The Defiant

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I have in my possession a 1981 Toyota Cressida -- a non-running 1981 Toyota Cressida. I call it the Defiant, after a ship in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It has a fuel clog and a faulty starter. Just as I'm a designer and not an engineer, I'm much more of a driver than a mechanic...





I'd work on it myself, but I have no garage -- and for that matter no driveway. I could do it in the back yard if I could get someone to push me in it down the street and up the alley. I even have a pair of ramps...

But despite it being a low priority and outside our budget, is there a point to reviving another internal combustion engine? This Cressida may now be technically a 'classic', but it's no more than a footnote in automotive history. Few appreciate its angular design as much as I do, and almost no one (statistically speaking) remembers it as the somewhat luxurious sports sedan it was.

As much as I'd like to restore it to its former glory, as an automotive designer I have the urge to customize. Thing is, about all I'd do to the body is shave the drip rails from above the doors, since they're rusting away anyhow -- I appreciate its design that much.

What I do not appreciate is the effort it would take to get its inline six-cylinder engine back into good working order. Never mind an engine swap or performance upgrades. Internal combustion engines are very messy, especially when their seals break down. Also, they require periodic infusions of lubricating oil, and in this case, untold amounts of gasoline for fuel (not that I would feel better about it if it took diesel).

I had previously considered converting it to run on natural gas / propane (propane is basically refined natural gas), which would be an improvement. There are systems available that would allow home-fueling, and fairly simple plumbing would allow for use of exchangeable propane tanks of the type used for barbecue grills. So equipped, my Cressida would qualify as a low-emissions vehicle...

By the way? I finally got a chance to watch Who Killed the Electric Car? the other night...

...and it finally dawned on me, that the best thing I could do with my old Cressida would be to convert it to an electric vehicle.

Now is the time to suspend disbelief, because what I'm about to lay out is the stuff of dreams.

What if I could acquire all the necessary components from Tesla Motors for this conversion? All the bits that make their Roadster so fabulous, aside from the body and chassis, would transform my old Toyota (acquired from a friend in exchange for a six-pack of Guinness) into a technological wonder.

I've done the math, and those components would add about 1000 pounds -- but remember, the unspecified weight of the existing driveline and fuel tank (much heavier when full) would be removed. I estimate the converted Cressida's weight to end up at around 3000 lbs -- more than the Roadster but likely less than the avoirdupois of Tesla Motors' upcoming sedan, codenamed White Star.

Challenge: Will a White Star be able to match the performance of a converted '81 Toyota sedan? Hey, probably not -- but then Tesla Motors will have to conform with modern safety standards...


If somehow the money came together for this project, and if I were then able to get Tesla Motors to supply the components, the obvious next step beyond Defiant is EXOVAN. Actually, the Defiant then becomes an important phase in the realization of EXOVAN, whether Tesla Motors decides to take on the project or merely agrees to supply components. Will it be the Tesla EXOVAN, or the Tellurian EXOVAN?


For the Defiant, there is no question -- it will be a product of Tellurian Motors. Now I have to work on an image of the hood ornament that just popped into my head...




Phil Smith
June 12, 2007


Postscript:

One of the reasons major automotive corporations have been reluctant (to say the least) to produce electric vehicles is that they require far less maintenance. An electric car will cause you less trouble over the years, costing just a fraction of the maintenance expenses an ICE (internal combustion engine) car will run up. There is much profit to be made from parts & service, not to mention oil & filters. Plus, since they're easier to maintain, electric vehicles don't need to be replaced as often.

Example: The failure of a simple relay in our 1995 Neon (bought new) disabled its cooling fan, and I had no idea anything was wrong until it was too late. It overheated and blew the head gasket, creating conditions where oil and water DO mix -- the radiator was filled with a pudding-like sludge. By this time the Neon was several years old, and what with things being packed so tightly under the hood, repair costs (mostly labour, in dissembling and reassembling systems just to get to the head) would've been more than the car was worth. It was sold for parts. Sad. We loved that car.

Though the high-tech components of today's (relatively) long-range electrics are quite expensive, if they were used to convert an older vehicle the resulting cost might be on par with that of a new ICE economy car.




Realizing this, we gain a new appreciation for the name 'Defiant'. In defiance of the automotive giants, a large number of small conversion shops could spring up, allowing owners of older vehicles to transform them into incredibly efficient and reliable transportation.

If I had such a shop, I would call it 'Harmonic Conversions' and have my mechanics wear coveralls with the word QUANTUM embroidered on the backs...


