heretic
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~*~ heretic ~*~
The words 'heretic' and 'heresy' are derived from a Greek word meaning 'to choose'. Why it should ever have been considered so heinous to choose what to believe is beyond me, but heresy is still considered to be a bad thing, and a heretic a bad person. Proud to be one myself, but never mind that...
Last October I posted about rods & customs, and gave a brief overview of a rod concept I call the Rumbler. I finally settled on a powertrain layout for it recently -- a pair of Ford flathead V8s in tandem...
So what about an electric hot rod? Well, if that's not heresy, I don't know what is. From its genesis, the hot rod scene has been centered around loud V8s. At its core, however, it was always about performance and style -- and the rod I'm about to describe is no slouch in either category.
Yes, it's very 'different' to shorten a 1934 Ford body by cutting out the cockpit, leaving the rumble seat as the only space for driver and passenger, but I've had another idea for a 1934 Ford five-window coupe all along (hey, I like the '34). It involves chopping & channeling the body, but only forward of the rear deck -- until, in fact, the roof is at the same level as the rear deck.
This is very different indeed, a 'choice' that I'm not aware of anyone else having made. While many have chopped & channeled their rides down to waist level, none of them (that I know of) have left the rear deck up in highboy territory.
Is there room? Fair question -- but by moving the firewall significantly forward and placing the electric motor directly in front of the differential (eliminating the driveshaft tunnel), we gain much space to make up for what is lost with the chop & channel. With a quick-change rear end, the final drive gear can be switched several times until the 'right' one is found for direct-drive (no transmission -- reverse by switch, turning the motor in the opposite direction).
Most cars of that era have fabric inserts in their roofs, and most rodders fill in that space with steel. A lot of those who have done extreme chop & channel jobs, on the other hand, have simply left the space open. The shape of the Heretic's body lends itself to the adoption of a soft, retractable roof inspired by that of a Citroen 2CV.
The Heretic will feature a fully independent suspension, cycle fenders all around (can't go fenderless here in West Virginia), and Halibrand magnesium wheels. Bumpers, front and rear, will be cut-down '64-'67 Stingray items. The grille shell will NOT be cut down, but laid back and filled with a yellow-tinted plastic panel, behind which will be some very powerful auxiliary lighting. I haven't settled on headlights and taillights yet.
There are wonderful little chrome steps that used to be fitted to the rear of cars with rumble seats, to aid ingress/egress. The Rumbler will have these, and I should be able to find space on the Heretic for them -- to allow driver and passenger to drop into the car through the open top more easily.
Paint? The Heretic should be the colour of dried blood, so deep a red that you might at first think it's black, but with a rich pearl to nearly always give a hint of sanguine -- and a little ground glass (blue) thrown in to further confuse the eye and generally make the car look that much more wicked.
Interior should be leather, in a hue I'd like to call Blueblood Blue.
That interior, it must be said, will be tight. There is barely room in this beast for batteries. Luggage space is nil. Plus, as with any electric, range is an issue. Both of these problems are solved with a teardrop trailer, fitted with a generator so that it can double as a 'pusher'.
A 'pusher' is a trailer-mounted generator that effectively turns an electric vehicle into a series hybrid. The Heretic's pusher teardrop will have a pair of large propane tanks, and will feature matching Halibrands and cycle fenders -- paint and interior to match as well, of course... Sleeps 2, grill out back...
The name has been used before, on other vehicles, but a quick Google search shows nothing called Heretic in the 'traditional' hot-rodding vein.
I know I should be spending my energy elsewhere, but this concept has been nearly all I can think about -- since last night, when it crept up on me like a...
Like a hairy tick? Yeah, I might airbrush a small one on its rump...
Phil Smith
March 25, 2008
UPDATE
Almost immediately after posting I knew I had more to say about the Heretic...
For one, Blueblood Blue is a colour determined by the hue of undyed, chromium-tanned leather. It's an odd fact that a significant portion of the leather you'll see has been dyed to look natural, after having been turned pale blue by the chrome process. I've always liked that colour, and see no reason to have the leather dyed. It will be oiled, yes, and that will darken it a bit -- and then that hue will be picked up a few shades darker for the carpet, retractable top section, and frame rails.
Yeah, earlier I hadn't thought about the colour of the frame rails. I don't generally come up with hot rod concepts... While I'm at it I should mention that I'm (now) thinking of simulated chrome powdercoat for the Rumbler's rails...
The headlights, I've now realized, should be mounted on stalks to ride up above the level of the grille shell and hood. They should also be, not sure what they're called, those buckets with turn signals incorporated on their tops, powdercoated the same Blueblood Blue 'suede' as the frame rails.
I'm also going to have to add a roof rack. The Heretic is very much in the mid-Sixties style of rodding, and should be able to carry at least one old-school longboard.
One other thing I didn't mention is that the Heretic is to have a full belly pan, likely of bare aluminum. Oh, and one of the reasons I want to use a five-window body has to do with character lines. The rear-quarter windows will be flipped upside-down, so that the bead lines will meld smoothly.
