Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs - Preview

I mentioned a little something earlier about blogging on The Top 10 Radical Malaysian Car Designs. So I decided to whip up something as the teaser so that it'll be a little more exciting and interesting. Plus, its 2.37 A.m. right now and will be heading off to bed. For now, let the teaser amuse you and open up the world of possibilities.. lol if you do have any suggestion on any models, feel free to share it with me. The changes that Malaysia has taken place has also evolved in it's car designs as well. I'll be covering about it, since well, i think nobody hasn't really done it before =P

What do these pictures have In Common?

What do these cars have in common? You've guessed it! Their White! Lol! And I made a compilation for what I really meant in my few previous posts. I have no intention to bash or to mock our dear Malaysian made cars. But isn't it Dejavu when you look at these pictures? I've set them chronically in the time launched by order. So yup.. lol Starts with the above, the Saga SE

The Proton's 25th anniversary Editions (still look the same don't they? the Black grill on the

Exora isn't my cup of tea xP)

White Proton Inspira

White Saga FL during its launch..

Proton's Concept cars in KLIMS 2010

And finally, recently announced Persona Elegance and the Saga FL are now offered in white

Well that's it for now, the next post i'd be blogging about the Top 10 Most Radical Malaysian Car Designs . lol

Proton going White? - Thoughts - Rants

Wow it's been a long time since the Thoughts-Rants section was posted on the blog and what more appropriate time to blog after blogging about the c210 in a 1 month period. I decided to blog about my thoughts and rants very soon after Proton decided to launch their new Saga FL 1.6L Executive. What triggered me to rant more about Proton wasn't my deep sense of hatred nor was my great sense of patriotism towards Malaysian made cars, but rather about its colour schemes in its palette offerings.

Before I had actually started ranting about Proton's range of colours, I was actually ranting about this Saga FL 1.6L Executive name. It was only a few moments ago that i actually posted about it in FB. The name "Executive" is rather ironic which is quite obvious since this is a B-segment car. I would have understood if company executives drove this as their roundabout cars but for executive use? I highly doubt it.. it'll make more sense if it was a Perdana.

Now back to the topic. As much as I have respect for Proton in their efforts to regain back the Malaysian consumer's confidence, I'm a little skeptical in our local homegrown designers that are hired by Proton. One of the things that I've observed so far in the past 2 to 3 years are the selection of white themes for their product offerings such as the 25th anniversary Proton models that are in white, the Saga FL concept - white, all of the Proton Concepts during KLIMS 2010 and the new Saga FL 1.6L Exec. Why am I ranting about this? White I believe, is a pretty tricky colour to apply and implement as a signature colour for the brands identity. If you get it wrong, it get's pretty boring, because majority of cars on the road today are either Black, Silver, Grey or White which can be very dull thus have very little impact of standing out in the crowd. On the other hand if you get it right, it might just be very rewarding to the brands image. The colour white, time symbolises purity which requires good-clean cut design and strong contrast colours for it to stand out. Therefore, if the colour does not match the vehicles clean design, it wouldn't fit very well.. especially on rather messy designed cars.

Cars that contrast it well and have formed their identity by its colour add some bits of contrasting colours that are obvious to look at. Take for example the Honda Civic Type-R FD2. It's theme does somehow seem to relate pretty much with the Saga (the white and red theme).

Honda Civic Type-R FD2

What really is special about the Civic though, are its white wheels, red badges and its brake calipers. By just adding a red stripe however, would not be enough to provide a stronger visual appearance on the Saga. One of the effective and best looking combinations was the Gen 2 which had a striking visual impact by adding grey/black wheels and a painted black avantgarde like roof. I think the best examples of white cars can be found on a selected bunch of European cars such as the Golf Gti, Gallardo and even Audi A6 Coupe. Nevertheless i think Malaysian car designers, especially in Proton still need to have a higher standard of taste, style and a bit more professionalism in my opinion.. I would consider some "editions" to be half baked by adding bits and pieces which clearly shows how they had not include excellence in their work. So, white protons? they don't really cut it or hit its spot since they've taken bold decisions before this such as the Aqua Turquoise colour for the Gen2 and Saga. They should really reconsider the colour white if they could improve on it. Honda has successfully done it with their Type-R models. =P

Proton Gen 2 CPS M-Line

Lamborghini Gallardo LP560

Vw Golf GTI

C210 Skyline - Video Compilation

Here's a video compilation of the C210 Nissan Skyline which i had been going gaga over with for the past few months. Have to love everything about it, the song, the car, the shots, the 80'ness.

