Diaporama Semaine 35 ----> Bubble Cars

[JYD1 0]

Après la pénurie de carburant en 1956, la demande pour les grosses voitures s'est estompée et les voitures allemandes "Bubble" ont pris d'assaut le marché. Leonard Lord, le chef de BMC, a dit un jour: Nous devons les pousser hors de la route en concevant une voiture miniature appropriée. Après avoir fixé les exigences de base et le recrutement d'Alec Issigonis (l'homme de la Morris Minor 1948) , la Mini a commencé à prendre forme. La tâche principale d'Issigonis était de réduire la longueur de la Mini pour optimiser l'espace de la cabine. Vous connaissez la suite...

[VAL31 0]

Extrait d'un blog fan :
The saying 'small is beautiful' applies as much to the world of cars
as it does to the world of fashion. Gordon Murray, the designer of the McLaren
F1, Light Car Company Rocket and numerous highly successful McLaren Formula 1
cars, is a small car nut, being himself the owner of a Fiat 500 and an MCC Smart.
He admires the ingenuity and originality that goes into small car design. Small
cars often need to be cheap to build and sell, and as the market is very
competitive, they need to be attractive to buyers. Designers face the challenge
of creating a vehicle which packs in as much interior space into the smallest
area possible all the while conserving weight, as most of these cars have small
engines (for reasons of economy and varying taxation rules on engine
capacity).
The most famous small car of all is probably the 40 year old
Mini. It was introduced in 1959 as the new Austin
Seven and the Morris Mini Minor. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, it was a
masterpiece of packaging. Due to it's compact front engined, front wheel drive
layout, the Mini was able to seat four adults and their luggage, in what was
(and is!) a tiny car. It has set the standard since for small car design, and
has along the way become a cult car.
Prior to the Mini, the small car market was mostly dominated by a
bunch of motoring oddities collectively known as "bubble cars". A number of
companies including Messerschmitt,
Heinkel (both aircraft makers), Isetta/BMW and Glas
produced a range of these tiny two-seater cars in both 3 and 4 wheel
form. Today they have an enthusiastic following but in their day they
represented the bottom of the barrel in terms of motoring. They were dangerous
as they had little crash protection, and as entry and exit was through a
forward or upward opening hatch, you couldn't easily get out if you had an
accident. In fact, as some didn't have a reverse gear, you couldn't get out if
you parked too close to a wall!
My Dad once hankered after a Heinkel bubble car when he was a medical
student in the 1960's. They were cheap in Ireland as there was a factory in
Dundalk which used to assemble them. My Grandfather wisely vetoed Dad's idea to
get one, as he did not want to see his first born driving round in a fragile
bubble! Instead he helped him buy a second hand Mini, which was a common enough
scenario at the time. Ultimately, bubble cars could not compete with the likes
of the Mini and the breed died.

:smile2:

[sabin 0]

Je savais que ca aurait pu servir d'écouter les cours d'anglais... Ms j'étais tétue (deja)...
Je comprends rien, et puis en plus, le "fr" a la fin de l'adresse du site du boudu veut dire que c'est un site FRANCAIS !
Désolée, cette fausse excuse traduit mon enervement a ne pas pouvoir satisfaire ma curiosité !!!
En gros : si qq peut traduire ??