ELECTRIC NARY
CARS
Quarterre: future seating.
them, join them.” He refers to the launch
of Porche’s Project Gold at Pebble Beach
this year, which, “disappointingly, is not a
911 inspired by the greatest hits of ABBA,
but a one-off 993 resto-mod created by
Porsche Classic”.
TOP MARQUES
Jaguar has even come up with an electric
Jaguar E-Type, the Concept Zero, proudly
made by the JLR Classics division –
motto, ‘We future history’ – a succinct
slogan boldly defi ant of the need for
verbs in English. “This shift in values
has been evident in classic car events,”
states Hartley. “In recent years, the
Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance has
increasingly showcased vehicles both old
and brand new – the latter often leaning
heavily on the heritage and history of a
marque. Although, in the case of Infi niti,
a brand that is only 29 years’ old, they
used the show as an occasion to display
a retro-styled concept – Prototype 9 –
that was based on an imagined 1940s
Grand Prix racer from their past. It is
a thought-provoking act when typically
premium brands derive much of their value
from their history, and the wisdom and
experience it is seen to have endowed
them with. Infi niti seem to be suggesting
that, if you like what you see, it doesn’t
matter when it was created or how it came
to be there.”
It’s an interesting change of approach
from car companies. Whilst they have
always leant heavily on past glories, it
is only in the last 20 years or so that
many have begun to
reimagine their classic
designs. “Arguably,
this was started by
designer J Mays in his
time at VW and Ford,”
says Hartley, pictured
right. “The Concept One
‘New Beetle’ and Fords
Thunderbird, Mustang and
GT were described at the time as
‘retrofuturism’, due to the way they mixed
clean, modern surfacing with lines that
drew their inspiration quite clearly from
cars of an older, more romantic (or is that
more romanticised?) era.
“An intelligent mix of comfortable,
familiar shapes with modern, forwardlooking
surface treatments obviously
meets the needs of many people for
products that, whilst recognisable, are not
retro. It is an approach that is refl ected
in other industries, too – TAG Heuer and
Omega have reissued many watch designs
from their back catalogue with proportions
and movements tweaked to meet the
expectations of a market that, whilst far
more advanced than that of 40 years
ago, still seemingly doesn’t trust itself to
create its own icons.”
DREAM ON
And let’s not get started on the fi lm
industry, he adds. “Perhaps this is
symptomatic of the cautiousness
of many big companies these
days. Why risk time and
money on an untried
new product when you
can make a sequel
to a past success?
That’s why the Star
Wars franchise cost
Disney $4 billion.
A pessimist might
ask, if we have so little
faith in our own skills
and judgement, don’t we
trust ourselves to come up with
anything better than the designs of our
parents? Or is re-examining our collective
past, repackaging and representing it an
important act of therapy? A necessary
path to more clearly understanding who
we are today by looking at who we used to
be and who we wanted to be? Let’s face
it, sometimes it’s important not to give up
on childhood dreams.”
Nissan-Qazana Concept: Quarterre.
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