The portion of the spine that ran down the center of the rear glass was axed as well. “Strictly an issue of feasibility and form ability of the glass:’ says Daimler. The rest of the so-called boat-tail rear retains the look of the concept, but that disguise significant changes. The production car has a wider canopy with less severe tapering toward the back because federal side-impact requirements established the side-glass location relative to the occupants. In the concept, the glass would have been too close. The change was also a nod to ease of production, because of “depth of draw requirements” in shaping the rear-quarter sheet-metal. The Barns Custom City—style chop top was minimized and the roof raise a bit, says Daimler: “There’s no law as far as overall height of side windows. There is a down-angle sight requirement necessary for the car to be homologated in foreign markets, and the Crossfire does adhere to that specification.” Read more…
The job wasn’t as Herculean as it might have been in the past. Since Daimler bought Chrysler, there is a bit more discipline in Chrysler show- car design, he says, “with the anticipation that we may be given the green light for production and so it is. His production version, to most eyes, still retains the excitement of the original— this despite meeting all European and American regulations. Because there is a two-seat roadster chassis underneath, it was not difficult to get the proportions right on the production car. And much of the distinct detailing on the concept carries over to the production car, including the ribbed hood and the fender vents. Read more…
The Crossfire is especially interesting to retro-design buff Denies (his hobby is searching out “antique” modern furniture from the ‘60s) because like the 1995 Chrysler show car, the Atlantic, which captured the essence of prewar Bugatti and Talbot Lago coupes, the Crossfire was influenced by prewar aesthetics, especially that era of the ‘30s when the world’s automakers were going gaga over “aero’ The Crossfire’s detailing takes its inspiration from the art deco movement of the ‘20s and ‘30s, when the world fell in love with machines and elaborately finished metal became a decorative element. Denies saw the assignment as a challenge because the concept had been built “to evoke a strong, passionate, emotional response. We had to retain that. We want to polarize our audience—we want people to love it or hate it’. Read more…
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