*Another info tho, back then in Japan when purchasing a car they actually have soundtracks of the car you're buying such as the one above. It's basically a Skyline song. Much like a marketing and merchandise gimmick, where you could get the cassette tapes and even stickers! but who on earth would want to hate them if their super duper awesome classic Skylines that evolved to the legendary R35 GT-R you see today? If you ever had originals, they most probably worth a lot today...

There were several other different types of Skylines that had different soundtracks for the particular model. Skylines weren't the only model offered, even the Nissan Laurel and Cedrics had their own songs. Speaking of Design wise, If you do some research on it, every Skyline from the first KPGC110 to C210 has a line on the rear quarter of the car that stretches back. It was called a surfline, a trademark design used on Skyline models till the KDR30 came along.. ( Where the mid 80's soap box designs started evolving, that caused the trademark surfline to be marked off) Sad isn't it? But oh well... Life goes on

C210 Skyline - I Heart JAPAN

It's been 2 month's since i've had my last post on the blog. Although I had plans to update it a little earlier last month, procrastination had my guard down. My designs kinda suck in these recent times probably because of my lack of practice and being a little bit more focused on SPM this year. Its not the lack of Inspiration or passion, but there's just some missing ingredient or link that ignites its spark. I guess the spark is misfiring and the ideas aren't igniting very well. Instead of getting the results i'd want, it turns out the opposite as i expect it to be and instead makes me uninspired. Of course I'll fix that somehow... The conclusion was about why I had decided to blog on this topic was the raging passion I have everyday for a c210 skyline and a license sometime soon (which my mom refuses to allow me to get a license till i'm 21, yes i know its horrendously ridiculous)

Gold is the new Black, 80's Colour Combo rocks. c210 Nissan Skyline 2000GT

Just so you're confused or aren't sure why i'm posting about old classic cars, check out a few posts back about the classic Mazda Rx-3 I blogged about. I am indeed a fan of classic cars. The c210 Skyline was a Nissan Skyline produced in 1978-1982, where it was the first Japanese car to offer a Turbo (early turbo's were quite inefficient because they weren't intercooled and had no blow off valves) and were offered in different bodyshells. Hardtop coupe, sedan and station wagon. It also offered different engines and trims :- 1800cc and 2400cc. And in turn, Nissan actually marketed them as Datsun 240k's and 180k's outside the Japanese market. Thus they sold it here in Malaysia too. It's just dissapointing that many people don't see the real value and Gem they are (many Malaysians would consider them as junk at the first glance due to many run down conditions, even I compromised its potential when i first saw it). Recently I had just made a compilation of c210 Skylines pictures on facebook, for Inspirations sake. By the way just so you're wondering why I added the I Heart JAPAN on the post, skylines were nicknamed according to their popularity from their ad's such as KGC110 - Hakosuka or C110 - Kenmeri (coupe), GC110 - Yonmeri(sedan) Therefore C210's was nicknamed JAPAN. The Japanese nickname their cars in their motoring sub cultures. (Example :- Toyota Corolla AE86 - Hachiroku.)

I am a fan of SKYLINE JAPAN! C210 Skylines a.k.a Datsun 180k rawks!

Here are my personal favourites, especially the blue one you see here.. in Daikoku Futo (the infamous complicated, facinating, strange, metropolitan, modern highway you see in Japan or Japanese games) oh! and wangan midnight if you're more familiar with. Pics adapted from 7tune. Speedhunters, abc hobby and some random ones.

Now check out the RC body for a c210!

Now on the other hand, apart from C210 Skylines, here are some of my artwork done recently. Although their not sketches * and this blog was meant for the sketches and designs, but i still consider these as my designs and works of art. Lol

Yup, thats for it, will be posting a c210 video soon :D