Timeless Design | Cars That Will Transcend the Ages

Story by Dan Scanlan

 

Timeless: eternal, without beginning or end.

Design: to fashion artistically.

Combined, some great works come to mind–Michelangelo’s David, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, or Rodin’s The Thinker. But what about when such design is assigned to four wheels?

With this in mind, we gazed upon sculpted steel, aluminum and wood and sought out some automotive designers to seek answers.

We looked at Porsche 917s, Packards and Duesenbergs, Bandinis and Cisitalias; plus a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL; 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with Body by Touring and a Duesenberg Indy 500 race car.

Freeman Thomas, the man behind the VW Concept One that became the New Beetle, plus the Audi TT, Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Sling Shot concept, summed it up when he said, “Great design transcends age.” So let’s look at what might be timeless.

Jaguar certainly had some stunning lookers–the liquid mercury shapes of various E- and D-types, and the brutal-yet-sleek 1966 XJ13 mid-engine racer.

But there was simplicity of design in an alloy-bodied 1949 XK120, Jaguar’s first post-World War II sports car. It wears slim bumpers fore and aft, the elegant faired-in bullet headlights of period Jags flanking a tall, slim grill with stunning curves everywhere. There are no exterior door handles on the curvaceous shape, while this racer wears tiny fold-down Brooklands screens.

Tom Korneli of West Bend, Wisconsin, owned one. He says this is a timeless shape, born 72 years ago.

“Absolutely. When you compare it to what came before this, which would have been the SS100. Put them side by side, and it is like the Jetsons. This was really a step forward,” he said.

One of two exported for racing in Argentina, where it stayed for almost 60 years, it must have been a sensation when it arrived, said its owner.

“You can imagine how blown away they must have been down there when they first saw this car come off the ship,” Korneli said. “They had a lot of stuff down there. They were running a lot of Bugattis; it was very European in Argentina, so they had a lot of state-of-the-art stuff. But this having the history of the Jabbeke Run as the world’s fastest production car [May 1949 126.448 mph run in Belgium], it probably meant a lot down there. And it has such smooth flowing lines, although it was raced so the (rear wheel) spats are off of it.”

An expert’s take on timeless design:
“Edited simple lines” make a timeless design, said Freeman Thomas, also Ford’s Director of Strategic Design for Lincoln-Mercury and Chrysler's Pacifica Advanced Design Center.

“I look at it that those lines say something. A great example of a timeless design is something like an Austin-Healey 100, where it has a silhouette that suggests a gesture, and all the lines in it are minimalist. It has one swage line and the sill line sweeping up to support that gesture and gives it attitude,” Thomas said. “It is something that transcends every age group. I also think timeless design is one in harmony with its engineering, that doesn’t over-promise or absolutely over-deliver. I love simple, edited designs.”

Another timeless design was a sensuously curved long-tailed car that glinted in the sun, its long rear fenders and streamlined shape combined to look like a statue of a beautiful figure reclining on green velvet.

Alas, the 1949 Norman Timbs Special was destroyed in a massive wildfire that ravaged owner Gary Cerveny's part of California in November 2018, along with his collection. But while the Timbs Special became a melted body over the frame, Cerveny said he will rebuild the special in the next few years.    

But a few years ago, we walked around its tapered shape dome, built 71 years ago by a man who made Indy 500 racers. Ultimately abandoned in a desert, all 17.5 feet were restored by Cerveny almost a decade ago.

Its stunningly softy curved nose wears a Cisitalia-shaped grill and slim bumper that goes around the wide-spaced headlights. The color was a plum-brown metallic that just inhaled the morning sun when we saw it, while the cab-forward cockpit’s engine-turned dashboard and simple tan leather interior were perfect counterpoints, a brown Bakelite knob on the black steering column; simple accents to befit a flowing road queen.

A MotorTrend magazine cover car, the shape was influenced by the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz Avus streamliners of 15 years prior. But a man who designed Indy roadsters, works of art themselves, apparently wanted something that flowed down the road, said Cerveny at its 2012 premier at The Amelia.

