Wedge Car Design

57 Post Script Future Work The focused on wedge car design movement and conducted a historical review in search of early wedge car designs. There is an opportunity for authors and historians to comprehensively catalog wedge cars within the parameters of the design movement that began in the 1960’s. A further opportunity also exists in the expansion of the work touched upon in this document on the early use of wedge elements throughout the evolution of the automobile. Current Interest in Wedge Cars Wedge cars have captured the attention of the public since their inception. We have noted in this review that the Tesla Cyber Truck regenerated interest in folded paper and wedge designs. The launch of the Tesla truck is projected to be in 2021-2022, at the time of writing, potentially keeping wedge design in the forefront, once again. In July 2021, the 42 nd Councours d’Elegance of America, held in Plymouth, Michigan, featured a wedge car class, simply called “ The Wedge”. Designer, Richard Vaughn was tasked with introducing the wedge class in the program. He began with referencing architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who advocated that often, less is more . Beauty, being best expressed through simplicity of line and economy of form, Vaughn said of van der Rohe thinking. Giorgetto Giugiaro employed van der Rohe rules in his folded paper designs, noted earlier in our review. Vaughn generously concluded that the wedge car movement “was one of the most important trends in the history of the automobile”. This is a debatable claim, but we acknowledge that wedge car design elements continue to intrigue. Vaughn also noted that wedge designs emerged at a time when major manufacturers , probably to Strother MacMinn’s chagrin 5 , took a more is better approach in the late 1960s and 1970’s ; loading cars with excessive decoration on blocky shapes. In 2021, the timeless nature of wedge design elements still has a presence in modern automobile design and will most likely continue as the century moves forward. In March 2022, the 1966 Cannara 1 will debut at the Amelia Island Councours d’Elegance. The car will be of great interest to aficionados of the Councours, but also to automotive historians who can embrace the pure wedge elements in the Cannara 1 and a key design anchor to the wedge car movement.