Automobile Picture of the Year!!!!!!!!!!!

AUTOMOTIVE FIGHTER JET?

So, I happened upon this picture of blazing automotive beauty by accident. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well this one is worth a million! It speaks to the soul of the automotive enthusiast like no other! This is how automobile fanatics get down. This is how we like our cars to perform.....at top speed, spitting fire in your face! Singing, ".this is how we do it/this is how we do it.."

The 2011 Dodge Durango

Here is the verdict on the new 2011 Dodge Durango: this SUV looks great! But, this SUV could also look a lot greater! To tell a funny story, it is as if the designer was on a groove, and then someone grabbed his hand, and said ok, that’s enough…we can save that for later….and the designer was like, “huh?! Duh! Ok..”

Well people, the right shaping of form has at least taken shape. The appropriate momentum is in progression. The body language is more interesting than any of the previous models. It’s more aggressive and sexier.

Now, however, the Durango could still do with some re-designing. There are aspects that can be kept and some that can be greatly improved. To state precisely, the winning aspects of the Dodge Durango can be kept, while also combining the winning elements of the previous edition Dodge Charger (the new one is hot too, but it’s not as hot as the previous version). The Dodge Charger is a super hot car, stemming from its first debut in 2005, and even into the new 2011 redesign - though as I stated earlier, the new one lacks some of the niceness of the previous version.

Now, talking about the Dodge Durango, the rear of the Dodge Durango is my favorite part of the vehicle’s new design. The design of the rear lights plays a huge part in the look of the rear. It imparts an almost BMW look, and hence a look of luxury! Moving on to the side of the Durango is a different design language, but it could do with extra fierceness. At the front of the Dodge Durango is the new grille and headlamp design, it is a change from the past, but here Dodge could have done a more dramatic, aggressive “lane” change. You know, like a screeching near-fishtailing swerve! Picture that lane change? Fresh and feisty! Road rage stimulating! Huh? Hahaha.

Now sit back and enjoy the show as the SeraniTafari Street Team delves into our humorous, and picturesque detailed design critique of the 2011 Dodge Durango and the former Durango runner ups.

Dodge Durango 1999

Dodge Durango 2004 (the ugly kid)

Below is a brief narrative. Here, I make the Dodge Durango models take on personalities and talk like people. (Cars do talk...that's why great design sells!..insider)

2004 Dodge Durango

When I see the Dodge Durango, I feel the urge to laugh, because, with its big droopy,sad face, it looks like it is saying, “Oh well, this is me. I don’t really know what I am, I don’t really like the way I look. Do you like me? I reply, “No!” He shrugs and says, “Well, sorry, it wasn’t me. They made me look like that. Fukkin’ Dodge!”

2011 Dodge Durango

“’Look at me now/ look at me know’.” I look better now right?! I’m like, “Yeah” duh! You look a whole lot better! My only gripe is that I wish they made you look a whole lot still better. (Durango smiles) he says, “Well, at least I look a lot better than before. Thank God!"

The Dodge Durango interior does look really nice. love the inward-facing arrangement of the gauges in the instrumental panel. It gives the driver's side a "lets go" look. Moving onto the center console, I like the design, but it would have looked better if it had a curvature to it though, instead of being nearly flat. I also wished they left out that rectangular opening at the bottom of the radio console. The rest of the reach of the dashboard is smooth, and beautiful, and the chrome accented vents finish everything off nicely.

PS. Hey, the Dodge Durango would look killa with a racing-type interior too!

About two years back, while still attending industrial design school in Philadelphia, PA, I began sketching my own new look for a new Dodge Durango. And of course, it grew out of my great dissatisfaction with the then existing Durango models, as well as while simultaneously having a tremendous love for the Dodge Charger’s design and styling. The model shown on the left is around the perimeter of what I sketched. And I was indeed shocked to find this picture too! I was like, Oh sh*t! Game over! But naah, I'm still good. I'm still clear, because my design has other combinations that the designers at Dodge have yet to envision. If the designers at Dodge are reading this blog though, then my game may just be over. I might post my sketches on a next blog....I don't know yet! What do you all think? You know what I will post the sketches soon because Iove Dodge! Hahaha.

 

"Aston Martin Music" .."All the Way Turned Up!" (K.I.S.S!! Aston Martin V12 Zagato)

"Aston Martin Music" is playing louder than ever! The Aston Martin company has done it again!! We thought they had reached the pinnacle with the exclusive One-77, but the all new Zagato V12 is just phenomenal and blows the One-77 out of the water!!! Before we begin and start dissecting this design beauty, lets pause for a moment and look at it's stats. The car's 510bhp comes from a powerful 6.0L V12, and rear wheel drive, coupled with stunning curves and a unique body that make's the car's overall appearance a K.I.S.S. Keep It Stupid Sexy!!!

The body though does remind me of a combination between the classic Nissan Z line, and various Ferrari  models. The curves are powerful but not brute to make the vehicle look too masculine. The nasally front end creates the effect that  this car is a gnarly fire breathing beast just waiting to unleash it's power. The five spoke open air rims allow air to just slip right in and eliminate the majority of the extreme heat.

