DARK STAR (introduction)

*****

DARK STAR

My five-seat, five-door concept had no name. These days, among my flat-panel designs, that's unusual -- but sometimes the naming of a vehicle is more difficult than preliminary conceptualization. The other night, while watching THE ELECTRIC UNIVERSE, very near the end as the film was winding down it became obvious that this car should be called Dark Star...

[THE ELECTRIC UNIVERSE in a larger format here: http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=7y7x85v6og]

I'd considered the using the name for this car before but had dismissed it, partially because I'd used it for a sports car drawn only a few times, years and years ago. Being that I used to call my larger fantasy the 'Eclipse Motor Foundation', it was a perfectly natural model designation (I think I may have considered 'Dark Star Motors' at one time, as well)...

Back to the movie (spoiler alert -- switching to a less visible text colour to make this part easier to ignore): It reveals that celestial bodies and phenomena are electric in nature -- that our Sun, for example, is not (as is widely believed) a nuclear fusion furnace, but rather an electric plasma 'event'.

Needless to say, I was inspired. There are countless references to a 'dark star' in our culture, including one song by the Grateful Dead and another by Crosby, Stills, & Nash. There is the theory of a 'brown dwarf' star lurking about in an extreme, off-plane orbit within our solar system...

Plus, Tesla Motors has codenamed its upcoming five-passenger sedan 'WhiteStar', so what better name?

Dark Star will be different from WhiteStar in many ways, their main similarities being seating capacity and electric power. WhiteStar may or may not have all-wheel-drive, and if it does, it may very well be a conventional system running off a single motor; Dark Star will employ two motors, one at each end. The 'extra' motor and transmission, in my estimation, will not weigh more than the extra componentry needed for conventional all-wheel-drive.

WhiteStar is a four-door sedan. Dark Star is a five-door 'hatchback', and will be shorter in length. Whereas the Tesla sedan will seem to have larger cargo capacity in its trunk, folding down the rear seatbacks of Tellurian five-door will provide ample room. The tradeoff is decreased passenger capacity in that configuration, but remember, the Dark Star can fit in a smaller parking space.

Why is Dark Star not a sedan? There is already a five-passenger sedan in the Tellurian Motors lineup. The Time Further Out is more upscale and fits in a different segment. Dark Star, instead of being sort of like a TFO with the trunk and part of the nose chopped off, has its own unique architecture.

Yes, it's reminiscent of many hatchbacks of the past, which I personally think is part of its appeal. I'm sure that many share my fondness for the folded-paper designs of the late 70s and early 80s, and will enjoy my 21st-century take on the style.


Okay, I'm about to rant yet again about the current state of automotive 'style'...

On second thought, never mind.


You'll have to see it -- and on that note, I have to apologize once again for the dearth of images in this space. I could try to tell you that I want to keep my cards close to my chest, but that would be bullshit. I just don't have enough images as yet, outside of those in my mind, to share.

Suffice to say, at this point, that my main inspiration was the Lancia Delta -- which if you've never heard of, I'll understand. Giorgio Guigaro was responsible for that, as well as the original VW Golf (Rabbit) and Scirocco and (among many, many others) the Isuzu Piazza (Ace of Clubs). Picture a trapezoid atop a rectangle, off to one side, for the sideview, and you're partway there.


Once again, the construction technique involved is the major theme behind the designs. You can refer to earlier posts for details...


Phil Smith
September 30, 2007


November 18 update: I discovered a while ago that the code name for the Tesla Roadster was Dark Star (followed by White Star and Blue Star for subsequent models) so this Tellurian model will again go unnamed, perhaps until one is built...

*****

folded paper

_____

I recently stumbled across a name for the angular style that began in the late 1960s and became popular in the '70s: "Folded Paper".

That is certainly descriptive, yet it only barely describes my own recent style of design. Paper, after all, can be folded gently, and for that matter it can be curved. What I'm after is an almost unrelenting angularity -- corners as sharp as it is safe to make them, dividing planes as perfectly flat as the materials will allow.

Ironically, folding paper is a method I've considered for constructing models of my concepts. I could even work up image files of various models as cutouts, to be printed out -- and to be shared in this space for anyone to print out, cut out, fold and tape. Presto! You could have a collection of paper Tellurian Motors models littering/decorating your computer desk...

