Henrik Fisker is a man that likes to stay busy, to say the least. Just days after announcing that the super Mustang he helped create with Galpin Auto Sports was ready for production, he’s pulling the covers off of another huge project this morning at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Unless you’re one of the privileged few at Amelia Island this morning, you’re seeing this here (and probably elsewhere too, to be honest) first; but you didn’t even have to leave your house to see it, so really you’re the one that’s privileged.
This other project of Fisker’s is called the Thunderbolt, a one-off design study based on the Aston Martin Vanquish. This is not only Fisker’s vision for how Aston’s flagship could look, but it’s also his ideal V12-powered GT sports coupe. And it just might be ours too.
Henrik Fisker’s goal with the Thunderbolt was to “create an elegant beautiful GT sports coupe, with pure emotional sculpture, that would stay timeless”. Since he’s starting with something as elegant and timeless as the new Vanquish, he’s already on the right track.
The Vanquish’s underpinnings and other bits of mechanical goodness are the only components that remain relatively unchanged on the Thunderbolt. The body is composed of hand-laid, coach-built carbon fiber which incorporates Fisker’s characteristic design cues such as a clean body side with no creases and deeply sculpted air ducting.
The hood of the Thunderbolt features a large power dome with long triangular intakes and incorporates unique headlamps. Beneath all that is a bespoke splitter and an aluminum grille which looks like it took some serious man hours to create on its own.
Mid-ship, the Thunderbolt features a tinted panoramic glass roof and a wraparound rear window. The car’s business end features thin protruding, blade-like tail lamps, a custom diffuser, and a subtle ducktail-type spoiler. Those wheels are twenty-one inchers and are wrapped in performance tires while ride height is reduced by fifteen millimeters.
The interior wasn’t left out during this Fiskerfication™ as it gets its fair share of elegance and technology. The centerpiece of the interior’s IT lesson is an 11.6” Panasonic Curved Control Screen, which makes its appearance in a car for the first time. The curved design of the screen isn’t just a gimmick though, as it’s designed specifically to reduce reflections and glare. It’s also height-adjustable.
Just below the Panasonic screen, however, is an integrated Maurice Lacroix Skeleton chronograph, which may be the only non-digital thing in this cabin. All leather surfaces in the Thunderbolt – and there are many – come courtesy of Italian furniture manufacturer, Natuzzi. There’s also an integrated champagne/wine bottle holder in the back, because of course there is.
As the car sits, it is “simply” a one-off design study. The Thunderbolt project is not affiliated with Aston Martin and there are currently no plans for production, unless of course someone throws enough money at Henrik for him to reconsider. If that ever happens, super limited examples of the Thunderbolt will be made available through Galpin Aston Martin and with a few changes to the front end as shown on the red Thunderbolt rendering. That Panasonic screen will also be ditched in production since it’s a prototype. Also body modifications will be done through California’s own GFMI Metalcrafters Inc. Those that are interested should visit www.GalpinAstonMartin.com. And then invite one of us to help you pick it up.
[Source: Fisker and Galpin Auto Sport]
Henrik Fisker Thunderbolt – the one-off GT coupe of our dreams
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Until last picture of red car I wondered why make car look like an Aston Martin when you have every body panel made of scratch anyway. And that skeleton chrono is completely useless as a in-car timepiece.
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Couldn’t agree more.
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Aston? What a nice Ford that is!
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Ford has come out way better.
To the point that the Fusion refresh may be delayed a year or 2.
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On the other hand maybe Bert Boeckmann (Böckmann?, Galpin owner) wants to be a bit like James Glickenhaus with his bespoke cars which are based on production models.
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There can be only one.
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Clueless, I asked Wikipedia… “The Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt was a limited production, factory experimental, drag race only automobile built by the Ford Motor Company in 1964. A total of 100 units were produced.”
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When you said, “There can be only one” this is what I thought you were going to post.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/2008-2010_Toyota_Highlander_Limited_–_03-16-2012.JPG
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Where did this obsession come from for distorting the corners of headlights?
With the normal anthropomorphic interpretation that we humans perceive, headlights are seen as eyes, as we subconsciously search for faces that may threaten us.
