October 5, 1989
With the arrival of Luigi Colani’s concept vehicles in Port Elizabeth, NJ. came Robert Ward, Tilo Munteral, and Sebastine Kummer from Colani Design Bern, in Switzerland.
The futuristic concept vehicles traveled overseas via a very large freighter ship named the “Dusseldorf Express”, owned by Hapag Lloyd of Europe. Here is a previous sponsorship from Hapag-Lloyd of the futuristic "Utah 13" with a semi platform Mercedes-Benz 18 wheeler.
There was import problems with the vehicle registration into the US from the EPA, which was soon taken care of by a helpful John Guy of the EPA .
The press conference was on the freighter’s conference room was not well attended with media which was disappointing, but it still was very interesting and included a talk about Hapag Lloyd’s commitment to the future of transportation.
Joe Liccardo, a Port Elizabeth reporter was very enthusiastic, and wrote a nice review for the Port Authority. The concept vehicles were not displayed, and were in the original shipping containers from Europe.
October 6, 1989
The tour traveled to Morrisville, NJ to install trailer lights on the containers before the driving them to Detroit.
October 8,1989
I met Luigi last night for the first time at dinner. He is an animated bundle of energy, describing his design work as a ‘bio-designed communion with nature’. He added that the ‘youth of America’ can shape the world.
Being the youngest one at the dinner table made me feel good. I mentioned my father’s racing career with well-known European McLaren racing cars. He said that they are sensual, “beautiful machines”.
October 9, 1989
The concept vehicles were unloaded into the Rackham Auditorium at the Detroit Institute of Art. A few problems with the small forklift delayed the unloading. A larger forklift was acquired to finish the job. Preparation of the vehicles for tomorrow's exhibition began.
October 10, 1989
Luigi’s afternoon lecture for the Center for Creative Studies relieved a standing ovation. Students were very excited about Luigi’s future of transportation design.
At the Detroit Institute of Arts, Luigi’s interviews to the press were quite controversial. Detroit is quite personal when it comes to automobiles, and Luigi’s press interviews were kicking them ‘where it counts’.
One feeling resounds after listening to Luigi,” Where do we go from here?” Later in the day, we delivered the concept vehicles to Ford Motor Company for tumors lecture. Inside, we secretly saw Ford’s design area where giant clay pickup truck hoods were being ‘shaped’.
The was too many of them, and the Swiss Colani Design Bern team were laughing. “ We have built 9 of Luigi’s designs in 6 months! This is ridiculous. ” Later in the evening, Luigi lectured to the IDSA and the AISI.
He continued to tell them, “ Change the present course of Detroit, and become the spark of the future.” Luigi’s thoughts seem too radical and esoteric for Detroit, especially when you look at the audience attending the lecture.
Most of the attendees are slow to respond, and indifferent to the special event that Luigi has brought to this town. Luigi mentioned that all the transportation that some third world countries need is a two-seat bicycle with gas powered assistance.
Someone commented, “What is Detroit supposed to do, build bicycles?” Here, it is not the concept vehicles themselves, but it is the ideas and the inspiration that Luigi Colani gives towards the future of transportation, and his “bio-designed - forms from nature” that he creates.
October 11, 1989
Luigi lectured at Ford Motor Company’s auditorium, with two of the cars on display. Luigi told Ford that their designs were not advanced at all ( he actually said they were stupid ) and the attendees were in awe.
I’m sure that no one has ever told them like that, and they were impressed. This was the most fun lecture yet. The employees of Ford were very helpful during the whole exhibition at Ford, and probably walked away with lots to think about.
October 15, 1989
I arrived in Salt Lake City, and met the team at the Salt Lake City Drag Strip, where they unloaded the vehicles to prepare them for the Salt Flats. Assisting us was Strassburg Racing, a veterans for many years of the time trials at Bonneville.
October 29, 1989
I met T.C.Browne, an automotive news writer from Los Angles, who came to cover the exhibition at the Bonneville Salt Flats for Popular Mechanics. T.C. was very talkative, and was great to have there. He came to write an article for Exotic Cars, a special edition for Road and Track . I’ll post more on the Salt Flats later.
November 5, 1989
The show at the Art Center of Design in Pasadena, CA was great! Director Tim Butte was a big help with the preparation at the center.
The vehicles were on display outside. Luigi gave another great performance, fluidly waiving his hands while describing is thoughts on “Bio-designed”. “Look toward nature as I do for design answers” he said.
The Art Center is his kind of place, with one of the largest automotive design classes in the USA. The students loved to have him there, and Luigi signed many autographs for them. I gave Luigi a gift from California: a gift from one of Disneyland's shops .... it was a street sign that said, “ Tomorrowland “.
I said “Good Luck Luigi” and it was the last time I saw him in the US.
