Vettes 4 Sale

 

A quick explanation about the auction process via my dad:

"When a car doesn’t reach the reserve amount set by the owner during the few minutes on the auction floor, then they move it outside a put a sticker on it showing the last bid, that way if someone wants to raise the bid they can.  So the price on the window can be called the “Won’t Sell for this amount” od dollars.

 

Now all corvettes have a value, but if the car is rare it has a higher value and if it has a story it is real high.

 

Anybody what to raise the bid?"

"And a Pedigree Car well, this one was bid up to $985,000.

It did not Sell.

The Reserve was set at $1,300,000."

Color Marketing Group

Wednesday, after presenting to the College of Textiles S.T.E.P. students, I took off for Washington DC to visit Color Marketing Group.  I spent a half day on Thursday at their executive office in Alexandria searching through their archival color trend forecasts.  

Color Marketing Group is a nonprofit organization whose goals are to connect color experts from a variety of industries in order to develop current and forecasted color directions.  CMG members are Color Designers involved in the use of color as it applies to the profitable marketing of goods and services.  CMG provides a forum for the exchange of non-competitive information relating to all phases of color marketing: color trends and combinations; design influences; merchandising and sales; and education and industry contacts.

CMG's major focus is to identify the direction of color and design trends.  CMG members then interpret that information into salable colors for manufactured products across all industries.  CMG's primary forecasting opportunities are in the form of Conferences held twice annually, during which CMG members forecast Color Directions(R) for all industries, manufactured products or services.  These Consumer and Contract products include: Action/Recreation, Consumer Goods, Technology, Home, Visual Communications, Transportation, Juvenile Products, Fashion, and environments for Office, Health Care, Retail, Hospitality/Entertainment and Institutional/Public Spaces.  Major presentations, panels and Workshops are held at these Conferences to exchange information on color, marketing and design issues.

This information and more can be found on the CMG Website!

Thanks to my wonderful hosts!

www.colormarketing.org

Bloomington Gold Auction

So my dad's spending the weekend with the likes of Jay Leno and Reggie Jackson and over 5000 Corvettes at the Bloomington Gold Auction in St. Charles, Illinois.  I've asked him to take pictures for me and will hopefully posts some of those.  But the reason for posting now is to encourage you to watch the auction live!  Its available on a variety of cable stations and in a live webcast.  

Check it out at: www.mecum.com

Look for my dad in a light blue shirt and Corvette hat :)

"America's Original Corvette Show"

Eyes on Detroit Design

Michiganites!

This FRIDAY, June 19 from 9pm-12pm, the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology presents Eyes on Detroit Design at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, MI.

"Eve of Eyes Designers Night"- an informal gathering of designers, engineers, marketers, car and product enthusiasts.

Join an international crowd of creative Designers for a charitable evening featuring Detroit Fashion, Cars, Music, 3D Visualization and Product Innovation.  The promotion of Design Sustainability and the importance it has on environment and future product development.

Take Part in an International Networking Platform with industry leaders over food, cocktails and entertainment!

Events Include:

Detroit Design Showcase & Networking

Indoor festivities with strolling hors d-oeuvres, micro brews from the Rochester Mills, cocktails and music from local Detroit DJ's will fill the museum while you network with people from all design industries.  Presentations from top designers product introductions, design competitions and head-to-head Sketch Off competition, are among the events of the evening.

6pm-9pm

Live Entertainment and After-Hours Party

As the Night time rolls in, so does the party!  Experience the Live performance of Detroit's own Midtown Underground and local DJ's.  Enjoy 3 levels of entertaining including VIP area with Cocktails and more!

9pm-12am

A Special Lifetime Achievement Award...

...to be presented to Willie G. Davidson (of Harley-Davidson)

Eyes on Design Automotive Design Show

2009: The Art of Automobile Advertising & Design

Sunday, June 21st at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Point Shores, MI

www.eyesondesigncarshow.com

Tickets

Tickets are only $25 for Students and $40 for General Admission.  