They'd all be to scale, of course.

Just don't count on me to actually do this. My plan for models is to begin with folded paper, then apply the template to some Lexan sheets I happen to have lying around. It would be nice to place each of those bodies on a remote-control chassis, but it would be much less expensive to build each chassis out of LEGO...

Can hardly wait to be cutting and welding square steel tubes, bending aluminum or (gasp) stainless steel, having glass cut to fit, ordering components, and putting everything together. To bridge the gap between amateur automotive designer and car builder, quite a bit of time, money, and effort will have to be spent.

Will it be worth it?

I personally think it would be helpful if there were electric cars out there that looked very DIFFERENT from other vehicles. My designs are unique, perhaps futuristic. It's all well and good to convert existing vehicles to electric power, and my hat is off to anyone out there producing entirely new electric vehicles -- but any of these could easily be mistaken for an internal combustion vehicle, if seen sitting still.

Do I expect to be copied? Absolutely. After all, the simplicity of my proposed manufacturing technique makes it that much easier for dedicated hobbyists (let alone budding manufacturers) to build their own...

Should I freely publish all specifications, making my designs 'open-source'? Hang on a bit there. That could result in who-knows-how-many crappy and potentially unsafe homebuilts with me as a named progenitor. Tellurian Motors would have to employ extreme caution in any such endeavour.

Instead, Tellurian Motors could perhaps become a 'component manufacturer', offering 'kits' in various stages of completion to home builders...

Problem is, I'm not comfortable. If I have to build 'kits' and then have them assembled by Harmonic Conversions (an entity as currently fictional as Tellurian Motors) before sale, in order to sidestep regulations and keep homebuilders from botching it, that's what I'll do.

But listen: If I only get to build ONE vehicle of my own design, it will be a major accomplishment. If I am then able to build but a single example of ONE other concept, I'll be happy as a clam. If I end up with a stable of one-offs, I'll be in Bliss.

If people want to pony up for their very own Tellurians...

Wow.



Phil Smith (fil)
September 20th, 2007

_____

Electrum Update #1

_____

Of all the ways I could spend my time, as you can see I've been working on my electric supercar concept, the Electrum. The images above were done mostly in MS Paint, a program that is partly responsible for my flat-panel design style. It's becoming very useful for plan views of my recent concepts...

I probably spoke too soon, saying the Electrum would be only about 40 inches tall. If it were 48 inches tall (4 feet), then the 'Tenfold' rims you see in the top image would be 24s -- and someone like me (at 73 inches) will actually be able to fit inside. We don't want the car to be too difficult to get in and out of...

To that end, the doors open scissor-style, pivoting from the rear. Duck in and place one foot on the floor as you grab the steering wheel (or grab handle, on the passenger side), and rotate into the seat...

Yes, the frameless windows do retract fully into the doors. No, the omission of mirrors in the Paint sketches aren't an oversight -- cameras and in-dash monitors are used instead, as with all Tellurian Motors vehicles (though some will feature a conventional rear-view mirror).

The Electrum follows my basic formula of a spaceframe made of square steel tubing covered in flat panels, but especially with this model, there is a question of what body material to use. Aluminum is perhaps easiest, but stainless steel is certainly possible, as is carbon fiber. We'll leave that up to the individual customer...



Phil Smith
September 3, 2007

_____

Supercar

_____

Friday, August 24, 2007


I recently watched the movie Fracture, in which Sir Anthony Hopkin's character drives a Porsche Carrera GT. The Carrera GT is one of those hideously expensive automobiles built for ultimate performance, known as supercars.

As I saw it being driven and heard the shriek of its V-10, suddenly I had another concept to add to the Tellurian Motors lineup. You have to know I was comparing the GT to the Tesla roadster, and you also have to know that the (still conceptual) Tellurian Brubeck is no match for that ultimate (now discontinued) Porsche and will likely fall short of the Roadster's performance.