“It uses some influences from pre-World War II cars like the Auto Union streamliners cars. Of course, there was Norman’s own design, his wind tunnel testing, his Indy car designs he had done through the '40s and '50s,” Cerveny said. “I think the design really fits today. A lot of people think it is almost a new car. They don’t realize it is a 60-plus-year-old car.”

At that point, some passing person called the special “bitchin.” But the original MotorTrend article jokes that this little workbench project cost Timbs two and a half years and about $10,000 of his spare time right after World War II. It also says some claimed the 2300-pound roadster looked like a turtle or a whale.

What it looked like when found in a desert junkyard and put on auction by Barrett-Jackson in 2002 was a bare aluminum, slightly dented, almost complete wreck, its nose crushed too, grill rusty but intact and tail hiding a custom tube frame and Buick straight-eight.

“I actually thought we could do it in two years. [The restoration] ended up taking seven years and four months and about 5500 hours of labor alone,” Cerveny said. “We were very fortunate that all of the original drivetrain and linkages were in the car. We were not fortunate in the fact that part of the windshield brackets and all of the instrumentation, dash panel and steering wheel, all of the hubcaps and front bumper were missing.”

Cerveny wasn’t really looking to buy it at the auction at the Petersen Museum. He put in a few low bids to get it moved so they would get to a car he really wanted, then bought it at $17,200. Then he learned what he had bought.

“Norman Timbs does not get the credit he should. His design cars have won more Indianapolis races than any other designer,” Cerveny said. “He originally worked for Tucker and was on the original Torpedo design crew. He was an amazing man.”

Learning that as they took the car apart made Cerveny decide to fully restore the long-legged one-off. It was finished a week before Amelia, so desired at the concours that event founder Bill Warner made it 2012’s year’s mystery car, teasing visitors to the Amelia website with an alluring photo of the body shell.

Cerveny, though, left the piece de la resistance for the end. As the 47-inch-tall car silently flowed up for its RM Auctions Best Open Car award, he triggered a switch and quietly opened the long rear deck to reveal the Buick Straight-Eight, good, we are told, for an honest 120-mph. It was much appreciated.

“People keep thinking its European. They see some Auto Union or Alfa Romeo,” he said. “But most people really have no idea what it is. It really surprises people when they see it, particularly when the rear two-thirds of the car hydraulically lifts in the air to expose the engine, fuel tank and spare tire, they are truly blown away.”

An expert’s take on timeless design:
“I don’t think you can tell until the time has gone by,” said Peter Brock, the man behind the original 1957 design sketch that became the 1963 Vette, Ford Shelby GT350 details, and ultimately the World Championship-winning Daytona Cobra Coupe.

“The only way history really proves out is when you have hindsight. You always have people who are visionaries, and they are usually ridiculed and howled out. But in the end, if the design succeeds over a long period of time, both practically and aesthetically, then it works,” Brock said. 

“There was a lot of controversy over that [Sting Ray design] car, not as much as we had over the Daytona. But interestingly enough, the stuff I used on the Daytona aerodynamically, I showed that to [GM Design VP] Bill Mitchell thinking there’s a couple of good ideas here we might use. He said ‘Oh, I can’t stand that stuff here, kid. Let me design the Corvettes. I’ll tell you what to do.’”

Brock, lead judge at Amelia and regular writer for Classic Motorsports admits the ’63 Sting Ray is now a timeless design, its sculpted aesthetics “still work great,” although some of the coupe’s practical parts don’t. He also designed the Nethercutt Mirage sports racer, De Tomaso P70 Can Am racer and BRE Hino Samurai GT.

Mercedes-Benz 540Ks routinely win Best in Show. But one 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster is unique, and not just due to the special flow of its fenders or creamy silver paint. 

This one’s longer tail sleekly completes the polished steel-edged fenders’ curves. One of only three with a covered spare tire, the extra bodywork at the tail allowed it to have a more natural flow to the creamy silver lines, one of which ends in a boot lid handle after running down a polished steel central spine that just accentuates the tail’s sleekness. Its first owner was Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

It is timeless because it is the “end of an era,” since Germany marched off to war by 1939, said Sam Mann, who once owned it.

