Bangle's Fabric car. Cool. He still screwwed up the Z4.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by livi

Reminds me of the old Trabant.

Exactly. Auto design does not move forward, it moves in a circle. old ideas are picked up and altered slightly.

This is a farce. An advertising campaign dressed up to look like 'progress'. I'll bet BMW corp. expensed these dollars to 'advertising' and not 'R&D'.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Jim how fast does that plane go?

Top speed 162MPH cruising speed 126MPH.

[masraum]

I like the Z4. I thought it was ugly in photos, but in person, I like it. I don't like most of the other new BMW designs. The front fenders of the 6 series are ok, but the back end is horrible.

I really like this concept though. Funny, I like some of these odd angular lines on the BMWs, but the newer Cadillacs with their sharp edges are really ugly to me.

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

Why would cloth not be stable at speeds and lightweight?

Here's why, and it's what others making the "old airplane" analogy are missing: The fabric used on aircraft is stretched TIGHT, to the point of being almost rigid. When you thump a fabric plane, it should ring like a gong if the fabric is properly tight.

In the old days, linen was used to cover and then the linen was taughtened with cellulose acetate butyrate dope. More modern coverings are made of polyester which is taughtened by heat shrinking.


The covering on the bangle-mobile, however, is not taughtened - it is flexible. Watch when he shows the camera the swatch of cloth. Watch when the door, headlights, and hood open. This is a flexible fabric, even in the final installation. At speed, every span will sag between the underlying carbon-fiber rib wires.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Feasible for production? Maybe not. But from an engineering and design standpoint, it's brilliant. It's really more like art, as it makes you question your preconceived notions and consider new things. Why does a car have to be made of metal? It may never be built, but I think it's genius.

You guys knock Bangle, but I give him a lot of credit. Except for the 7, every Bangle BMW looks horrible in pictures, and stunning in person (opinion of course). While every other automaker was tripping over themselves trying to do a retro i.e. lazy ripoff design, Bangle was creating an entirely new design language for cars. 50 years from now, looking back at this era people will see an ocean of bland look-alikes, with Bangle's designs being the few that stand out as unique, original designs. Plus, knock him if you like, but his cars sell like no BMWs before.

[TerryBPP]

The lines of the car were horrible but the idea is great. Love the doors, hood, etc. Looks alive.

My concern would be replacement and durability. They don't show you how its connected to the skeleton (i assume). Could be a real pain to replace. And BMW can keep window trim good looking for 10 yrs, what about a whole dry rotted body?

[Moses]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Feasible for production? Maybe not. But from an engineering and design standpoint, it's brilliant. It's really more like art, as it makes you question your preconceived notions and consider new things. Why does a car have to be made of metal? It may never be built, but I think it's genius.

You guys knock Bangle, but I give him a lot of credit. Except for the 7, every Bangle BMW looks horrible in pictures, and stunning in person (opinion of course). While every other automaker was tripping over themselves trying to do a retro i.e. lazy ripoff design, Bangle was creating an entirely new design language for cars. 50 years from now, looking back at this era people will see an ocean of bland look-alikes, with Bangle's designs being the few that stand out as unique, original designs. Plus, knock him if you like, but his cars sell like no BMWs before.

Agree 100%

[scottmandue]

Just to give my honest opinion I like the Z4 and the new 3 series but this thing isn't working for me... I do kind of like the vagina analogy (glad someone else spotted it too)

Bangle is great because we are talking about him? We also regularly talk about Rosie O'Donald and Paris Hilton.

No door dings? Cars not made of metal? Saturn has had that technology for years.

[304065]

Bring back . . . Paul Bracq!

[Jim Richards]

ROFLMAO! Yes, that could be the new 3-Series!

[Taz's Master]

The vandalism and security issues break new ground with this concept.

[KaptKaos]

Seems to me that that fella thinks pretty highly of himself.

[cgarr]

Nothing new, My 1918 British SE5a is fabric covered, looks like he is about a hundred years too late!

[Seric]

Originally Posted by KaptKaos

Seems to me that that fella thinks pretty highly of himself.

Yea, kinda has that Steve Jobs wanna-be vibe to him, but Jobs has the street cred to back it up.

Like mentioned, the vandalism and theft issue would be very hard to work around. Also the price of replacing part of the spaceframe. I bet this concept ends up being shelved or done in very limited numbers. It just isn't practical as far as I can see.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Considering it's headed to the BMW museum, I don't think they're giving it much thought for production. It's a pure CONCEPT car, which typically serves to illustrate a company's unique vision and engineering prowess.

Considering that BMW is selling more cars than ever thanks to Bangle, I'd say he has some street cred.

[berettafan]

if sales are up i'd guess a lot of it has to do with easy credit, not piss poor designs.

[island911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Feasible for production? Maybe not. But from an engineering and design standpoint, it's brilliant. It's really more like art, as it makes you question your preconceived notions and consider new things. Why does a car have to be made of metal? It may never be built, but I think it's genius. ....

You lost me. Just because it tweaked your imagination doesn't make it brilliant engineering and design. I expect that you must think the guys who dreamed up each Batmobile must be engineering genius' ...because they "makes you question your preconceived notions and consider new things." What about the Homer-mobile?

BTW, wth is smart about carbon-fiber ribs? --is it the complete LACK of energy absorption? ...or is it that they break in to nasty sharp spears when hit?

If you want to see smart car-body design (w/ respect to composites) look at Koenigsegg. --you may nneed to have a good understanding of strain rates and pre-stressing that happens within hybrid composites, but those guys are doing serious engineering. This BMW crap is just a half-baked sale gimmick aimed to appeal to the human notes. I'm surprised they didn't run the headlight squirters (out of the corner of the eye, no doubt) so the car would cry -blink blink.

sheesh

[onewhippedpuppy]

You guys are missing the point. It's NOT PRODUCTION. It's a concept. It's about neat gee-whiz cool geeky tech stuff. I can't believe anyone with any appreciation for engineering would scoff at the effort and technology that went into that car. IT WILL NEVER BE BUILT.

BTW Island, thanks for the hyper-elitest post regarding Koeingsegg. Considering that I can walk 50 ft from my desk to a composite aircraft, or drive 5 minutes to our VIPER tool and autoclave, I'm glad you're the only person educated enough to understand such things.

[island911]

It's about neat gee-whiz cool geeky tech stuff.
Like... ?

[island911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

..BTW Island, thanks for the hyper-elitest post regarding Koeingsegg. Considering that I can walk 50 ft from my desk to a composite aircraft, or drive 5 minutes to our VIPER tool and autoclave, I'm glad you're the only person educated enough to understand such things.

Lots of people make composite structures. Tho' Composite Aircraft do not have the same requirements that cars do. ...or am I wrong in believing that aircraft don't go thru, for example, side impact tests?