. Dauphin’s interest in classic cars was initiated by his wife who told him to “collect something that interests the whole family” Two weeks later, the Dauphins had their first classic: a Bordeaux colored Mercedes 280SE convertible from 1971. A 300SL roadster from 1961 quickly followed. 

The Dauphins have now been collecting cars for almost 30 years and have accumulated 130 classic cars and 200 classic motorcycles. Located near Nürmburg just off the A9 their 18,000 square meter hall houses one of the biggest private collections of classic cars in Germany. Under the guise of the Dauphin Speed Event Company, the collection hall with its dramatic backdrop is often booked out for auctions, fashion shows, concerts and company events.

Well, that’s enough facts, let’s get to the juicy part!

We found ourselves at 8.00 a.m on a wet and windy day in November entering the warm, inviting foyer of the Dauphin collection.  One cappuccino later and my shutter finger is twitching to start clicking and we only have 3 hours to see everything before our “werkshop” starts.

The website hadn’t given a great deal of information about the car collection, so I really wasn’t expecting too much, but boy! was I in for a surprise!

We move towards the 3-meter high glass walls that divide the entrance from the exhibit area. A Bugatti Atlantic (which I later learn is a replica built on an original chassis) and Mercedes 300 SL Gull-wing guard the entrance and beyond these are just rows and rows of cars.

 

 

The first thing that hits you is the amount of exotic metal on display, Bugatti’s, Ferrari’s, Porsche’s, Jaguar’s and Lamborghini’s. All compete to attract your attention, but in-between you see the occasional Alfa or Lancia and look even harder and you find more humble cars, like Fiat’s, MG’s and Austin’s.

  

We are being guided around by a very well informed white haired gentleman, most of his words are wasted on this group of petrol heads, we just want to drool over the curves of the beautiful metal.

 Some of our group politely follows him round, pretending to listen, but they secretly wish they had brought their cameras too, because this gives me the licence to lag behind a little. I have a new camera, an Olympus Pen and it’s the first time I’m using it in anger! The light is terrible and I’m fumbling to find the right settings on my camera, which doesn’t have a flash. I should have read the instruction manual a bit more thoroughly! But, importantly I’ve remembered the spare battery and the cameras loaded with an 8GB memory card. As we walk slowly among the collection I hear the occasional rumble of approval from the group as a dream car is discovered.

When I hear a louder rumble it attracts my attention, and I find my colleagues gathered around a bright green Lancia Stratos with it’s matching green helmet tucked into the door pocket. I wait for the last of the droolers to leave before I click off a few photos.

Time is running short, we’ve already been here over two hours, I’m on my second battery and it’s time to move on to the motorcycle section.

 I’m not really a motorcycle freak, but I can admire the design and exposed mechanics of these machines and I have to admit the sight of 200 bikes all neatly lined up is very impressive. At least half the bikes are BMW’s, but being a Brit the Norton’s and Triumph’s appeal to me the most.  

The time has come to leave, and as we walk out from the showroom I can’t help but admire how clean everything is, I can only begin to imagine what it costs to maintain this superb private collection. 

The collection is apparently missing 15 extremely rare cars, including a Porsche 356 Carrera Abarth, a Talbot-Lago 150 SS “Teardrop” and a 1947 Cisitalia 202 coupe.

But I never missed them!

 

 

 

JUGAAD

 

What do the Tata Nano, Ronald Mc Donald, the Gillette LubraStrip and orange Tokyo Drift tyres have in common?

They are, all four, successful examples of the 'jugaad' method of innovation.

Under economic pressure you will often find that the most efficient and low-cost 'quick fixes' are invented by creative, yet frustrated individuals. It is in that particular state of mind that one can truly concentrate on the essence of a (design- or other) challenge and, well, see the light of true invention I suppose. 

The innovation philosophy is now quickly finding its way to the big corporations' board rooms, where it is hailed as the next big thing after Kaizen, Six Sigma, Lean Design and Zero Tolerance (well, most of those anyway).

Learn all about the 'jugaad' method of innovation by reading this entertaining article. Once you get the knack of it, all you have to do is scale up your brilliant idea and the world is your oyster; that big juicy global market that doesn't even know it's there - and big bucks will come flowing your way !

But I have this uneasy feeling it won't be that easy. The scaling up bit isn't for sure. 

At least it's encouraging to read that in these days of poverty and need, there is light at the end of the tunnel - even though it's a long one. Parental guidance advised when venturing through that tunnel - especially when having a go at automotive design challenges...

...particularly those concerning ergonomics, electric circuitry or suspension componentry !

- G

GULF WARS

 

Getting close to the end of the year, spare time at last! Before the new year starts I have to finish some unfinished business. My apple has been my companion the last months. Sitting comfortably on the couch, sipping on a tea, a glowing telly in the background while moving digital pics over the screen. Over are those days. Moving over to the other room for some graphical stuff. I start up the old pc and turn on the heater. There it is, the typical MS tune from Brian Eno I have almost forgotten. Not your usual Apple "pong". Before I get started I realize I am running out of disc space. I take a closer look at my drives and realize why that laptop on the couch was so comfortable. Enough said, time for a major clean up. My folders are a mess. Backups and pre millenium back ups of old computers, double data all over the place. I wander through old files as I move along, restructuring big time this time. After two days most of the stuff seems in place. Cleaning up the whole Nomads section, an early attempt of online creativity. I end up with one folder filled up with over ten years of sketching and stumble on some old stuff I almost forgotten about. Shades of digital painting. The greed of old memories keeps me going, cleaning and archiving gigabytes of data. Is it coincidence or the end of the year syndrome? Three other colleagues are doing the same thing I hear later.

