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Beyond Retro Design: People Want New Things That are Old, or Old Things That are New
The automotive sector embarks on a trend we'd like to see happen in the consumer products space
By Rain Noe - Apr 05, 2017
We're seeing an unusual twist on automotive desirability today that would be quite interesting if it extended to all product design. The twist is this: A subset of people want new stuff that's old, or depending on how you look at it, old stuff that's new.
Here's what we mean: In America, a company called Revology Cars began cranking out brand-new 1966 Ford Mustangs a few years ago. Ford licensed the original exterior design to Revology, who then creates the frame, has the body panels stamped up and drops a brand-new engine, transmission and suspension into the cars. This means you can now buy a SUH-WEET 1966 GT convertible, like the one pictured here, in brand-new condition.
Enter a caption (optional)Now Jaguar Land Rover has launched a similar initiative. In the 1950s Jaguar began modifying a handful of D-Types—the Le-Mans-winning racecar—into a street-legal model that they called the XKSS. Jaguar built 16 of them, and had another 9 being produced at the factory when a fire broke out and destroyed them. Jaguar never revived the design.
Enter a caption (optional)Until last year, that is. To make up for the cars lost in the first, they decided to build nine brand-new XKSS's, calling it the Continuation series. From what the driver can see, these cars are straight out of 1957 with the original body, gauges, the same leather seats and brass knobs, but with a modern-day engine under the hood. The engine sound in the video below is probably the most thrilling audio I've heard yet this year:
A couple of months after Jaguar's announcement, sister company Land Rover launched their own Reborn program, where they began locating, restoring and "remanufacturing" old Series 1 Land Rovers that had gone to seed:
They subsequently expanded the program to include the classic Range Rover.
Not sure if there's internal rivalry, but this month Jaguar upped the ante and is debuting their "Reborn" E-Type in Germany this month. These are restored, not built from the ground-up, and these may be some of the most beautiful cars Jaguar has ever produced:
While these cars are obviously out-of-reach by folks of average income, I wouldn't mind seeing this new-old or old-new trend applied to other original designs in the consumer products space. For example, after writing the History of Braun Design series some years ago, I became so smitten with their 1962 Sixtant SM 31 electric razor that I had to have one.
Enter a caption (optional)I tracked down and found one on the secondhand market that had been shipped from Italy. It's heavy and substantial, has an internal voltage converter so works on 110V and despite being over 50 years old it still works like it's brand-new. It's one of my favorite possessions. I paid $23 for it and I will keep it forever. The only thing I don't dig is that it still smells like some Italian dude's cologne. If I could have bought a remanufactured version, I totally would have.
Are there any classic product designs that you would buy if they were remanufactured today?
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
8 Comments
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I think the same thing goes for keyboards nowadays. Just look at Lofree, Qwerkywriter, iTypewriter.
Lofree has the nicest design but the other two are moronic.1!Report as spam-
Totally agreed. I backed Lofree and can't wait to tap tap tap on that instead of the efficient yet soul-less Apple wireless keyboard on which I'm typing this comment
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I did a "restofication" on my 1963 International Harvester Metro. I would love to take Art Deco design and use that as a guiding visual cue for modern shop tools.
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Motorbikes have been into the retro thing for a long while but recently a few retro-inspired-but-new bikes came out, this one is even surprisingly affordable!
http://scramblerducati.com/en/!Report as spam -
When poorly done, retro design is an uninspired reboot of once good ideas that too often becomes a jumbled mess of poorly executed reiteration. We see it all the time not only in automotive design (PT Cruiser, I'm looking at you), but also in film and TV (new MacGyver and Lethal Weapon TV shows, A-Team movie, etc). Retro plays on our romanticism of the past. The older we get, the softer our memories become and the more we yearn to reconnect with a time that we think was more innocent and less jaded. Of course, we tend to gloss over the reality of older things, such as how dangerous, heavy, awkward, and unreliable these things used to be back when they were new. The same goes for past relationships. Why did I ever break up with so and so... and then you remember how insane / messy / opinionated / ignorant / selfish that person used to be and how crazy they made your life. I don't mind touches of retro design, as it tends to 'warm' up modern technology by infusing the tactility and craftsmanship of the old and analog onto the data driven, automated, CAD defined design processes of today. I would pause, however, at over romanticising things past. I'd LOVE an old e-type but in reality, driving one day to day would be uncomfortable and not nearly as safe as a modern day car w/ computer modelled high strength steel unibody chassis and active suspension and dynamic drive systems. A great example of retro done right is the Singer 911. Looks the part of a classic 911, but has the power, handling, and brakes of a modern Porsche. Superb attention to detail without restricting themselves to maintaining the 'purity' of a traditional restoration. And yeah, Braun has a whole catalog of classic Dieter Rams designs I'd love to see revamped and reissued. No razors yet, but the classic Braun watches have been reissued and gently updated. Certainly a modern classic.
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Is the "same thing but pocket size" trend - if it as a trend only - a kind of old but new thing too, looking at the NES Classic Mini, for example?
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A Commodore 64 with a floppy drive. Although I can probably get that on EBay.
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Why is it a requirement, in all car and motorcycle videos, that the road leads to a beach? And an empty beach at that? I guess sometimes there's a woman/man waiting.
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Continued Reading
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By Rain Noe - Apr 03, 2017
Biophysicist Designs Drip-Free Wine Bottle
Stop wining about the tablecloth
Here's a reminder that there are plenty of everyday objects around us that still need a re-design. The observant industrial designer should note that water tends to pool around the base of a hand-pump soap bottle, leaving a dark ring on the countertop over time, or that pouring from a
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By Steven Johnson - Mar 29, 2017
Steven M. Johnson's Bizarre Invention #93: The Whole Mouth Dental Appliance
Never brush your teeth again
Steven M. Johnson's "Patent Depending" series of inventions range from social commentary to plain ol' bizarre, and they always give us a laugh. So we've contracted him to let us publish one every week.
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By Rain Noe - Mar 28, 2017
The Key Wrangler, Yea or Nay?
Get your ducks in a row. (And by "ducks" we mean "keys")
This is the absurd amount of keys I carry on a daily basis. Each time I'm in front of a lock I pull the keys out, then jangle them around until the relevant key appears. I hate this daily mini-time-waster but I've not been able to think up a solution.
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By Rain Noe - Mar 21, 2017
Animals with Patagia are Freaky But Awesome
This clip has been making the social media rounds, and I can't stop watching it. The way the thing is able to stabilize in flight, then braces for the landing: That's a sugar glider, a marsupial native to Australia, and the skin folds that enable it to glide are
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