“Mercedes built the most extraordinary engines, and the bodies that Sindelfingen had prepared for them always had something special and elegant in their presentation and design,” Mann said. “The length of the cars, the length of the hood and the flow of these one-piece fenders is something rarely, rarely seen in any other automobile.”

With a supercharged 5.4-liter inline eight-cylinder engine behind the imposing grill nestled between the beautiful front wings, a mother-of-pearl ivory-accented dashboard and long rear-hinged door, it was as long and lean as they came in 1937. 

One polished steel spear runs along the beltline, while three steel-accented vents run along the long bonnet’s sides, with supercharger pipes to give it some muscle.

“There were only three of these made with the covered spare. Customarily, the spares were revealed and they were usually stacked two atop each other, which for some reason made them cut the rear end very straight, as if they took a knife and sliced it,” Mann said. “The consequence of which was that it didn’t have this kind of flow. We were very lucky to find this car.”

An expert’s take on timeless design:
“The cars that make real timeless designs are very clean, very simple design statements with great proportions,” said Ed Welburn, retired VP of Global Design for GM, responsible for the Oldsmobile Aerotech speed record car, Oldsmobile Antares concept and Intrigue sedan, Chevrolet SSR hot rod trucklet and Bel Air concept, and GM AUTOnomy and Hy-wire fuel cell concepts.

“Certain cars do that well, and are timeless. Some cars are very strong and have great designs, but they are just kind of a period design and their shelf life may not be as long,” said Welburn. “I just met a student who has a ’65 Corvair. That is a very timeless design. It is very clean and looks good today, it really does.”

Italian cars are often seen as classic beauties.

A 1964 Ferrari 250GT Lusso or 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series I are beautiful. But a poster boy for what I think a timeless Ferrari should look like is the 1955 410 CM Sport owned by Roger Willbanks when we saw it.

Its wide-mouthed grille is flanked by scalloped headlights, with a streamlined hood scoop atop the curved bonnet, and a headrest fairing for the driver. Called Enzo’s first supercar, that long bonnet hides a 4.9-liter, 24-plug, four-distributor V12 with huge vents along the fender’s back ends and 400 horsepower.

Willbanks called this timeless because it has the “general Ferrari line,” but “muscular,” befitting a supercar.

“For example, this is the only Ferrari of its day where the hood goes over the fenders and latches on the outside of the fenders. It wasn’t just a design feature. It was so you could get to all the spark plugs on this big engine,” he said. “It just has strength in addition to beauty. Some of the other great Ferraris of similar vintage are actually a little delicate compared to this car. Park it beside a 250 Testa Rossa that’s also a 12-cylinder car…an important car and one of the most beautiful Ferraris ever built. But its looks are not quite up to this car. It doesn’t have the muscle. This one is sitting on its haunches, ready to go.”

Designed specifically for Juan Manuel Fangio, he didn’t drive it. Enter Carroll Shelby, who took over the stallion with the Mobil gasoline flying horse on the fairing and won the 1956 (his first) championship in it, plus a second place at the 1957 Cuban Grand Prix. Years later, Shelby added his thoughts on the car when he signed the gas tank.

“He said, ‘Do you mind if I add something else,’ and I said of course. That’s what he did,” Willbanks said, reciting what Ol’ Shel wrote. “‘Mr. Ferrari told me this was the best car he ever built!’ So that’s a pretty good recommendation for this car.”

“This remained a competitive car for years, when most race cars were good their first year,” Willbanks added. “This one was winning races until it was getting a little long in tooth for a race car.”

An expert’s take on timeless design:
“There are three things that support good design. One is the package; another is the styling. The last remaining part of this three-legged milking stool, if you will, is proportion,” said Joseph Dehner, former head of the Ram and Dodge Design Office and a Chrysler design veteran with the Crossfire and Airflyte concept under his wing.

“It all starts with proportion. If you get the proportion down, you are 80 percent of the way there,” he said. “Once you have the proportion, you have to establish the package; where the engine sits, where the people sit, is there storage area. I hate to say it, but the styling part is the last remaining bit that only will complement the good proportions.”

