Bionic Van

[MazdaMatt]

What... the... hell... is... that?

[aerohead]

Wait 'til you see how he dresses!

[azraelswrd]

truck in the 2nd pic on the right looks somewhat more decent on the aero... very cool designs in any case.

[aerohead]

Colani took a bunch of his creations to Bonneville including the 18-wheeler.It was quite the candy store! Some designs were more flambuoyant than others.I don't remember what the truck scored,but I remember the Cd was quite good.And as Marie Antoinette has said"We've already forgotten more than we'll ever learn."

[dadag]

What's interesting in the very limited size of the grill compared to what you usually see on the road, especially here in the US.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by dadag

What's interesting in the very limited size of the grill compared to what you usually see on the road, especially here in the US.

Yeah,it suggests that a lot less power(and heat rejection) is needed to push that bad boy down the road.

[Big Van]

Unfortunately, of all the people in this world who are not ready for this fellow, long-haul truckers are probably the least ready...

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Big Van

Unfortunately, of all the people in this world who are not ready for this fellow, long-haul truckers are probably the least ready...

It would be unfair for me to make any generalized comment about long-haul truckers.I have known some on each end of the spectrum,some in the middle.I would have thought economics would have been enough to drive 18-wheeler development.Guess I was wrong.Perhaps husband/wife team drivers will come to dominate the driving field one day.Then,perhaps the wives can all threaten divorce,unless all the husbands agree to allow" Effeminate" modifications to the family trucks and trailers,and the wives get to "girl-it-up".Then the "men" can blame the "women",and family harmony,for their having to put up with these un-manly,yet clean and economical high performance trucks and trailers.Wilma and Betty take the heat,while Fred and Barney sock it away in the bank.

[Big Van]

My apologies to truckers... I guess the only information I have about them is from "Smokey and the Bandit," which probably isn't a reliable source.

Good point about the economics, though. You would think that companies such as Wal-Mart, for whom cheap transportation is a real cornerstone, would be really interested in this sort of thing. Pretty soon transportation costs are going to affect their business model, and their board members won't really care if the trucks are a bit outlandish looking.

[MazdaMatt]

My family's bread and butter is trucking. My father owns a company, two uncles drive trucks, my brother and two cousins are mechanics.

Yes, it is fair to say that many truckers are big-block lovin, manly men.

However, i think the reason for lack of change is financially driven as you'd expect the reasons FOR change to be. With a sudden up-shot in deisel prices, many companies are struggling in this industry. You can't just change your fleet over to more efficient trucks. A new "typical" truck is like a hudred grand. Some technologically advanced engineering spectacular would cost much more. That buys a lot of gas and uses a lot of money that these companies just don't have right now.