The 7 series BMW on the other hand is a masterpiece! The reason why the design is so upsetting to most people is the break away from BMW’s very conservative linear design evolution that had reached a dead end anyway. The 7 also finally had enough presence to take on the S-Class. I personally think that the Bangle butt is one of the fine features of the 7 series and so do many newer luxury car makers that have copied it in their own way.

Unfortunately, the new design language works when it is unadulterated and the BMW board’s cold feet are spoiling the show. The face-lifted 7 series, the 5 and 3 series do not come out as successfully as the 7.

The Mini is fine, the Ferrari F430 is okay. I have yet to see something from Frank that will put him in the league of great designers.

If Frank Stephenson, Freeman Thomas and Adrian Van Hooydonk are looking in then this may interest them,,,,,,If anyone could also link the above to a mixed-race American, around New York way with the name of Andrew, slightly camp, in the fashion design field…..I would love to hear what his surname is…….I’ll reveil all after I hear his name!

plonker2@go4.it

I didn't think the AMI/8 was that bad, just Frence. Duex Chevaux & Mehari (2CV) are the coolest.

I'll leave the Bangle stuff for others.

…RB

He's also the one that has to take final responsibility for the work.

Ciao.

Seriously though great insight!

Issignonis was quite a remarkable auto engineer that could truly think outside of the box. He had some radical ideas. For example he believed that interior ammeneties such as comfortable seats and radios would distract the driver from its duty of 'driving'. He never wore seatbelts because he claimed that “It is much easier to drive without having an accident.”

On a 1979 Autocar interview, Issigonis predicted the demise of the “Barbaric gearstick” in favor of not just automatic but “gearless” transmission Minis. Little did he know back then that the 2002 successor of his 1959-2000 vintage Mini would offer a gearless CVT transmission.

Very radical guy, but indeed he was a genius way ahead of his time. He hated it all things “Big” (He disliked the majority of American cars of the time calling them a total waste of metal) and had a fond dislike for mathematics which he called the “Enemy of every truly creative man”.

Frank Stephenson is the equivalent of Alec Issigonis but in terms of brilliant auto designers. Remember that Stephenson is not an automotive engineer in the same level as Issigonis was.

Frank Stephenson is what BMW/MINI needs right now. Bangle is a disaster and will eventually drive BMW to the ground with its controversial and Pontiacesque designs (Ironically some new Pontiac designs like the G6 sedan and Solstice and looking much better than most of Bangle's recent design efforts…. The tables have turned) that are doing nothing but destroying the brand.

Just imagine the kind of cars designed and produced if Stephenson were at the helm of BMW.

Can't wait for Bangle to either retire, get fired or resign in the near future.

      BCNU,
   Rob in Dago

But I do wish Stephenson was back still designing the MINI, if anything, due to the changes in the '05 version. (Let's not re-hash that topic, you can only beat a dead horse so much.) And wow, that F430 is quite a, dare I say, sexy looking car.

As for the Lone Island School Of Design, Frank Stephenson is in fine company! Remember, a team was very much involved in the original Mini design project, but if you look at Issigonis' original tablecloth concept sketches, you can see his vision was enforced to a high degree on the finished product. Very few great designs are commitee projects anyway – they are mostly the singular vision of one powerfully influential individual.

Sir William Lyons was famous for his input on every aspect of Jaguars, even to tweeking an almost finished styling to fit his concept of a “right” look. Bruno Sacco's tenure at Daimler-Benz produced instantly recognizable products of one man's vision, and most of the famous Italian Carrozerias reflected quite sharply their individualist Padrone's sometimes….eclectic, let's say, concetti.

Sadly, no design proccess is without it's low points. Pity the poor Frenchman who hallucinated the Ami 8, or the obvious hodgepodge of the (quick, shield your eyes!) Pontiac Aztek, two cars which will always have first place in the Butt-Ugly Hall Of Shame.

Frank Stephenson had the right stuff, and the courage of his convictions, to walk that fine line between selling just an anonymous “product”, or giving in to an excessive, un-saleable eyesore, and managed to create someting that will be recognized for ever after as a hallmark of its kind. Issigonis and Da Vinci have passed the torch, and Stephenson has made a fast start on his hopefully long run of creating beautiful objects of desire that are eminently satisfying motor cars, as well.

   BCNU,
 Rob in Dago