Solved - NEH 3522: Sports Wagon University degree project by Tom Tjaarda - 1967

[Carnut]

What's this, by whom, from when - for 1 point:

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[Carnut]

Experts?

[oko94]

Is it a proposal for the Ford Aurora concept car ?

[Carnut]

Is it a proposal for the Ford Aurora concept car ?

Not a Ford!

[Iluvatar]

This is a scale model of a design proposal made by Tom Tjaarda when he was a student.

[Carnut]

This is a scale model of a design proposal made by Tom Tjaarda when he was a student.

Exactly.  It dates from 1967, and the examiners at Michigan University wouldn't let him design a sports car as he usually did because he was too good at them, so he had this idea to design something which was quite a new idea back then (thought not totally unique of course), a sports wagon.

Well done.

[Otto Puzzell]

A bit more detail, and a bigger pic:

A 1:10 scale model of a vehicle which Tom Tjaarda designed during his last semester at the University of Michigan.

Preparing for a degree in architecture, there were enough credits to take an elective on the side. His professor, Aarre Kovtivalo Lahti, was a Professor of Art from Finland and made it clear that this elective was not a fun course. In other words Tjaarda could not design a sports car as was his desire! So, to get around these limits placed by his professor, Tjaarda came up with an idea for a family car which he called a sports wagon.

As it turned out, Lahti had been on a sabbatical  in Europe during the summer of 1967, had visited all the well known design oriented manufacturers like Philips, Olivetti, Mercedes as well as the now famous carrozzeria's in the Turin area as Bertone, Farina and Ghia.

Luigi Segre, the owner of Ghia, mentioned that they were looking for a designer and asked Professor Lahti if he had some student who might work in Italy for a year.
Of course the projected one year stay in Italy turned out to be a bit longer than anticipated.