Caveat: Long-winded insight into the "Todd" design process.
Finally, for the first time since we actually started cutting and grinding metal on this car, I see what's in my head on the shop floor. I now get that "feeling", followed by an endless stream of creative ideas, every time I see it. That has been missing. Most of what I have been doing has been in search of that creative spark, not because of it. Thing that unlocked it? The roof.
It's really not the roof itself. It's everything. The roof makes all of the ideas come together. The radically chopped, pinched, and sectioned body; the bite-sized, tombstone-shaped firewall flowing into a classic model T cowl; the three-inch ride height, the exposed sidewinder ICE and electric powertrains - all those things are features.
Features are meant to complement
something - in this case a "car". It's the coupe thing -that's the "car" I was looking for. When I look at it now I see a little coupe - with all these features. Before I saw a bunch of features hanging out together, but with no real identity.
Imagine seeing a muscular, well-groomed man, with a thousand-dollar pair of shoes on his silk-socked feet, a perfectly pressed shirt, "power" tie, and a Rolex on his wrist - but with no suit pants or jacket!
That's what I saw when I looked at Schism. Impressive, but not quite ready for the red carpet. Now, it's like I see a guy in a suit, and start to notice all the impressive accoutrements that go with it.
(I didn't use the example of a woman with all the accessories and no dress, for obvious -male- reasons!
)
The beauty of following this long, crazy, design process is I have developed a more spohisticated little coupe than I ever imagined at the onset. It's sort of like the experimental, accidental, process through life that creates us. The intent is usually clear - to develop a "good" person. The journey to get there is fascinating...
