Why I'm a Car Designer (Part 1)

I'll try to keep the chronology correct but dates aren't my strong point.

My love of cars started when I was around 7, one of my friends mums arrived at primary school in a Mercedes. It's the first time I saw one up close and to me it was amazing. (It was a W201 for any car geeks like me out there). Now I look back at it and I cringe but it was gold! The chrome grille stood out most of all, with the silver arrows proudly standing on top. 

By the age of 10 I could name pretty much every car manufacture we passed on the roads. But the most important car that made me want to be a designer was the Mclaren F1.. 

I'm not sure where I first saw the McLaren, (probably a car section of my dads newspaper) but I remember thinking that it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen! The fact that it was going to be the fastest car in the world must have been the cherry on the top. There are many cars that have left my jaw on the floor since but nothing will beat the McLaren. 

Until that point of my life I didn't think that cars were designed, they were just.. There! But this changed my view. 

People draw cars and they get made into real ones??

So the drawing began.. If I stacked all the car drawings I've done over the years I'm pretty sure It would reach the moon. 

Obviously the drawings I did were pretty terrible but I could visualise them as real cars, in my mind I could walk around them and pick out details, just like real cars. 

Through the next few years my parents bought me many concept car and design books and I became somewhat obsessed. 

During the early years of high school I still enjoyed art and design. I even found a car designers website, which was rare back then. He was called Nikki Kwee. I'm pretty sure he still works in design but I couldn't tell you where. I emailed him gushing about the industry. He messaged back with a "go for it" type message. 

Unfortunately I didn't go for it. I actually did the opposite. The main reason for this is that my design teacher said that we could design anything we wished for our GCSE work. Guess what I chose? That's right, a car. 

We had to have a talk with him about  what we have chosen and why... So I drew my best drawing ever (at that point), I spent ages on it. It was a side view of a family car not too dissimilar from a Nissan Note but this was years earlier. 

He laughed, actually laughed. In front of the whole class. I was a shy kid anyway but this was mortifying. I've never felt so disheartened. I don't actually know how I didn't cry. I felt so rubbish. 

"It looks like a soapbox car not a real car"

I think I'm going to leave it at that for today.. 

Don't worry though, it obviously gets better! 

Thank you for reading

LWJ