Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
Well being as how I'm a lot like you, I couldn't resist playing with the design hehe. I took what you did and made some adjustments (I lied about not changing anything lol). Here you can see yours on the left and my version-in-progress on the right.
The changes I made and why are as follows:
You made the upper grill even lower on the car than I had and it was already pretty low; not sure the hood line would clear all the hardware underneath so I kept it the same height as I already had.
I put an actual insert inside the upper grill which you can barely see as a gray line which defines the intake opening. I also came up with an idea to incorporate the amber parking/turn signal lights with the LEDs you'd designed.
I couldn't figure out how to get the LED headlights you designed to look good so I came up with a variation. I decided to reference them to the upper grill line instead of the lower line the way you had. I'm also not sure if what you designed would even be a legal headlight so what I've done is more likely to work legally.
I fixed the license plate size and dimension. I went out and measured mine and it's 6" tall x 12" wide so I fixed the ratio.
I looked at what you did for the LED fog/DRL lights and I realized there was a structural issue. The entire lower rocker panel/splitter is a bolt-on piece and with your design it would leave those small struts separating the cutout with the main cutout completely unsupported. I reduced the height of the cutouts so there's some supporting material underneath and someplace to bolt the splitter to.
I didn't cut into the very bottom bevel with the main lower cutout the way you did. I left it the same height all the way across for structural strength; at 100+ mph there might be issues with that section deforming if it's too thin.
I also haven't done anything yet with the hood or roof the way you have, although I did widen the hood bulge and reduced the height slightly.
Attachment 556738
The differences are subtle but it still basically looks like your idea. The difference in ground height on mine is this is the Base model which is not lowered like the Z/28. The tires are also not quite as wide.
This front design is really nice looking; much more of a current style than what I'd done originally. It's also an evolution from the 2014 refresh front and I like this MUCH better... it has more style and pizazz.
Thanks for posting your idea...GREAT contribution!!!  |
Thanks, and no problem...It's your car, tweak away!
Couple clarifications:
-The upper grille should still fit, just lower the hardware slightly.
Seriously though, in this view you can't see the dimension that shows how much the nose extends forward. It would be 'slightly' longer than yours and come further forward in the middle (again... I emphasize 'slightly'), and of course the slope of the fenders would be a slight bit different so it would all come together properly. That would give it a little more clearance. It does seem doable to me, and there are many longitudinal front engine V8 cars with lower profiles than this. I do think it looks much sleeker and meaner with the lower position, but I'm all about being realistic and of course, it's a few pixels on a screen so I could be wrong.
-The intake insert is a good idea. It's one of many details I would have added had I not decided to call it 'good enough for now'.
I think your LED to turn signal transition is good, I wanted to play with that more.
-The actual headlights aren't visible in the pic, the white lines are either color or chrome accents, or LED accents (I hadn't decided). I think they look good and also look proper referenced to the lower edge, but that's JMHO. The actual headlights are a projector style HID with a completely flat black housing and sunken in a bit, similar to this but without the silver ring (or the JDM yO badassness).
http://www.carpart4u.com/product/198...our-Cars-.html
From what little I've researched, this style can be legal if done right and by a manufacturer, and will output more than enough light in the proper pattern for both highs and lows.
They would be visible in real life, but very subdued (when off). I didn't work that in because I'd have had to spend more time thinking and trial-and-error'ing. It's yet one more detail that I had to short-change.
-I did notice the license plate size error, I just spent all my time elsewhere.
On that note, I removed the license plate early on and noticed that the space between the lower and upper grilles looked way too large, which the license plate hid, even with my taller lower grille. That is another small reason for lowering the upper grille and raising the lower grille edge, I think it looked kind-of SUV-ish without the license plate. I did plan on leaving it on in the final version, but wanted to see what it looked like without it.
-I visualized the lower edge of the fascia as having a slightly recessed vertical lip dropping down further than the part you can see, that the GFX/splitter piece bolts onto (from the rear). That lip continues across the bottom of the holes for the side vents and is where part of the LED (and not-visible plastic duct) are mounted to. I don't know if you've seen an IROC-Z bumper without the GFX, but very similar to that, except that one spans the whole distance of the lower grille. I played with many variations of the side vents including the one that you changed it to, but the one I ended up with looks the best by far to me.
This is one bit of design that I don't think we'll see, the simple GFX style has exited stage right in favor of more integrated and stylized fascias. That's unfortunate because I think it can still look great, as demonstrated here.
-With the lower cutout I was thinking of the ZL1 and how thin its edge is. I was also thinking that the simple lower grille that I hadn't designed yet would help support it. I might not have that to scale, though, so it may be too thin anyway.
-I think the roof humps are essential to the styling, but that's admittedly subjective. If you notice, rather than lower the middle section, I raised the outer sections, which would also give a 'slight' bit more headroom (which is the function that started that style way back anyway). Also, I believe that the roof ditch needs to be there because it's an efficient method of construction nowadays, pretty much across the board. I don't think we'll see one-piece roof and B-pillars anymore, at least not any time soon.
-I widened the visual part of the A-pillars slightly because I think that area would have reduced visibility anyway because of mandatory A-pillar airbags and stronger structure in these current times. Not as artificially wide (for style) as the 5thgen, granted, but moreso than your original.
-I left the height of the hood scoop alone, I actually just lowered the hood around the scoop to give the hood some definition and a visually more aggressive profile, without going too far into the engine bay (I think... I've seen "worse", look at the C7). It comes back up where the hood meets the fenders. With the usual lip around the hood I don't think this would cause any issues, and has, by far, the cleanest look to it vs. coming up anywhere else. This also gives it more muscular looking fenders. To my eye the flat hood (except scoop) looks rather boring. I know you said you weren't done with the above areas, I just thought it worth explaining anyway.
...ARGHHHHH. I had more typed but it got lost when the post didn't get through. Fortunately I had saved this much. It's too late now to remember what I wrote, I'll try later. G'night for now!