Phil Smith
June 13, 2007

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Sketchiness, Volume Two

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Despite concerns, here they are... (all clickable for larger versions, as always)


This first represents early conceptualization of EXOVAN:




Originally, EXOVAN was intended to have a vaguely egg-shaped exoframe over a flat-panelled body (as in the quick frame sketches above, done early this year). I don't mean to bitch, but the curves were next to impossible to execute with Alibre Design's trial 3D CAD. Okay, fine. A non-curved exoframe would be easier to construct anyway...

Then of course my evaluation period expired, ending my first foray into 3D CAD. If I can extend my evaluation at no charge, I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Nor have I actively searched for another program to use, or managed to get a Linux distro running on this machine so I can find open-source CAD to work with. Among other things, spoon-carving has been keeping me busy...

Today however I grabbed my clipboard and began to re-hone my pencil skills -- I will admit to being rusty. Here's a rough one:




Crude, but here EXOVAN comes to life in a way it can't in CAD without hours and hours of work. There was another sketch on that page, but it's all cattywampus and generally ill (and not in a good way), so I did a crop...

Now to the next (below). The window treatment was not intended to appear 3D -- it just worked out that way. Maybe a version of that could work...





...but then, driver visibility issues arise, as well as problems getting the windows to open far enough.

Being positive about the sketch, it's good to see EXOVAN with conventional wheels (plus they're much easier to draw than Mattracks). The major reason Mattracks aren't more popular (besides the price) is that they can't handle sustained speeds above 40mph. I suspect that many buyers would not choose the Mattracks option -- and that most of those who would, would rather run their EXOVANs on wheels for 'regular' use. With this in mind, I can see that I ought to always render EXOVAN with a trailer hitch -- if for no other reason, so that owners can tow their Mattracks along for fitment at remote locales.

You see that I've done a 'Dutch' door treatment on the rear of this one, a glass hatch above dual swing-out doors. Maybe that's best, maybe it's not. There are many ways to execute that opening, but 'Dutch' doors are a good compromise and will probably be a good solution for the demonstration prototype. Also, rubber bumperettes...

OK now here we go, another sucky sketch:

Here you can plainly see solar panels incorporated into the roof, and side windows that slide sideways. This certainly isn't the most flattering render of EXOVAN, but the sketch is an important development step. Cooling and exhaust vents have been revised, along with forward lighting. A side marker light / turn signal has cropped up at the forward edge of the front-side window, plus we have front license plate mounting and more rubber bumperettes.

As with other flat-panel concepts I've worked with, I find that freehand sketches are a tough way to try and capture something like EXOVAN. I promise, with practice, I'll do better...



Phil Smith
June 11, 2007

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Sketchiness, Volume One

Looking back, I guess you could say it was a dark time in my life. Nothing seemed to be going my way, and my favourite concept to draw was the hearse variant of the car shown in this scan:

It was 20 years ago, summer of 1987. I had dropped out of college and signed up for the Army, too young to know that when my girlfriend said, "Maybe we should just be friends for a while..." that it meant she was done being my girlfriend (I had taken the suggestion literally, hoping for a return to intimacy). I was just a kid, and a troubled one at that...

At the time I didn't know that the pentacle originally represented the path that the planet Venus traverses in our sky. Drawing pentacles, whether in crumbling concrete or in the centers of crosses, was mere irreverent doodling.

Something that I could not possibly have known was that 2 years later, Mitsubishi would 'steal' my car name. Nor did I realize that Peugeot had used it in the 1930s...

Back in high school, a modified 1975 Lincoln Town Car started showing up in my notebooks. It was no more than a hot rod / pimpmobile, but it kept evolving and growing. Something so big and fabulous, to grab your attention and block out your view of anything else, should naturally be called Eclipse. I began to draw a dark spot in the sky in my sketches, and as you can see, the Eclipse has its own unique hood ornament (it lights up in eerie ways). Before Mitsubishi introduced its little 2+2, I had even decided to name my car company the Eclipse Motor Foundation...

Ah, well. Such is life.

Believe it or not, beyond drawing my Eclipse as a sedan, limousine, and hearse, I also did a coupe and a 'speedster'. It was to have a monstrous 24-cylinder engine so that despite its size, it would go like Hell. Its appearance was at once regal and menacing. It was the ultimate in conspicuous consumption, wretched excess pushed to an aesthetic limit.

Perfect for a rock star's funeral procession.


While in the Army I had plenty of free time, much of which I would spend at the desk in my room, drawing for hours on end. Years later, the demands and conditions of fatherhood curtailed that activity somewhat. Still later, the arrival of a computer in my life upset the apple cart almost completely, and these days I hardly ever reach for a pencil...

...but I've been meaning to. Now that I've been able to work with 3D CAD on the EXOVAN concept, I have a clear vision of what it might look like -- and now that I am no longer able to use that program, scanning a pencil sketch seems the best way to share that vision in this space.


