Artist at Work: Jonathan Ward on Melding Vintage Cars with Modern Engineering
In 1996
Transcript
00:00 We have a deep love for vintage automobiles, but not a deep attachment to the archaic mechanical
00:07 reality that comes along with that.
00:20 My name is Jonathan Ward.
00:21 We're at Icon Headquarters in Southern California.
00:24 We do a run of vehicles based on the classic Toyota Land Cruisers, Ford Broncos, and Chevrolet
00:31 Thriftmaster pickups.
00:33 So since inception, what I always wanted to do is take all my favorite things from modern
00:40 automotive engineering and figure out how to marry them with the timeless aesthetic
00:45 of vintage cars.
00:47 So some of my favorites, 1935 Auburn 653 Phaeton, '59 Mercedes 300D, or people call
00:56 it the Adenauer, and then '93 Bentley Continental T Coupe.
01:03 Sometimes the continuity in the original design is far greater than you see in the vehicles
01:09 from later decades, because at that time, the OEMs had the balls to let one designer
01:17 mandate what that vehicle should be.
01:22 The continuity of the design with the Auburn is of paramount importance to me, and it's
01:28 something that we strive to do in anything we touch.
01:31 To me, continuity in design means that everything is considered, everything is developed from
01:36 a singular perspective, so everything flows and matches.
01:41 This particular Auburn is a 1935.
01:45 The wing flow of the suicide door handles, the yoga girl mascot on the front in all her
01:52 glory, the typeface, the font direction and design throughout the vehicle, it just sings
01:58 a common song.
01:59 There's not a single instrument out of time.
02:07 The important thing about the Bentley that I draw into my own work is quality and honesty
02:11 in the materials.
02:12 The tactile value is immediate and honest and it interfaces with your body immediately.
02:19 That's good design.
02:20 Like, the Bentley is a '93 Molnar Coupe.
02:23 It's just done right.
02:24 I mean, like the AC vent, you could go bowling with the AC vent.
02:28 The thing probably weighs 10 pounds.
02:30 You tap on it, it's dong, dong, and it's gorgeous.
02:33 Oh man, it's endless.
02:36 For example, the Icon VR, our take on the Bronco.
02:41 When I first started building, like my sun visors in many of my projects are as found
02:46 in Lear Jets.
02:48 Our dash lights on the Bronco are as found in McFighter Jets.
02:51 A lot of our interior LED lights come from the maritime world.
02:56 I'm really fond of a material called Chilowich.
03:00 Once you look at it, you go, "Oh, I've seen that."
03:01 So in restaurants all over the world is placemats.
03:06 One of my favorite things about the Mercedes 300D is the greenhouse, right?
03:10 Like the openness of the interior environment.
03:14 So all that openness combined with the Webasto full-length sunroof, perfection.
03:21 So in general, when someone hops into one of our builds, I want the sensation to sort
03:29 of be like a time machine in that when they are in that vehicle, it takes them out of
03:36 their daily life and kind of creates a transcending environment where they can sort of find some
03:45 peace.
03:45 [music]