Great British Design Quest

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Fri 17 Feb 2006 10:51
Great British Design Quest - mare
tinyurl.com/cwo7s

Vote for your favourite British design icon.

Motoring link - Mini and the Routemaster bus, and at a push, Grand Theft Auto.

Icons that didn't make the top 10 were:

Aston Martin DB5
Jaguar E type
Road signage (!!)
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Feb 2006 12:44
Great British Design Quest - Malcolm_L
No.1 Cats Eye - Simple but effective - can't imagine what it was
like before reflective road markers!
No.2 Routemaster - AFAIC - Routemaster buses are London!
No.3 Mini - Encapsulated a lot of good ideas into one design which
had instant character.

Grand Theft Auto - I'm sorry but why!!!!!!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Feb 2006 13:53
Great British Design Quest - Big Bad Dave
Definately had Routemasters in Manchester when I was a kid. Not many but I have vivid memories of being on them. I recall some having doors on the back...
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Feb 2006 15:25
Great British Design Quest - Sofa Spud
The AEC-PRV Routemaster was designed for London Transport and virtually all of the 2875 odd Routemasters produced went to them. The only exceptions were 65 that ran between the West London Air Terminal and Heathrow for BEA, towing luggage trailers, and 50 built for Northern General on Tyneside.

Some Routemasters ended up working in other cities after being sold off but there were other types that bore a vague resemblence like the AEC Regent V, AEC Renown and some Daimler double-deckers of the late 50's/early 60's.

I think the Routemaster gets my vote as a design icon because it looks so right - it was the ultimate expression of the traditional front-engined, half-cab rear platform double-decker.

In addition one solitary rear-engined Routemaster, the FRM was built, with an entrance platform alongside the driver. It was made using 60% Routemaster components and still exists. It never went into production because much cheaper alternatives were available.

www.traditionsbus.de/Veranstaltungen/london2004/FR...g
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Feb 2006 15:13
Great British Design Quest - mare
Grand Theft Auto - I'm sorry but why!!!!!!


my vote went to GTA. It really has pushed the boundaries in gaming and leaving aside the goriness, the interactivity (if that's a word) in the game is astounding.

IMHO of course.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link