Anyway, back to cars. In between all those files I stumble onto some old forgotten sketches. Those were the days of digital painting exploration. Palette knives in Painter were razor sharp as I attempted to make some quick impressions on digital canvas. Gulf wars in blue and orange. Looking back, ....and forward....one of the resolutions for next year is to return to the digital canvas for more free work. Psychedelic Martini graphics anyone?

 

BAVARIA

 

There is more to see in Bavaria than one would think.

MEILENWERK D-DORF

Too close to ignore the opportunity. 2000 km through Europe within five days. A couple of hundred more won't hurt so Michiel and I decide to pay a spontaneous visit to Duesseldorf. After Berlin this will be another Meilenwerk tour we have done. 

Before we hit the road Michiel straps the maxicosy into the Isofix. Our small section of CFX for today will be completed by the probably youngest petrol head. Abel is snoozing when we cross the border. Fastlaning towards D-dorf. Woken up by the stop and go traffic close to our destination he remarks: "the people here speak a different language, all the numberplates are white!".

 

We enter the half circled building and sniff up the glorious smell of oil and patina. "Look there, two "Snoeks" (Citroen DS) next to each other! We take a quick look, where do we start? To much input. Meanwhile a low revving 911 Speedster slowly finds its way through the hall, looking for a private garage. The workshops, classic dealerships and boutiques are located at the outer rim of the old tram station. In the Gulf shop I ask for the price of a  Steve Mc Queen tee. No thank you, highly overpriced. The re-branding of the classic petrol brand has had its peak. Too much, too easy, too expensive. Martini please!

 

We stroll across the outer galleries, taking pictures en enjoying the reflections on steel sculptures. Click, click, click. Have you ever seen this Alfa? Most of the cars are hard to capture, stored in glass boxes, oil on the floor. I try to wrench my camera in between the panels to get a clear view. Abel has discovered his own playground. Fifty cents and you are master of the universe for a couple of minutes in a world full of model trains. Meanwhile I take a peak outside the building. The parking lot around the Meilenwerk has its own hidden treasures. A beautiful brown coupe from Maranello, edged lines and minimalistic surfacing. A Monteverdi Safari behind the fence, Suisse Ranger avant la lettre.

 

Back inside we work the main hall towards the centre. My highlights are a fine selection of Porsches, a Talbot racer and the Toyota 200 GT.  Abel has a different view. Pointing at a Jag S-type track car:" look a Cars-car, but it is not talking back to me!" Pancakes in the restaurant, all dressed up as a fifties drive inn, boots with fat cushions. Time for some last shots on Duesseldorfs beauties. The ambient light in the building changes from blue to red to purple and has a psychedelic effect on hoods and fenders. Maseratis transformed into hot rods with flame jobs.

Miles and more, I could spend a couple of hours more here to capture the spirit. A good CFX'd sunday goes to an end. We will be back one day. For those of you who plan a visit, try to come early to enjoy the natural light and stay late to see cars go disco. Meilenwerk, two down, one to go. Stuttgart anyone?

 

DERRICK MEETS EAMES

A quick hit and run to Berlin. This time for business reasons. After our arrival my colleague Torsten and I drop of our bags at the hotel. It is located near the Kurfuerstendamm, the famous shopping mile known for its exclusive flagship stores. After work has been done we decide to hit that road for an late night breeze. It is early december and it turns out to be a tat colder then we expected. Walking and window shopping keeps us warm. A strange mix of luxurious shops and those who pretend to be. This translates to the cars that are curbed near the ultra wide board walks. The spectrum ranges from a charging Tesla to an over the top pimped up Beamer. Ku-Damm, not hip but worth taking a hike and a curry wurst.

 

After breakfast we leave our four star hotel. It is a derelict from the early eighties. Once spot on taste, now the perfect, because hopelessly outdated, decorum for a "Derrick" remake. Miniscule TVs included. Before we return to headquarters we pick up some Berlin vibes in Prenzlauerberg. Colorful and arty, lots of design shops with second hand furniture. If one wants to buy an original Eames or just enjoy a warming coffee in one of the many down to earth bars, Prenze is your place.

 

 

PORSCHE 904

 A few months ago I got into a conversation about cars with a work colleague. Nothing unusual about that you may think for a car designer, but we were arguing over what was the greatest Porsche ever. Nice chap that he is, my colleague can be a bit of a car bore and is full of useless information, facts and figures plus he is an absolute Porsche freak.

