It was literally just us fooling around with a concept, and we did. We got the car done in 22 months, which is still to this day the fastest developed vehicle ever. I mean, that had to be the first car that was really a throwback. That kind of led the charge.
Well, throwback that was done right.
Well, right, but that kind of led the charge for like Ford followed suit. All of a sudden the Mustang started, you know, looking it was pulling like little elements of the classic fastbacks. And Chevy's always late to the party, but you know, then the Camaro comes out, but that car was I remember when the concept dropped and it was just mind-blowing.
Yeah. You're like, damn, you really did a throwback and didn't mess it up.
Couldn't believe it. Yeah, that was it was a bit of a we never really clinic that we didn't have time to clinic it. We just did the concept and we got the real-time feedback. But everyone in the building was excited. Think about it, right? The managers were that age. They were the guys that wanted to buy the car. So, obviously it was easy. And people talk a lot about kids, but most cars are bought by 50-plus year-olds, you know. So, there is something to be said to making that car that you can have the first time around, right? So, that's in a way why the car behind me looks the way it does, right?
What led the charge on that philosophy of like bringing back the old school? Was the discussion on the engineering side more that, okay, we're bringing back the Hemi? And then did it go from there that, well, if we're bringing back the Hemi, let's go
You think about it, yeah, as a designer there's a couple things. We design around the package. So, the Hemi being a V8, being a rather large lump that you have to design around, and the cooling required, it sort of makes you make the front end quite bulky, which is kind of what the older muscle cars used to be. They were pretty much heat exchangers. Think about the Charger, the Challenger. Even the '68 it was all about cooling that engine behind there. And that was the same even when we designed those cars. So, when we started sketching it that way, everything kind of looked modern didn't work with the bulky front end. So, we ended up testing out these retro looks and boom, it just made sense.
Uh but it's very modern. When you look at, you know, you really walk around a modern-day Charger, Challenger, it reminds you of the old, but doesn't look old. What is one of your biggest pet peeves design-wise across the board, whether it be some of your designers, or other car manufacturers, of things that you're just like, they keep doing that with the B-post? Why do they keep doing that with the B-pillar? Or something like that?
It's not so much a detail, it's more overdesign. And I'll give you I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but the C8 Corvette is probably the best example, right? Here's a car that is probably mechanically the most outstanding machine General Motors has ever made. Just a masterpiece of engineering. Even proportionally it's not horrible, but it's over-styled. What's wrong with a hundred facets and angles? If 90 facets and angles are I think there's more room to put wings and spoilers on those wings and the spoilers. And I don't want to criticize I never criticize other automakers doing that, but I look at that car and the E-Ray is the only one I could look at. It's the simplest of all of them. It's cleanest. Uh I'm a big fan of 911s for that reason. I hate the RS GT3 RS, the new one. It's overdone, right? Whereas the normal like I have a touring I own a Porsche. And I love the touring because it has no wings. It's kind of clean. So, I'm a believer in let a little paper show through as you design. Let it be clean and that way the consumer sees what they want to see in the vehicle. If you over-styled it, there's no room for imagination. It just is that and it is loaded with theme after theme and idea after idea. So, I really hate to see over-styled vehicles.
Dude, I love that. I love that, that hits the nail on the head. That car, like you say, is a mechanical masterpiece. I would probably buy one. And there's always something that keeps you from not doing it. You can take those things off though. And it's just that. You see it at first glance in the rearview mirror, you're like, is that a 488? Yeah, it almost looks Ferrari-esque in the rearview mirror from afar. Yeah. And then as it comes up, it's just enough to not make you really want to pull the trigger and get it because it's just too much. There's too much going on. If you strip off a lot of those bolt-on things like you said, more closer to the E-Ray, you strip off that stuff, you can get it sleeker looking, but it's still chiseled. We've joked about it almost looks like it was a really cool car that a kid like turned it into a tuner car and just bolted on a bunch of stuff to it. Extra stuff. Yeah. So, probably not going to be able to apply for the ZR1 allocation.