Both include food and drink until 9pm and thereafter a cash bar.

$100 for VIP Lounge, Cocktails and Networking and includes all food and bars until 12am.

Sponsors

Automotive Textile Solutions, datacolor, Autodesk, DetroitCity.com, Johnson Controls, Honda, Toyota, Audi, The Chrysler Foundation, cardesignnews, Benecke-Kauko, Human Solutions, Bridgestone, RTT, RLE, realfocus, Madge, PDX and grrlDog design

All of today's content is directly from the Eyes on Detroit Design website: www.eyesondetroitdesign.com

Be sure to check it out!

I'm certainly bummed that I won't be able to attend...so if you're in the area, please go and tell me all about it!  Stephanie Rodgers of Automotive Textile Solutions even mentioned that MY WORK will be shown during the celebration!  Cool, huh?!

Fast Lane Classic Cars

St. Charles, Missouri is home of Fast Lane Classic Cars Inc.  This extraordinary garage house over 180 of the most beautiful classic vehicles still around.  They only buy cars that are in pristine condition, many with all original parts.  Cars range from a 1931 Studebaker at $38,995, to a 2008 Porshe Boxster Convertible at $35,995 (one of the least expensive vehicles on the lot).  The highest price tags seem to be the 2005 Ferrari F430 Coupe at $149,995 the 2005 Ford GT at $159,995, the 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Special at $199,995.  Some of my favorites included the red 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster at $74,995, and the yellow 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster at $53,995 (with many upgrades and few original parts....but who could pass on this color).  More favorites included the 1948 Indian Chief Vintage Motorcycle at $29,995, the 1953 Oldsmobile Super 88 Convertible at $57,995, the 1956 Ford Parklane Station Wagon w/Matching Teardrop Camper Trailer at $42,995, the 2 1970 Plymouth Cuda Hemis at  blue $63,995 and red $79,995.  

Details for the vehicles mentioned above are linked.

I've uploaded pictures on my Flikr photoset.  This is linked in the right column.

But certainly check out the website for more information and a full inventory:

www.fastlanecars.com

Nostalgia

I’m back!

I spent the past week in St. Louis, Missouri…my family’s hometown.  I stayed with my Grandma and my parents came to visit as well.  If you can’t tell from the hundreds of images of vintage vehicles I’ve already posted on my flikr or facebook pages, I have a nostalgia for eras that I’ve never experienced first hand.  Visiting St. Louis reaffirms this nostalgia and helps me understand where this love developed.  

My mom and I spent more time than usual visiting the parts of the city that remind her of her childhood.  Most of this revolves around food: Pretzels at Gus’s, BBQ at Phil’s, Slyders at White Castle, and of course multiple trips to Frederhofer’s Bakery.  It also involved the more traditional tourist stops: the Arch and the Museum of Westward Expansion in the Arch’s foundation, the NEW Busch Stadium, and the warehouse and brewery (Busch and Lemp) district where my grandparents and their parents worked long, back-breaking hours.  The city is nothing like the hustle and bustle days that my parents and grandparents grew up in…the stadium has been completely rebuilt (twice), the New Cathedral is rather old, hundreds of thousands of square footage of factory and brewery has been abandoned.  

Despite all the negativity that surrounds the city’s disrepair…you can catch promising glimpses of what the Gateway to the West might have in store for the future.  Warehouse space has been converted into uppity apartment lofts for young professionals.  The introduction of America's Center Convention Complex, Edward Jones Dome, Ferrra Theatre, and the Executive Conference Center are drawing huge professional crowds and encourage Cards, Rams, and Blues, fans nationwide to bring their business downtown.  And fundrasiers and live music festivals on the Riverfront are increasing in number and popularity.  Just this past Saturday, over 66,000 participants gathered downtown for the Susan G. Komen Race.  