Dehner said this standing next to the Dodge Zeo Concept, a 4-passenger electric sport wagon with wide, low and very sporty proportions. But he said some of the best classic timeless designs usually have some “pretty heroic proportions, and the wheels are at the corners.”

Then there’s French coachwork, specifically the “Goutte d’Eau,” or teardrop shapes done by Giuseppe Figoni and Ovidio Falaschi. Oscar Davis had one, a true blue 1938 Talbot Lago T150C SS Teardrop done in gorgeous eggplant–this is timeless, he said.

“Absolutely. The few that are in existence, each one is slightly different. Plus, we feel that this one is the only car that ran Le Mans just the way this is,” he said. “I have pictures of the ’39 Le Mans. It ran eight hours, then unfortunately it conked out.”

The Talbot teardrop’s race evaporated on lap 88 of the last Le Mans before World War II. Ordered by Duke Philippe de Massa specifically to run Le Mans, its aluminum body is a bit longer and lower for racing, although there is a sunroof as well as a rear window that pops up for ventilation at speed.

If it hadn’t been for Mann sitting next to him at an auction some years ago, it might not have been his, said Davis.

“I’ve never been a Talbot collector, since I have mostly been involved with Bugattis. I’ve known about the Talbot and the teardrops and some of the general history,” Davis said. “The car is being bid up and it hit about $3.5 million. Sam nudges me and says ‘Oscar, why don’t you give it a shot?’ which I did. And once you get started, you don’t stop.”

Here was a car devoid of a straight line anywhere. Launched in the mid-’30s on a Delahaye, Figoni’s teardrop shaped coachwork usually began with rounder fenders framing a nose and grill like the finest Grand Prix Alfas of the age, some with headlights under their own faired-in grille work.

The roofline fastbacked to a pointed tail, while the flowing rear fenders had polished steel spats that streamlined aft to add their point to the other sharp-pointed design accents.

“It’s been a fabulous car,” Davis said.

Even the side windows have a teardrop shape that flows with the roof line and the descending fender lines.

An expert’s take on timeless design:
“That’s really a tough question. But I guess a timeless design as much as anything would be a Ford GT40,” said Motorsports Hall of Fame member and Formula 5000 champion Brian Redman.

“It had such a great history, both the American Fords winning Le Mans in 1966 and 1967, then the John Wyer cars with the MK I in 1968 and 1969,” Redman said. “Ford made the GT as a road car after that, so that perhaps as much as anything is a timeless design.”

The GT40 was already on a shortlist of possibilities. A brutal looker, with a mean glare and a wide stance that takes no prisoners, it can be considered timeless because its shape has lived on in countless replicas as well as Ford’s own 2006 GT, and its current version, sharing the shape and mid-engine placement.

But one GT40 was even more special, helmed by Graham Hill, and one of five very rare Alan Mann lightweights. Restored by Mark Allin, this 1966 Ford GT40 MK II A was built on a MK I chassis with a unique alloy body, narrower roof, and side scoops on the flat side bodywork.

“It was the beginning of a particular style of race car, and it has a place in the heart of every person who remembers that era of racing,” said Allin. “It is just a design that has stood the test of time. If you look at cars like a McLaren F1 or any of the modern supercars, you can sort of see the GT40 shape in all of those.”

All five of those Mann lightweights were designed to hold a small block Ford V8, but at the 1966 Le Mans trials, that team’s drivers who tested the MKII’s 7-liter V-8 liked it better.

“So they petitioned Le Mans officials to allow them to change their entries from the 4.9-liter to the 7-liter cars and sent the three unbuilt chassis they still had to Shelby American to be converted,” Allin said.

As for the part of his car’s design he likes the best, Allin said the racer’s tech hits the spot.

“I love the mid-engine sports racer that it is. GT40s in particular [of GT racers] in that era used all the cutting-edge technology. Everything on this car was the height of technology in 1966,” he said.

So, does technology birth design, or is it all in the eye of the beholder, or designer?

We guess we all find beauty wherever we go.

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