Look for more scans, of sketches old & new, in future posts.



Phil Smith
June 5, 2007


PS

I found my big stack of old sketches, tucked away. This one, from 1990 (pretty sure) I remember liking the unfinished look of -- if I continued, it might not look as good...



...and here's one from late '88 or early '89:


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Setback

It's a damned shame.

The software company that provided an evaluation copy of its 3D CAD program has a name that is based on the Latin root word meaning 'free'. However, from the very beginning I was assaulted with solicitations for upgrades, and now that my 30-day trial is over, I find I am unable to use the program at all, despite a one-word assurance from an anonymous support tech that I would still be able to use it offline.

That was the one and only time I made use of but a single online feature, just to ask. If the one-word response had been 'no' instead of 'yes', I would've understood -- and then I would've made better use of my remaining time. Instead, I was misled.

Of course it is possible that the tech was pretty sure he or she was giving me the correct answer, just as it is possible that the answer was simply too short, and should've been accompanied by instructions. A third possibility is that the process is purposefully complicated and time-consuming, designed to discourage the very liberty the company's name implies. A fourth is that their online (site-related) software is inadequate; Possibility 4a is that the 'glitch' was intentional.

Perhaps I should have remembered sooner that the prefix 'a-' usually means 'not' (a + libre = 'not free').

At the moment I'm too annoyed to go looking for another program...



Phil Smith
May 28, 2007



...By the way? The new header image here was done using the GIMP, an image creation/manipulation program written for Linux but now available in a Windows version. Open-sourced, of course.


Phil Smith
May 29, 2007


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EXOVAN 2.0

This time I'm starting with the frame...

...and as the concept continues to evolve, the exoframe is no longer hanging out inches beyond the body. Instead (so far, only in my mind) it juts out like a metallic version of the framing on woodies from the 1920's and 30's. EXOVAN's framing is of square steel tubing, now turned at a 45° angle.

This may make for a little more head-scratching during frame-up, but in the end makes the frame simpler and lighter. Yes, the idea of having bolt-on sections has been ABANDONED. The frame you see here is all welded...



Not that I know enough about structural rigidity, but looking at these images, right away I see a weak area in the floor that I'll have to address. Doesn't matter anyway, because what I care about is its function and appearance. Engineers will have their say.

This version of EXOVAN, once I add body panels, glass, and so forth, will be closer to the thing that will be built...

...and yes, one way or another, at least ONE example of EXOVAN WILL be built.

Dammit, it BEGS to be.



Phil Smith
May 21, 2007

UPDATE

Phil Smith
May 22, 2007

UPDATE 2

The evaluation period on my 3D CAD program expired today, but all that means is that I can no longer use online features. Not a problem -- hadn't been using them anyway. Above, you can see that I've begun to add panels after further frame reinforcements.

I know I've left a lot of things out, but I need to finish this 2nd draft before I start on the 3rd...





Phil Smith
May 23, 2007

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Frame Job

- FIRST VIRTUAL MODEL OF EXOVAN COMPLETE -

It took some doing -- and these images do NOT represent the definitive version -- but here ya go. The virtual model was done as a single (intricate) 'part'. With the program I've been using, you get to select only one colour per part. A bit too late, I discovered (I think) that new parts can be created within an 'assembly'... I had thought that new parts had to be created separately before being joined together in an assembly -- my mistake. If you go to the gallery on the Alibre Design website, you'll see what a hard time those designers/engineers would've had, creating parts in separate windows...



Above, you see EXOVAN in olive, camouflaged... The lights highlighted in bright green are for off-road use, too bright for streets and highways -- the two pairs of smaller ones are the main headlights. If you click on it (all of these are clickable for larger versions) you may be able to make out a double pair of even smaller lights, which are turn signals...



Extrusion 1 (the second step in the process, after a line drawing) is highlighted in red above, showing (in blue) where some of the side windows are.



Here I've made use of a different colour scheme to highlight panels in varying copper shades, to show glass area around the cockpit.



Note the cooling exhaust vents above the front track. This is a design feature I've used on previous flat-panel concepts, but in a slightly different location.

You may notice that the rear is more exposed to potential damage than the top, front, and sides. Somehow, along the way, I became quite fond of the 'naked' EXOVAN body -- and when it came down to it I couldn't bring myself to clutter up the rear. In any case this is not an area where one expects much damage in off-road situations, even rollovers.


I've left the tracks floating in space on purpose. Any suspension and steering linkages, or drivetrain details, might be misconstrued -- as an automotive designer I am only PART engineer, so I won't try to fool anybody into believing I have everything figured out. Besides, this is only a quick-and-dirty first draft, merely an illustration of concept.

