I've just returned from the small town of Auburn, Indiana, where my grandfather, Gordon Buehrig (who died in 1990) worked as a car designer in the 1930s. He worked on the Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg lines, developing the body surfaces for the entire Duesenberg J line (driven by Gary Cooper and others of that ilk), the Auburn Speedster, and, especially, the renowned Cord 810/812 (the first production automobile with front wheel drive and the first car anywhere with retractable headlights) which has been credited as the genesis of "modern" automobile design and recognized by art critics and by museum exhibitions as one of the greatest and most important cars ever built. All these cars were built and sold in Auburn, and I go there every Labor Day weekend with my family to attend the annual Classic Car Festival, in which hundreds of owners of restored Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs from all over the world participate in a parade of classic cars and a competition in which their painstaking restorations are recognized and honored.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg factory and showroom building (which is part of the national register of historical landmarks) has been turned into a classic car museum, and the museum (which stands on a street that has been renamed after my grandfather) received a grant last year from the Alcoa Corporation to create a special gallery honoring Gordon Buehrig and his contribution to the history of automobile design. This past weekend, the new gallery was formally opened: it features several of his most famous cars as well as his original drafting tools and other mementos from his work there. I created an exhibition for this new gallery, featuring a digital animation of the design of the Cord 810. I met with the museum directors last Labor Day to officially propose the project, and I've been laboring frantically over the past few months building a detailed digital model of the car, which is one of two reasons I've been absent from Horrorthon for so long. (The other is a book deadline, which is another headache.)
Here's an article in the Auburn local newspaper about last weekend's gallery opening. Here's my animated presentation for the gallery (which is very much a work in progress and will expand a great deal over the months to come, now that the hard part -- the car model -- is complete). Here are some higher-resolution renderings of my Cord model and here are some photos from last year's Labor Day ACD festival.
Anyway, hi everyone.
16 comments:
Wow, welcome back, Jordan, what a terrific update!
I never knew that your grandfather was such an important innovator in car design – I guess it stands to reason that you've inherited his talent. I think it’s cool that his grandson is modernizing his invention with cyber tools. I’m also impressed with the article and picture of you giving the presentation, no social phobia, huh? I want to watch your animation but of course I’m at work and the stupid hospital security measures prevent me from doing so. Thanks for the thoughtful update – we’re all glad you’re still alive =)
When do you expect your book to be published?
That is all very, very cool!
I too will have to wait until I get home to watch - really looking forward to it!
great project jordan! good to have you back again.
Aw. I love the end of the animation.
Nothing like a surprise Jordan post to kickstart the day. Can't wait to check out the animation later. I had a feeling you were cooking up some cool shit..
Thanks all. I stress that the animation is NOT FINISHED. (I feel like David Byrne: "You can't see it 'till it's finished!")
I've never appreciated my grandfather as much as I did over the last two months. As I told a few people in Auburn, he designed the Cord with clay, paper and india ink; I followed him along every curve with a $4000 computer and I could barely keep up.
It was amazing to stand in the museum and be looking at a real cord after so many hours with the digital model. I felt like I was tripping. "It's REAL!" I took a billion new reference photos to fix the errors in my model. (I was working from photos but mainly from my grandfather's schematic drawings.) It was an unbelievably difficult CGI training course because I absolutely HAD to get it right; if the model wasn't accurate, all those car maniacs would catch it.
I sent this to octopunk a couple of weeks ago:
Jordan's top 5 CGI "raves" and "rants"
"Raves":
1. No art supplies.
2. Things stay in midair.
3. Making the outside before making the inside.
4. Change wood to glass to pewter to water.
5. "Duplicate" command.
"Rants":
1. Rendering times.
2. Misleading reference photos.
3. Soft edges.
4. Selecting points by hand.
5. Sitting there stumped.
Jordan those detailed pictures are so friggin' amazing. That's so cool that you can pay this incredible tribute to your grandfather like that. If he were alive I'm sure he'd be very proud (though probably baffled by the technology due to his elderly state of mind).
Meanwhile our great-grandfather started out as a bootlegger during prohibtion. He opened up Calamari's Tavern in Deep River CT when the prohibition ended and this year is the 75th anniversary! I like to think I pay tribute to him by drinking obscene amounts of alcohol.
Thanks, Johnny. I agree: he would have trouble understanding it. Even my Dad has trouble; he's very nice about it but he doesn't seem to understand the concept of a "digital model" (as distinct from the animation and/or rendering files he sees).
I have this anxiety that everyone's just being nice about the animation because, to me, it looks woefully incomplete. I had to do the rendering very fast and the whole presentation is very terse, since (especially for that fake courtyard with its overcast light) it was taking something like eight minutes a frame to render.
Wow! That is all very awesome, Jordon! I agree with Julie, I love the end of the animation.
JPX, you've been telling me for two years that we would go to Calamari's Tavern. I think it is time to stop in. I'll make you do some tequila shots.
Damn, Jordan, that animation is fantastic! Having no discernible talent myself, I'm just in awe!
Awe I tells ya!
I finally got to watch this and it is amazing! A great tribute Jordan, nicely done.
Thanks!
The reason I'm fretting over the animation is because I'm picturing the newer version I'm going to make next month, wherein I actually SHOW how the "styling bridge" works, and how you design a car.
My goal is to have kids coming through the museum suddenly deciding they want to be car designers and asking their parents for paper, pens and clay!
Paper, pens and clay -- yes!
I've gotten to see a lot of the steps while this project was in gear, and it's been very fun. Still the animation blew me away. I hadn't seen any of the exploded view, nor had I seen that great picture of Li'l Jordan.
Great stuff, dude. Really top-notch. Your eye for detail and your dogged enthusiasm to get it right has really paid off.
I really admire the string of talent that obviously runs from your Grandfather directly to you.
I sell to the auto industry, and am always amazed what a group of men only two generations ago gave us. What really gets me is how you can see lines in the car your grandfather designed in almost every car on the road today. You and he should both be very proud, bravo!
I watched the animation last night and was utterly blown away. I can't think of any praises that haven't already been offered here but goddamn, Jordan!
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