In the area where my grandma lives, about 30 minutes outside the city, its an entirely different world.  While much has changed, so much has remained the same.  Some of the largest grocery stores, pharmacies, auto parts suppliers, and restaurants are still family owned…as they have been for the past 100 years (or more)!  Grandma’s house is on one the most prestidgeous streets in the area…or at least it was 60 years ago when it was built.  She raised her family there since 1950 and many features of the house remain completely original.  The houses being built just 10 minutes down the road have maintained high quality…but the 2500 or so square footage of my grandma’s 60 year old house, could fit in the basement of the multi-million dollar monsters down the road.  Also 10 miles from Grandma’s are most of the food selections mentioned above,  Laumeier Sculpture Park, and the historic Grant’s Farm.  Grant’s Farm was founded by President Ulysses S. Grant in the 1850s.   The Busch family purchased the farm from President Grant over 5 decades ago.  The 281 acres is the home of more than 100 species of animals from 6 continents and now serves as a stable for the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales and an interactive, safari-style park, which is open to the public to increase wildlife conservation and education. 

And there is SO MUCH I am leaving out!

Now you know, just in part, where my love for St. Louis and the historic past comes from….but what does this have to do with automotive?   For one, the rise, and fall, and new rise of the city, should bring hope to those in Motor City during these trying times.  For another reason...well just check out my next post…and my flikr picture set (which will be added soon)…and I think you’ll be in for a treat!  I certainly was!

Repreve!

During my Unifi trip, I also learned about their newest product: 

Repreve is a 100% recycled yarn that is produced at extraordinarily low energy and water consumption rates.  To make Repreve, Unifi uses materials that might otherwise go on to the landfill, such as yarn and materials scraps, as well as post-consumer products, such as PET plastic bottles.  Repreve is available in Polyester and Nylon and is a perfect example of a company moving in the right direction!  Check out their website: www.repreve.com as well as the video featured on Discovery Channel's How It's Made (link found at bottom right corner of Repreve website).

Unifi Visit

On Tuesday, I visited Unifi.  Unifi produces, textures, and dyes all types of filament (and works with many spun) yarns for multiple industries.  Since my research is focusing on color, we visited the dye house in Reidsville, NC.  This was a great opportunity for me to refresh my color chemistry memory as well as learn something new (or a lot of somethings).  By speaking with my contact there and learning about the processes involved in color matching, the dyeing process, and documenting this information for future reference and consistency, I picked up on several helpful hints for how to record my color observations from the automotive fabrics.  He also spoke in detail about the history of the industry since he's been involved and the dynamics between all levels of the automotive supply chain.  

In the hay-days for automotive textiles, from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's, yarns were being packaged dyed.  Unifi led this evolution by developing all procedures to dye polyester yarns, along with other filaments, such as nylon (which at the time was supposedly "impossible" to dye).  This meant more business for Unifi, but it also meant more control by the designers and represented a time that automotive fabrics represented quality and luxury.  

In the mid 90's, one of the OEMs demanded that costs be cut by piece-dyeing yardage, and everyone else fell in line.  Rather than designers controlling design, all control was given to purchasing and the result has been the bland grays and neutrals you'll find yourself sitting on today.  It was at this point that companies began refusing to pay more that $100 to upholster the entire interior.  Not only did switching to piece dye limit design capability, but there was a lot of "corner-cutting" by the OEMs.  For example, take a good look at your "leather" seats.  Chances are the only leather is inlay, the very center of each seat.  The bolster, on the edges, is almost always vinyl, and its all coated with acrylic.  The same is true in fabrics.  Its ironic that cost-cutting has landed the automotive industry in the financial crisis we are experiencing today.  

While so much has changed, not just in the past 10 years...but in the past 10 months, with this industry, it is necessary to review what has changed since the most successful times in order to be successful again.  The de-evolution from package dyeing to piece dyeing is just 1 example at 1 level of this industry.  There is much to learn, but I hope that my research will contribute to increasing success through value, quality, and design.

To learn more, visit Unifi's website: www.unifi.com