By the way, please don't tell me the exoframe just aft of the side portal is likely to get hung up on trees. If I were to do it over (and I probably will) I'd angle those sections out. Speaking of angles, the original concept called for sweeping curves in the exterior framing, which I may yet be able to produce with a 3D CAD program -- in a forthcoming virtual model.


A friend asked me a question recently about EXOVAN's steering. I can't answer about ratios, but it seems obvious that, unlike the Tesla Roadster, EXOVAN will require power assist (as will Tesla Motors' upcoming sports sedan, codenamed White Star). This assist, in the absence of an internal combustion engine (abbreviated ICE), must come from electric motors (plural -- EXOVAN features rear-steer). Toy remote-control vehicles have electric motors for steering. Suddenly I envisioned EXOVAN drivers being able to exit and pilot EXOVAN over particularly difficult terrain via remote control.

...And why not? Extreme rock-crawler drivers employ spotters to help guide them. Imagine being your own spotter, able to plainly see what your vehicle is up against while you yourself are at the controls. This could be done with a Wi-Fi laptop displaying all the views from EXOVAN's cameras (EXOVAN will feature only a pair of fisheye mirrors, the driver mainly relying on camera views).

Next: Lexus already has a car that will parallel-park itself. Imagine exiting the vehicle near your front door and watching it head off to its charging station by itself. You are confident that it will be waiting for you in the morning, charged and ready to go. The future is not only electric -- it is robotic as well.


In future posts, look for images manipulated with Photoshop to make EXOVAN look more real. You may also see some of my previous designs (I could be persuaded to scan old pencil sketches), and those discussions on a pair of timeless vehicles of others' design that I feel should be resurrected. However the very next one is likely to be about EXOVAN again...



Phil Smith
May 12, 2007



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Pincushion

Today I managed to get started on the exoframe. For the image above, I chose the 'Shaded & Visible Edges' view in the CAD program -- now you can plainly see where the side portal is...

The image below shows the rear clearance lights that I added on just to get myself started. Also, you may be able to tell that the first two front-center roof posts are offset to the driver's side, just enough to allow clearance for the front hatch:



I had actually forgotten about that clearance issue the first time around with the roof posts, placing one of them in the center, directly between the side hatches (the glass hatches slide up between the roof and the frame, and require a certain amount of room to do so); It was an easy fix, so no worries.

Next I'll have to figure out how to connect the dots, so to speak. If the resulting visible frame doesn't look beefy enough, remember there is also interior framing. With only the frame represented in these images, EXOVAN is sturdy enough to be driven (though this is not recommended). The bolt-on exterior sections will provide extra cross-bracing and rollover protection, and can be unbolted individually -- to access damaged panels underneath, or to repair or replace the frame sections themselves.

The main reason for these sections to be bolted on rather than welded amounts to a practicality issue in initial construction. If you weld the whole frame up first, good luck getting the body panels on...

You will notice there are no frame protrusions on the bottom of EXOVAN. It's one big skidplate under there -- with panels perhaps twice as thick as on other parts of the body -- allowing EXOVAN to slide over obstacles rather than get hung up on them.


EXOVAN is coming together, and once I'm satisfied enough with this first-draft model I'll grab a capture and Photoshop it for more detail and colour...


Phil Smith
May 8, 2007

Back to the Drawing Board

Shortly after publishing this post, I began the maddening task of attempting to connect the through-body frame stubs with exterior frame sections. Much to my dismay, I found that a couple of key features for this kind of thing are left out of the free version of the 3D CAD program I'm using. At least I got the satisfaction, while browsing through the tutorials, of discovering that I'm already messing around on an 'advanced' level...

I kept at it anyway, enough to see EXOVAN partially clad in exterior framing, but finally called it a night. Went to bed with an inkling of how to finish my model with the (virtual) tools on hand...

...and I've been thinking about it since. What I'll need to do is to go back to an earlier saved version and create all the through-body extrusions all over again, this time with square sections instead of round ones. This will allow me to reposition some of them, and it will give me more flat surfaces -- surfaces to do drawings on, drawings to make extrusions from. Then I can either keep the square tubing or fillet the edges to make it round.

Since it will be better to use square tubing for the interior framing anyway, and since straight cuts will be simpler than round ones on the body panels, all the new through-body extrusions will be left square. That squareness will also come in handy when it's time to make the brackets for bolting exterior sections on.

Cooling still has to be addressed -- yes, even electric vehicles need cooling -- but I have an idea for duct openings that I think will be, um, pretty cool. Plus, they'll provide a mounting point for the headlights. Not sure if I'll do matching ones in the rear, and reposition the taillights into them...


Phil Smith
May 10, 2007

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