 As we compare the side profiles, lets notice a trend going here. First we see the motorcycle helmet inspired design applied to the sloping C-pillars and the Aston Martin's blacked out A-pillar. Notice the muscle bulge that forms the shoulder, which delivers a smooth transition from the main character body line. The greenhouse on these vehicles have a swoop-fast-back design imitating a car that is always in motion even at a standstill.

Singing in my Chrisette Michele voice, "Aston Martin music..MUSIC!"

- Jamal Mcclean

"Aston Martin Music"

“Aston Martin Music” is the hottest Hip-Hop track that I have ever heard play on the radio. I can play it over and over and over and over again, and still want to keep playing it. With its beautiful, melodious instrumentals, hard-knocking beats, dizzying bass, and rough, sensuous, and playful vocals, it is truly the embodiment the Aston Martin music brand.

Nothing rings the tune of “Aston Martin Music” more loudly than the new Aston Martin One-77. This car is the most explicit, aggressive design that I’ve ever witnessed arrive out of the Aston Martin design studios. Beginning at the front of the car is a super, hyper aggressive look which is achieved by an additional design - the fierce-looking air intakes positioned on the far left and right of the front fascia. The effect of these air intakes is emboldened by fins that sweep into them imparting a shark-ish appearance. The fins alone are beautifully imaginative, and makes for the audio-visualization of whirring sheets of air being swallowed up through the inlets. Also, having an additional impact on the powerful look of the front fascia is the massive front grille; it resembles the huge death face of a killer shark at sea. Yeah! You know that “I’m going to kill you/you gonna die look! The last addition to the powerful look of the front end of the car is the inward-sweeping headlamps. These give a nice wrap up the front-end design of the car.

Moving on to the side of this Aston Martin One-77 is a huge imprint into the front quarter panel and driver and passenger doors. It is almost is as if the metal here was previously soft - as if in a molten state - and someone slammed a trident spear sideways into it, breaking the handle off in the process, and leaving the trident. The trident was then yanked out before the metal cooled and left that ferocious menacing trident shape! This shape in the side panel revs up the overall hyper-aggressive look of the Aston Martin One-77. This combined with a highly pronounced rear shoulder is what defines the One-77 most of all.

Skipping around to the rear of the car is a massive lower body opening housing a row of huge impressive air dams! These impart onto the car, a look of withering potential speed! Moving up from this picturesque look of rapidity, is the taillight, which is one big wrap-around piece that resembles a highly condensed letter C rotated 180 degrees. This design of the rear light concludes wonderfully, the entire design of the Aston Martin One-77.

- Gebre Mesquitta

"Out in the Streets...."(Customized Cars Sighting)

So I was busy at work in my office when I saw two immensely customized vehicles roar down California Avenue, past my window, make a U-turn and then park not too far from my office. I immediately jumped up straining my neck at the window to see what model cars these were. I could instantly recognize one as a '90s Chevy Impala, but the other, I couldn’t discern the model.

Unfortunately, because my brother destroyed my digital camera, and I recently smashed my cellphone (no functioning cellphone camera lol), I had no means of taking any pictures to capture the splendid sight of these gorgeously customized cars. But then all of a sudden, I realized that my cute Mexican supervisor, had an iphone – and of course these have awesome camera resolutions. Well they're not enough as my digital camera's resolution, but its five megapixels of resolution turned to be great enough to capture what I wanted to exhibit about these cars.

Now let me say this: there is something unique about an old-model customized car. It is that the effect of the customization erases its age. It makes age non-existent!

The 2013 Ford Taurus

       So Earl Lucas has done it again! The iconic design of the 2010 Ford Taurus has been updated for 2013. It looks better than ever, and is a perfect design progression from the previous model. I’m somehow spellbound that this re-design achieved such perfection. It’s unbelievable; Ford is going above and beyond what I ever thought they could achieve, and I’m extremely proud of them right now. I believe the sky is now the limit at Ford! In addition, Earl Lucas is an unstoppable powerhouse and a blessing to the Ford design studios.

       As I looked at the first pictures of the new 2013 Ford Taurus, something looked different. I realized a grown-up appearance, a combination of maturity and finesse. The grille has a newly improved shape. And the lower grille has a shape sympathetic to the lower half of the upper grille. In addition, there is a new little design flair on the left and right sides of the lower grille. This is the main speaker to the “new, mature” look.

       On the side of the car, everything else is pretty much the same, no more beautiful and no less beautiful. However, moving on to the rear there are some precise and careful improvements. The dual rear exhaust pipes which were previously in one location have been moved to separate locations at the far left and right of the rear end. Also above it the design feature that makes up the lower end of the rear fascia, and that also surrounds the exhaust pipes, has been pushed further to the left and rear of the center of the rear end.

Take a look below to see a comparison of the previous Ford Taurus rear, and the new 2013 Ford Taurus. The difference is in the details...(lol)

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       Moving on to the interior, I become speechless. The interior of the Ford Taurus is of pure luxury, and on par with any Japanese or European import. It’s caressing, curvaceous, luscious, and seducing. I feel the touch of a woman when I gaze at it. It’s stimulating and perfect, and begging you to enjoy the experience!

High class, top of the line entertainment and electronics.....feel the touch......and the effect...already!

Now lets play the rest of this "single". Sit back and listen to the beauty!

Singing, "go Ford, go Ford, go Ford, go Ford!"

- Gebre Mesquitta