Original Cerbera sketches.

Original Cerbera sketches.

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crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
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Hi all

Was just fumbling through some old CD's and found the original Cerbera sketches - 3 of them.

Peter Wheeler said they looked "like a bloody spaceship" and the went in the bin (Friday afternoon),
Monday morning, he said " where's your space ship?",.....? What?
"Those bloody sketches!" Oh those.
I dug them out of the bin, and the rest is history.
BUt cannot post them here, anyone know how??

NC


crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
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Hi All

Will try to upload ASAP with the help of Boss Cerbera, - (cheers for the offer), bit busy today
To answer your Q about where I am,back in UK from Japan last 6-months having worked everywhere sonce leaving in 97 - Lotus / Nissan/ Daihatsu/ etc

Think I just remembered where there are more pics (been buried since I left).......to be continued

NC

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
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Dear K18STM

Shall I let you wait a little longer.he, he
They'r not that flashy actually, were done on a pages of copy paper.
Will try to deliver to BC tonight

NC

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
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http://community.webshots.com/myphoto

OK, try this?
LMK if itworks

NC

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
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Dear BCA

I did not do the Ceb exterior, that was Damien McTaggart, and there were others involved too, too numerous to mention here, and my memory is fading, but I did do the interior.

Anyhow, the above link works on my PC, so, hope you can open em.
More to followas I find em

NC

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
quotequote all
Hi
Feel free, but credit where it's due,
Other people contributed to the cars.

Thanx to Bess Cerbera for posting em here - I hove no idea how!
Will try to add othersas I find em.

Regarding current work location, I am in Luton working for a design / digital modelling /recruitment company.
Technicondesign.co.uk, click on portfolio page if you have one to add/ loooking for adesign job.

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
quotequote all
Twas funny, When Clarkson arrived the day for the shoot we thought s*** he won'y fit in it, such a scaled-up bloke!
But he did, mind you seat was well back.
What a thoroughly nice bloke he was! - invited us to have a beer with him that night, naturally I went.

The day after the viewing on top gear, the phones never stopped ringing with enquiries.

But, here's a thing, the instrument pod thingy was the result of Me going to a Hotrod swop meet @ White Waltham aerodrome, and coming back with some P5B Rover Coupe instrument dash pods, which I brought into work on Monday to do a foreigner (copy).
Wheeler spotted em and said "what are these", I made up something about using them at some point on an interior or something, so we spent the next few hours moving them about -
finalizing on the column (Peter was racing and wanted air in the driver's face)

Everything else was done around that, and manimalized like Motorbike dash.
so, there you have it!

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
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I think the factory is basically in the same position now as when Wheeler took over - they were making wedges, and the market had moved on, Winterbottom's design was just too late, orders had dropped, and the important USA market was too risky.
The Griffith came about as Ravenscroft's answer to fixing all the problems encountered on the aquare cars - Ill fitting panels, sinking flat surfaces, and complicated construction.

Naturally, the race program allowed them to experiment with different suspension / chassis ideas, which found their way onto the cars "Racing improves the breed", so, it is important that the factory returns to some kind of racing.

In my opinion, the Cebera has always been a little too-small, just needing to be a bit bigger, and I have always hated the side 'stripe' feature, but lose it, and it's not a Cerbera, - I have the sketches to prove this, so, needs to stay in some way. (if doing a new car)
Perhaps this should be made MORE FUNCTIONAL, like an aerodynamic add-on rather than jusr a styling feature .
All good dialogue, so lets see what they do eh?

NC

crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Friday 23rd June 2006
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Hi
Thanks for tha accolade, but would run out fairly quickly, I lefy 9 years ago!
And pretty pushed for time occasionally - travelling between Asia and UK, - but will add what I can as I find stuff/ remember things.
I am not looking for any fame or recognition here, it was a long time ago but was a stepping stone to other things.
I just want to share what I have here cos there's no use them sitting in a shoe box, and what better place to put it than here.
In the beginning for me in 1992 it was a MAGICAL place with a FAMILY feel amongst the staff, but as time went on it got bigger and bigger and this was lost, single young men grow up and have families, and you are no longer prepared to stay up till 4AM to rub a bonnet master down.
We used to prank a lot to make it fun as were not wonderfully paid (trebbled my income when I went to Nissan), there were iscyanate foam bombs (more on this another time), the fire hose was used on the youngsters a couple of times when it was hot, etc, (Wheeler even caught me at it once - "Good idea, he said cool em down" - it was the hottest day of the year!
I think at that time we were making the Cerbera floorpan.

As long as you got the job done, anything was ok - is there a parallel now? - think not.
They were good times and we did it against all odds!, kind of poking the car industry in the eye. Problem is the rest have caught up now, I bet a lot of the cars we sold went to other manufacturers for tear-down to see exactly how they could emulate / improve on the cars.

I will pass on stuff to BOSS CERBERA as I find it

ENJOY


crazynick

Original Poster:

484 posts

215 months

Sunday 25th June 2006
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Regarding the 'PRANKS' referred to earlier, it was par for the course to invent your own special party trick!
Don't know who invented this one, but it was rather FORMIDABLE!!,and henceforth unsurpassed!

We used to use Icocyanate (yes, Cyanide based foam as used in the building industry for cavity wall insulation), to form the mass which was to be sculpted.
Nasty, horrid closed-cell stuff which if you imagine the similarity of getting sand in your trunks @ the beech but with spikes,- !

This came in two parts which were mixed in a bucket and poured over a bag / shape ans allowed to expand up to 10 times the volume.
NOW, imagine putting 2 pints of each of this into a big pop bottle!1

Stretch, crack, crack stretch......... BOOOOOM
You now have a most excellent foam bomb!
These were perfected and once someone new started (Do you remember DAZ lol), they were set and stashed under the un-suspecting person's desk..........wait for it..........crack........stretch.......crack.......BOOOOOM!!

Anyhow, one day (Wheeler was supposed to be away), we set one ready to go in the boot with the lid just placed on ,with I think Nobby (Paul Daintree) in a Chimmy or Griff master. then waited......crack.......stretch....then....OH SHIT, Wheeler walked in..
Blast!, get him out, laugh...I'm gonna fall over laughing,.....crack so trying to get him out quick,.....stretch, he walks over to Nobby and starts to discuss the dash.....Crack....No.....stretch, then promptly walks out sslamming the steel door.....crack, stretch.
Well we were all frozen,......stretch,...then BOOOOOM.
Boot flys up into the air, smash as it imprints an impression in the ceiling, then crash as it hits the floor narrowly missing Nobby...

Wheeler walks in "what was that"?, "what was what I replied", "hmmmm nothing" says Peter and walks away lighting another fag.

Just another normal day in the 'Play pen'

Nc