When Did Concept Cars First Appear – All Aboard for the Best About …
Today I came across a great post posted earlier today, by Skipper, and entitled When Did Concept Cars First Appear – All Aboard for the Best About … that I would strongly urge all of you to read. Here’s some little excerpts in order to whet your appetites!
The vehicles that cause people to stop and take another glance are not often the vehicles they end up owning, rather they are vehicles that the manufacturers have developed purely to astound the buyers, test reaction and make use of future technology, and naturally to try and get their name just a little more in mind then the other brands, these vehicles are named concept cars. Concept cars began life during the 1930s when Harley Earl, a General Motors designer, designed a vehicle not for building, but only to display how a car might be sometime in the future, that car was named the Buick Y Job. Harley Earl continued to design and represent such vehicles all through his long career with the concept car phenomenon really taking off in the 50s. Obviously the cars that Earl and others designed were not meant to be put into production, but were only a test in what might be achievable in a real vehicle sometime in the years ahead. With the freedom of not having to be worried with safety, fuel consumption levels , weight, practicality and cost of manufacturing, the concept car stylist can allow his imagination to run wild, and that is why we often see examples of concept cars that look like they belong in a different time altogether and obviously will not be built as a production vehicle.
Now, reading Skipper’s article started me off thinking so I googled for more articles on the subject and discovered some more greats. e.g. New layouts for the Majesty 63 and Majesty 56 motor yachts … posted yesterday, by Chelsea, on a blog called Luxury Yacht Charter & Superyacht News:
The full beam owner’s bedroom features almost 1.5 meter wide windows and an innovative ‘integrated’ en-suite. The Majesty 63 also features dual kitchens – one on the main deck and one in the crew area. Separate crew quarters for two are located in the rear of the yacht, with an en-suite bathroom and access from the swim platform. The fly-bridge of the Majesty can be adapted to individual customer’s needs, whether for day cruising or sea-crossing exploration. Seating areas and space can be maximized or more focus can be put on toy-carrying capacity, whilst providing al-fresco entertainment with an integrated waterproof LCD television. Majesty 56 Motor yacht Majesty 56 Motor yacht Cabin The Majesty 56 is one of the most popular yacht sizes in the Majesty Yacht family. Whilst the yacht is based on the superb performance of a proven hull design, the new ‘Majlis’ style open seating plan in the main area of the yacht accommodates ten guests indoors at ease.
Another fantastic article on the subject came from Editor over on BroadlyGuns News posted last week, entitled New Zephyr 3-axle multi-role protected platform launched ? as … which is also certainly worth a read!
I am very proud to be associated with Creation and its world class engineering skills and products”. Zephyr SRV ZX3 – compact 3-axle platform aimed at world markets The new three-axle Zephyr SRV ZX3 variant, launched today, is designed to carry a payload of around 4 tonnes, depending on base vehicle specification and protection level – and will significantly widen the range of operational roles, body types and specialist applications for which the vehicle envelope can be configured. These include troop carrier, cargo utility vehicle, command and control, Weapons Mounted Installation Kit (WMIK), reconnaissance and surveillance, battlefield ambulance or light gun tractor. Zephyr is also able to carry a range of roof-mounted options, including protected or remote weapons stations (PWS or RWS). Body, crew and seating layouts for Zephyr ZX3 can be varied from two to twelve occupants, to suit operational requirements.
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Additional features include fully integrated Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) and the capability to support exportable power requirements. All variants of Creation’s Zephyr SRV programme are based on modular principles to provide high survivability, multi-role operational flexibility – and optimum mechanical and logistics serviceability. The Zephyr programme also includes a number of LFU (Legacy Fleet Upgrade) options, designed to add or enhance protection, extend operating life of existing fleet inventory or modify, convert and re-deploy assets to meet other applications and operational requirements. Creation Managing Director, Bill Davis says, “The ZX3 configurations of the Zephyr programme have been brought forward to meet specific overseas user requirements. This follows formal requests to licence the three-axle design – and other configurations of the vehicle – for local manufacture and assembly overseas.