“The 917” I say without hesitation, but my colleague said “No! No! No! What about the 904?” with a smug smile on his face. The proportions of the 904 were never quite right for me "It looks too narrow and the front overhang looks like Barry Manilow's nose" I blurted, and to my surprise he sort of agreed with me, but it was what he said next that surprised me even more " You wanna see the one I’ve got?” Apparently he was storing a 904 for a friend in his underground garage. Luckily I had my camera with me and it was close to lunch time, so we immediately set off to his home in the centre of Munich.

The garage was dark and cold, I waited with anticipation as he flicked the lights on and operated the double-deck parking system. Slowly the 904 revealed itself, the car lift clunked to a stop and my colleague rolled the car off its ramp. In the stark fluorescent light I could see it had been well used, but it was clean and straight and looked tiny in this huge underground garage. As I slowly moved around the car snapping off photos my colleague filled me in with a brief history of the 904.

 

“It weighs only 650 kilos, you know? the bodywork is made from fibre-glass and bonded to the frame” He opens the rear to reveal a clean looking engine. “Its a 2-litre 6-cylinder, which was later fitted to the 911. Early cars only had 4-cylinder engines with 180 hp, you know? and in 19......” he continues reeling off other detailed information about the engine, but it’s just lost on me. He attempts to start it, nothing, not even a click, the battery is flat, he curses loudly and the sound of “Fuck it!” echoes around the room. He also realizes for the first time there's no heater and I later learn he has to deliver it to the owner in Turin the next day. It’s March, very cold and the 904 has no heater!

I have to admit after spending some time studying the 904 you become aware of how delicate and minimalistic its design is and after learning about its racing achievements it just makes It that little bit more desirable, it’s a no compromise tool designed to win races. 

After realizing he's going to have to charge the battery overnight and wear an Antarctic survival suit to to drive it to Turin, he still hits me with the facts "Its very rare, you know? Only 120 cars were ever built from 1963 to 1964 and most of those were homologated for racing, you know? It won at Lemans, Targa Florio and,and......"I interrupt him before he can continue “With no heater of course! You know?”  

The echoes were much louder this time!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Spa Francorhcamps Six Hours Classic. A CFX blast from the past, but not without a reason. Back in 2004 a bunch of Dutch Carfreax decided to top of an exciting season and put some icing on the cake in Belgium. It was the year we crossed the channel to Goodwood. Dressed to impress with our own tees and cars in full flavor with home made ralley tags. During late summer we headed south to visit to the wonderful circuit near Spa as an one day event, waffles included.

 

Those were the days. Compact cameras from the early hours of digital photography, equipped with low resolution, but highly motivated Carfreax on the trigger, hungry for vrooops and vroaarrs in Flanders. A long but satisfying hike around one of the last natural circuits of the world. The legendary slopes and curves, classic cars chasing each other into the night. Up close with the action on the track and in the paddock. An experience.

And now, five years later, this historic circuit seems in danger. And yes, racing is not politically correct, but closing the Spa circuit would be a nightmare for every petrol head among us. Our memories are sweet and we want to return in 2010. If you share this feeling, please sign the petition here.

 

PIMA AIR MUSEUM

 

After living for almost two years in California there were still unticked boxes on my to-do list. Unseen places and events. Just a couple of months after my return to Germany I decided to go back to the States for unfinished business. This time as a tourist, packed with a new camera, fresh out of the box.

Prepping up for the big trip. Hovering over Arizona on Google Earth. Patterns of abandoned planes in the dessert . The Aircraft Boneyard near Tucson is set as one of the many milestones during our three week long trip through the States. The expectations are high and reality has a hard time living up to it as we found out.

The Pima Air museum has its ups and downs. The light is fantastic. Baking aluminium sculptures in a dusty environment. Cliche reflection studies in reality. And yes, this museum proudly presents an original SR71. Childhood poster in the flesh, what a piece of art! Outside the planes are carefully protected against climatic influences. Canopies are covered with paint, air intakes closed with wood. The contrast with the Gatow Museum near Berlin could not be bigger. Ivo and I decide to leave the touristic tour around the boneyard for what it is: a too comfortable ride in an air-conditioned bus with tinted windows. Ten points for content, a few less for the experience. Nevertheless a quick and inspiring visit.

 

FLASH OF GENIUS

"It's just a windshield wiper". 

CFX and movies. Normally we think about squeaking tyres and high revving engines. Today, heading home on a rainy monday night, I stubbled onto a movie that tells the story about a man and his invention. Back in the sixties, in a flash of genius, Dr. Kearns came up with the idea of the intermittent windshield wiper. A feature that soon would be a standard spec on many Ford  automobiles.

Flash of Genius is a movie about justice and persistence. One man versus the big automotive industry, David against Goliath. Shot in beautiful colors, the right props and settled in the late sixties Michigan landscape. In one of the key scenes, two Mach One Mustangs roll into view with growling V8's, a rainy night in Detroit. Tucker (a man and his dream) meets JFK. A must see for all car enthusiasts and those who believe in the power of ideas.

Dutch Design Week 'part 2'

After the 'part 1' posting on the DDW, I cannot do anything else than complete the picture. It wasn't just about the 'artier' kind of design. There were also quite some B2B incentives and, it has to be said, at least three of the CFX community were 'active' on that stage!