I fully realize that much of this post will read as nonsense to those unfamiliar with 1934 Fords, not to mention rodding and customization in general. It's certainly not lost on me, either, that the entire subject may seem at odds with what one may assume is the subject of this blog -- new concepts for a new car company...
Well, you've got to have a sense of history. The Rumbler and the Heretic, then, may be seen as preludes to entirely original designs. The basic concepts for both of them, if you can believe it, date back to the 8th grade, 1980/81. Thing is, in this genre I've seen a boatload of incredible creativity -- which has inspired me to be creative myself, within these particular parameters.
So yeah, among the vehicles in my ultimate fantasy garage are a few show-winning hot rods, pure flights of fancy. They share space with a few unmolested classics, some mild kustoms, and a bevy of original Tellurian Motors creations...
March 29, 2008
UPDATE 2
~ ULTRACAPACITORS ~
As mentioned previously in at least one of these blogs of mine, Zenn Motors is working with the highly secretive EEStor and hopes to release a vehicle powered by ultracapacitors by Autumn 2009.
Ultracapacitors change the game. Suddenly there are no issues with range and recharge time, and there are no excuses. The obvious choice for power will be electricity. Recharge stations will quickly become ubiquitous, and people will be buying electric cars as quickly as they can be built -- and converting existing cars as quickly as they can get their hands on ultracapacitors.
It's easy to forget ultracapacitors exist, as they're still in development and many within the electric vehicle community consider their viability to be a myth -- so as I was writing about the Heretic I was only considering currently available technology.
While I would still like to pair the Heretic with a teardrop trailer, and having a propane-powered generator onboard is still a good idea, you can see that it becomes less necessary.
Did I forget to mention solar panels? Onboard solar panels will make more sense when they are charging ultracapacitors instead of batteries. Using even a small solar array, your vehicle will effectively recharge itself -- at a much slower rate, of course, but hey, it's 'free'.
As someone who has more or less kept in touch with automotive developments for 30 years, I find it a bit disheartening to see little mention of the coming electric revolution in the pages of automotive publications (which I now read online). They report on concept vehicles, certainly, and the ongoing efforts of established manufacturers -- but as a group, they could be called 'clueless'.
Here's looking forward to a story by Winding Road about the Aptera...
April 4, 2008
UPDATE 3
The other night, something unusual happened. I drew a hot rod...
Some things to bear in mind: I don't draw nearly as much as I used to; I have never been much of one to draw what I can see, except what I see in my head; This was done without any images of '34 Fords for visual reference -- from memory...
There are a lot of things left out, in this sketch. For one, I completely forgot about the roof rack and the old-school longboard strapped to it (a fun feature, but one that can always be added later, unless I choose not to). You don't see any frame horns poking out in the front, and that's not because they're neatly tucked in. No split front bumper, no suspension bits, and I didn't even finish the cycle fenders. Well, this is the difference between a sketch and a rendering...
Sketches are for development work. After a few more, maybe I'll do a drawing...
One feature that was developed during this sketch was the 'hardtop'. Window frames are cut out of the doors and welded to the body, the rear-quarter windows are flipped over and swapped side-to-side -- and the 'posts' are removed. Thus, the character line running the full length of the stock body is married to the one around the windows -- where the line comes down from above the windows to join the full-length line on the stock body, here that line is no longer full-length. Follow it from the rear and it extends to the windshield; From the front, it goes along the door as usual, but then it sweeps up behind the rear-quarter window.
Those rear-quarter windows, fixed in place on the stock body, now retract. Instead of rolling down, though, they may pivot from a point below the leading edge. There's your hardtop window treatment.
...And there's your heretical electric hot rod. Eventually there will be a 'final' configuration, but until then many details are subject to change...
Phil Smith
April 8, 2008
The other night, something unusual happened. I drew a hot rod...
Some things to bear in mind: I don't draw nearly as much as I used to; I have never been much of one to draw what I can see, except what I see in my head; This was done without any images of '34 Fords for visual reference -- from memory...
There are a lot of things left out, in this sketch. For one, I completely forgot about the roof rack and the old-school longboard strapped to it (a fun feature, but one that can always be added later, unless I choose not to). You don't see any frame horns poking out in the front, and that's not because they're neatly tucked in. No split front bumper, no suspension bits, and I didn't even finish the cycle fenders. Well, this is the difference between a sketch and a rendering...
Sketches are for development work. After a few more, maybe I'll do a drawing...
One feature that was developed during this sketch was the 'hardtop'. Window frames are cut out of the doors and welded to the body, the rear-quarter windows are flipped over and swapped side-to-side -- and the 'posts' are removed. Thus, the character line running the full length of the stock body is married to the one around the windows -- where the line comes down from above the windows to join the full-length line on the stock body, here that line is no longer full-length. Follow it from the rear and it extends to the windshield; From the front, it goes along the door as usual, but then it sweeps up behind the rear-quarter window.
Those rear-quarter windows, fixed in place on the stock body, now retract. Instead of rolling down, though, they may pivot from a point below the leading edge. There's your hardtop window treatment.
...And there's your heretical electric hot rod. Eventually there will be a 'final' configuration, but until then many details are subject to change...
Phil Smith
April 8, 2008
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