Rolls-Royce achieves the impossible - and not in a good way

AnotherFairportfan · Post by **AnotherFairportfan** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:23 am

They have actually designed a concept car that is clearly intended to be a Rolls-Royce and is uglier than homemade sin on the other side of a mud fence.

This thing looks like the bastard child of FAB 1 and a Plymouth Prowler.

Jabberwonky · Post by **Jabberwonky** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:39 am

Ick...

Unless this thing flies and needs directional airfoils, I don't get it...

jwhouk · Post by **jwhouk** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:53 am

That sound you hear is Al wretching in the distance.

lake_wrangler · Post by **lake_wrangler** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:00 am

Ironically, they claim that they took some of their inspiration from pre-war models, where the wheels and fenders were separate from the body...

Apart from being ugly as sin, this thing also relies entirely on self-driving technology. Today's self-driving prototype cars still have steering wheels and pedals, in case something goes wrong and the computer decides to tell you: "here, you drive for now!" Not so for that "car" (and I use the word lightly...) as it has no hint of a steering wheel or pedals. Indeed, the seating is not set up for a driving position at all. It's just essentially a very comfortable couch for you to sit on.

I would not trust that if my life depended on it...

Post by **Dave** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:35 am

lake_wrangler wrote:Not so for that "car" (and I use the word lightly...) as it has no hint of a steering wheel or pedals. Indeed, the seating is not set up for a driving position at all. It's just essentially a very comfortable couch for you to sit on.

I would not trust that if my life depended on it...

Good point. You can never be certain whether "Eleanor" would be
capable of handling the situations which might arise.

lake_wrangler · Post by **lake_wrangler** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:41 am

Dave wrote:
lake_wrangler wrote:Not so for that "car" (and I use the word lightly...) as it has no hint of a steering wheel or pedals. Indeed, the seating is not set up for a driving position at all. It's just essentially a very comfortable couch for you to sit on.

I would not trust that if my life depended on it...
Good point. You can never be certain whether "Eleanor" would be
capable of handling the situations which might arise.

One can never be too careful...

GlytchMeister · Post by **GlytchMeister** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:55 am

Always have a manual override.

If a car doesn't have a way for me to tell it to shut up and let me drive, it's not a car. It's a deathtrap.

AmriloJim · Post by **AmriloJim** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:43 pm

You may not know if "Eleanor" is actually "Christine."

AnotherFairportfan · Post by **AnotherFairportfan** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:47 pm

Or whether "Eleanor" thinks she IS eleanor.

Post by **Dave** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:12 pm

AnotherFairportfan wrote:Or whether "Eleanor" thinks she IS eleanor.

She knows just who she is. She's Eleanor Rollsevelt.

(And before you hiss at me, AFF, please take into consideration the fact that some wag at Rolls-Royce must have intended that pun!)

TazManiac · Post by **TazManiac** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:23 pm

This isn't all that radical, it's evolutionary...

AmriloJim · Post by **AmriloJim** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:47 pm

Dave wrote:
AnotherFairportfan wrote:Or whether "Eleanor" thinks she IS eleanor.
She knows just who she is. She's Eleanor Rollsevelt.

(And before you hiss at me, AFF, please take into consideration the fact that some wag at Rolls-Royce must have intended that pun!)

They might not... "Eleanor" is named after Eleanor Velasco Thornton (1880-1915), an English actress and artist's model who was the model for the "flying lady" (aka "Spirit of Ecstasy") that has graced the bonnets of RRs since 1910.

GlytchMeister · Post by **GlytchMeister** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:28 pm

TazManiac wrote:This isn't all that radical, it's evolutionary...

[img]

Yeah, and how well did that car turn out?

It stayed airborne for what... A few seconds?

ShneekeyTheLost · Post by **ShneekeyTheLost** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:50 pm

AnotherFairportfan wrote:Or whether "Eleanor" thinks she IS eleanor.

Or Red Queen. Or GLaDOS...

Catawampus · Post by **Catawampus** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:57 pm

To be fair, it is a concept car. I believe that the idea of those is to show what can be done, not necessarily what will or even should be done.

Hansontoons · Post by **Hansontoons** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 10:41 pm

At first glance, my thought was fancy air car from Blade Runner movie.

Jabberwonky · Post by **Jabberwonky** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 1:38 am

Hansontoons wrote:At first glance, my thought was fancy air car from Blade Runner movie.

: blade-runner1.jpg (75.03 KiB) Viewed 10842 times

Spinners!

AnotherFairportfan · Post by **AnotherFairportfan** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 2:43 am

AmriloJim wrote:
Dave wrote:
AnotherFairportfan wrote:Or whether "Eleanor" thinks she IS eleanor.
She knows just who she is. She's Eleanor Rollsevelt.

(And before you hiss at me, AFF, please take into consideration the fact that some wag at Rolls-Royce must have intended that pun!)
They might not... "Eleanor" is named after Eleanor Velasco Thornton (1880-1915), an English actress and artist's model who was the model for the "flying lady" (aka "Spirit of Ecstasy") that has graced the bonnets of RRs since 1910.

I had read in an article manymany years ago (a history of the company in, i think, R&T) that she was the mistress of a wealthy fellow who bought a Rolls-Royce for her and had the bespoke coach-builder (Mulliner Park Warde, i think) put that replica of a sculpture of her he owned on the car, and R-R liked it and made it official.

If not true, i don't care.

Sort of like how the name "Mercedes" got applied to Daimler-Benz automobiles.

==============

Yep. From Wikipedia {note the caveat}:

t 22 she was the secretary of John Edward Scott-Montagu, who became the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu in 1905. She became his mistress and they had an illegitimate daughter, Joan Eleanor Thornton that she gave up for adoption. Thornton posed for sculptor Charles Sykes and may have been the model for his Spirit of Ecstasy, which is used as the bonnet/hood ornament on cars manufactured by Rolls-Royce, as well as a precursor sculpture, The Whisperer.

AnotherFairportfan · Post by **AnotherFairportfan** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 3:03 am

"The Whisperer", the sculpture referred to above:

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Rolls-Royce achieves the impossible - and not in a good way

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