Why not an electric supercar? Yes, I know it's an exclusive market, but there are enough enthusiasts out there with obscene amounts of money to throw around to ensure demand for supercars. Heck, the Tesla Roadster goes for around $100K and isn't technically a 'supercar'. My electric supercar would go for around the same price as a Corvette ZR-1...

Oh, but I wasn't even thinking about that. I was just excited to have another flat-panel design concept taking shape within my brainpan. Full lineup? Sure, I had a full lineup before this, but which model was the flagship? It's a feather in any manufacturer's cap to have one car that can approach or exceed 200 MPH, with acceleration and handling to match.

If you're wondering how any flat-panel vehicle can be aerodynamic enough to achieve such speeds, maybe you're not familiar with the F-111 stealth fighter -- not that my supercar will resemble it in any way (except for the flatness of its panels), but you get the point. By the way there have been many angular sports cars and supercars in the past -- maybe half of them 'mere' concept vehicles -- that I'm sure I've been influenced by...

...and if you want to talk about influence, I'd say most of mine has come from Italian design houses -- Bertone, Italdesign, Zagato, Pininfarina, even Ghia. The Italians know design. Throw in Frank Costin, William Towns, Syd Mead, and countless others including architects and furniture designers, and you get the picture. As I said in the first post in this blog, I pay attention...

Right now I want to give 'props' to all those who have come before me, striving to bring form to functional objects. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."



So, back to the car, the supercar: Imagine if you will, an elongated hexagon. That's the main feature of its 'face', and the upper half of it is windshield. There is a smaller version of the Brubeck's box bumper and grille, with round driving lights, at the leading edge. The car is extremely low, on par with the original Ford GT40 (which was 40 inches tall). This is, as yet, the most visually stunning of my designs. The pure geometry of it will astound -- and that's not bragadoccio. I am astounded myself, just imagining it.

It will be hard to look at. As you circle it, its panels and angles will line up visually to give the sense of optical illusion -- and while that may be true of other Tellurian Motors offerings, in this case, more so.

It will be all-wheel-drive, with electric motors front and rear and (of course) sophisticated software that tells the front motors when to kick in and keeps both transmissions in sync, among countless other tasks. The Tesla Roadster manages over 140 MPH with a 2-speed transmission and a 250 horsepower motor. The Tellurian Electrum will have 4 speeds and a pair of the most powerful motors that will fit -- or even a motor for each wheel.

Electrum? Electrum is an alloy of silver and gold which occurs in nature, the use of which dates back to the beginning of civilization. As much of a tongue-twister as 'Tellurian Electrum' is (say it five times fast), I can't think of a better name for an electric supercar. It rolls off the tongue in a delicious manner.

Remember the car in the movie Tron? That was a Lamborghini Countach, designed by Marcello Gandini while he was with Bertone. I'm not saying the Electrum will be able to execute perfect 90-degree turns at breakneck speed like Tron's car, but I would expect journalists to make the connection.

This is an extremely sophisticated vehicle, and certainly not for everyone. It is something for Tellurian Motors to aspire to, and to work toward. We'll begin with the Runabout, and work our way upward...

September 1, 2007

Only minor editing of the above (composed offline) was done today.

It's almost funny, that the metal I've chosen to name this car after is, or was, 'unrefined'. Besides silver and gold, naturally-occurring electrum would often include copper and other elements. The composition would vary from location to location. Similarly, we expect no two Tellurian Electrums to be alike. Customers can choose from a variety of body materials and specify whatever upholstery and carpet they like. These are handbuilt specials...


...as are, to some degree, all Tellurian Motors offerings. It would take quite a bit of demand for us to invest in robot welders and assembly lines as opposed to assembly areas. Stranger things have happened, and for all we know the Electrum could be the first to become that popular.


To quote John Lennon (yet again), "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." I intend to produce a pencil drawing of the entire Tellurian Motors lineup, parked together, to scan and include in a future post. Along the way I'll be sketching each individual model, over and over again, until they're 'right'. The best of those will show up here as well.


Wish me luck.



Phil Smith
Late Summer 2007


PS (after 3 AM)

I managed to reinstall MSPaint... Here is a crude line drawing of the Electrum that I'm only about 50% happy with:







PPS Here's a frontal view:...and a rear (as with the side view, these are preliminary images):

_____