Unusual car design criteria?

[JonathanLegard]

We all know the Citroen 2cv was designed to drive a basket of eggs across a ploughed field. Wondering if anybody knew of any other odd and specific design stipulations or requirements?

[CampDavid]

The VW Phaeton had to be able to do 300KPH in 40 degree heat while keeping the cabin at 20 degrees.

It was then limited to 250KPH in all markets

[rpguk]

IIRC Black cabs have to have a turning circle less then 25ft. This was to allow them to make a tight turn outside the Savoy.

The old black cabs had one wheel turn in a good bit more then the other to enable this and the new Mercedes Vito based black cabs are fitted with rear wheel steering to achieve it.

Edited by rpguk on Tuesday 21st August 13:34

[DrTre]

The lm002 was designed to meet some military spec tender wasn't it?

As was pointed out in a magazine article, the prospect of balancing the carbs on the v12 while an infantry division was bearing down kinda killed the ambition...

[Rawwr]

IIRC Black cabs have to have a turning circle less then 25ft. This was to allow them to make a tight turn outside the Savoy.

The old black cabs had one wheel turn in a good bit more then the other to enable this and the new Mercedes Vito based black cabs are fitted with rear wheel steering to achieve it.

[balls-out]

Rawwr said:

IIRC Black cabs have to have a turning circle less then 25ft. This was to allow them to make a tight turn outside the Savoy.

The old black cabs had one wheel turn in a good bit more then the other to enable this and the new Mercedes Vito based black cabs are fitted with rear wheel steering to achieve it.

Hmm where did you read that?

I think the steering on a london cab is just the usual results of the Ackermann Angle and a good lock

[rpguk]

Rawwr said:

IIRC Black cabs have to have a turning circle less then 25ft. This was to allow them to make a tight turn outside the Savoy.

The old black cabs had one wheel turn in a good bit more then the other to enable this and the new Mercedes Vito based black cabs are fitted with rear wheel steering to achieve it.

Grr :shakefist: bloody site kept giving me errors

[scarble]

balls-out said:

I think the steering on a london cab is just the usual results of the Ackermann Angle and a good lock

"Ackermann linkage" and all that. Nice feature, do most cars have some Ackerman angle? Why not have more? Turn-in good, understeer bad.

[Earl'Dingleberry]

Current Jag saloons are designed to look like Volvos. Kinda unusual criteria in my book.

[JonathanLegard]

I think the original Ford Focus had to be able to seat drivers between 4'10" and 6'10".

[DonkeyApple]

Range Rover Sports were designed to transport up to 5 Umpa Lumpas, consealing the ugliest 3 behind privacy glass, to low end discotheques.

[The Don of Croy]

The W124 Mercs had asymmetric door mirrors - a feature not repeated. Must have been a good theory behind it...also the monowiper on the same model.

Also the 50p coin was designed to sit upright on a Rolls Royce 6.75 litre engine block without falling off at 3000rpm. Probably.

[CampDavid]

JonathanLegard said:

I think the original Ford Focus had to be able to seat drivers between 4'10" and 6'10".

Not unusual, just sensible. My Dad was too tall for pretty much every 90s Rover, he isn't even that tall. Madness for a normal sized car not to be able to fit everyone.

[Kozy]

The new Subota twins aren't designed around pub bragging stats.

Odd.

[kwak]

Saab 900 classics are designed to be towed out of a snow-filled ditch by their door handles. At least, that's what I have been told, never tried it myself.

[AlexiusG55]

There were the famous Rolls-Royce tests- the one about the dashboard clock being the loudest thing in the car at 60 mph is the best known, but there were (are?) others, IIRC including the engine being able to run at full speed for 48 hours with no detectable wear to any part and the steering still being true after being repeatedly driven into a curb.

Not sure if this counts as a car design specification, but the Crosley CoBra engine used in Crosley's 1940s American microcars had been designed as an auxiliary power unit for B-17 bombers, so was absurdly light. The block was made of sheet metal and weighed less than 7 kg.

Staying with American microcars, the 1950 Kaiser-Fraser Henry J was built using a US Government loan which required the car to be sold for a very low retail price- so to keep the price down, it had no boot lid! The boot could only be accessed by folding down the back seat.

And of course, the VW Type 1's requirement to cruise at 65 mph was extremely unusual for economy cars at the time.

[CapriV6S]

The 70s Lancia Beta was designed to turn into convenient rust-flakes and dust within a year, hence saving on expensive MOT-work later on.


Slightly off-thread, but do I remember the Renault 16 having a different wheelbase on each side of the car? If so, why? And did they change it round for left-hand-drive and RHD cars?

[Chris944_S2]

The Don of Croy said:

The W124 Mercs had asymmetric door mirrors - a feature not repeated. Must have been a good theory behind it...also the monowiper on the same model.

Most LHD VW's have this. However they don't bother making a special smaller left-side mirror for the RHD markets, so in the UK both mirrors are the same size.

[BL Fanboy]

Slightly off-thread, but do I remember the Renault 16 having a different wheelbase on each side of the car? If so, why? And did they change it round for left-hand-drive and RHD cars?
[/quote]

I think it was for cheapness. It meant that the rear suspension torsion bars can be staggered across the width of the car with out any fancy engineering.

[Baryonyx]

CampDavid said:

The VW Phaeton had to be able to do 300KPH in 40 degree heat while keeping the cabin at 20 degrees.

It was then limited to 250KPH in all markets

Has the full list of design criteria for this car ever been released? I know snippets such as this have been made public.