Those ‘eyes’ have infected tear ducts, (though admittedly not as bad as new Range Rovers). Use the standard headlights and I’d buy one.-
Who knows. The trend of the last few years is increasingly of styling over design. It’s why all new cars have basically the same shape within their classes, but vary in surface treatments and details. The 50s and 70s to early 80s were “styling” eras, where the 40s, 60s and late 80 to 90s were design eras. Pretty soon we’ll hit “peak styling” and technological advances will push the aesthetic onus back onto design. There’s usually one or two “gamechanger” cars that come along and kick off the new eras. Consider the impacts of the Merc S126 as “design” and the BMW E60 20 years later as “style”.
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I prefer design over ‘styling’, but can see a place for both.
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Let me chime in to the generally somewhat critical tone here (style of the privileged, uh?). I have a hard time understanding the concept of toying with existing designs. It’s really cool he does, but…the result is at the same time not distinguished enough, and too infested by a playfulness that tries to distinguish itself. Even more so with the Mustang that is now the Rocket. Or is this just Mr. Fisker’s way of writing a public job application? In steel and leather?
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Maybe Mr Fisker is just trying to re-establish his Karma?
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I’m sure he is wanxiangous to do that.
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Isn’t it just like a cover band? Some bands are cover bands, and do nothing but covers, while other bands are bands unto themselves and dabble in covers. Faithful reproduction is the realm of the AC Cobra / Studebaker Avanti / Lotus Seven “continuance” makes. There’s a band in SF called The Musical Box who does nothing but play entire albums by Genesis straight through. It wouldn’t surprise me if they built kit cars in their spare time.
Doing a version, or a cover, or a re-interpretation of a song, or a car, is all about making real what might have been. In music, it’s what might have been if tastes were slightly different, or the recording engineer was another guy (always a guy, though.) In cars, it’s all about what might have been if design by committee was not a factor.
Henrik Fisker is a focus group of one. This is what he would give the thumbs up to if Aston Matin bothered to ask him.
Remember, as well, that Chip Foose is a focus group of one; so there are your cover bands. Aston Martin cover band versus Deuce Coupe cover band.-
This is a well-made argument. Even though cover bands make me think of cross-country-ferries, there sure are some good musical craftsman around doing nothing else but showing off other’s work in public. With minor tweaks. The continued Avanti production is a great example – I would like to have one of those.
Maybe it just boils down to taste. The scoops, general overstyling, useless chronograph etc above really can’t interest me. It just ends up like a tuner’s version of a factory car, at least to the untrained eye. Something more organic and balanced would make sense though.
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Am I the only one who thinks these look too much alike?
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To clarify, the lower image is of the 2014+ Jaguar F Type, which I marginally prefer more. I’ll never have enough money to afford either. 🙁
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Huh, I thought for that bottom one I saw an Alfa Romeo badge in the grille, yet a BMW 507 vent behind the front wheels… I guess it’s getting harder and harder to design stand-out GT coupes.
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It looks alright, but like the Mustang he did with Galpin, he didn’t make it look better than the base car.
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All these branded tats slathered in the interior (Moet, Maurice Lacroix, and … Panasonic?!) makes me feel like Mr Fisker is trying hard to justify the price tag (unknown, but no doubt will be sky high)
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These are not real cars. “Pics or it didn’t happen.” All of the images in this post are renderings. Unless someone can post a pic from Amelia Island of the real deal it’s just “a design study”. A rendering in pixels.
One off? What the hell is the red car? Both have images of the word “Thunderbolt” on their imaginary front plates, one is grey and has a wide grille, the other is red and has a narrow grille. Not looking any closer than that, I’d say it was a Two-Off or vaporware.-
The silver Thunderbolt pictured (it actually exists, as you found out) is what they called a one-off design study. Only one Thunderbolt exactly like that is ever going to exist.
Regarding the “production” car in red, that doesn’t exist currently but it could. Fisker is open to the idea of letting people with lots of money to throw at things buy a super-limited example of the Thunderbolt, and it would resemble the red car. The styling would be mostly similar but with a few changes to keep the silver Thunderbolt a “one-off”.
TL;DR the Thunderbolt, as of now, is a one-off. It could, however, spawn a handful of similar – but not identical – cars that are also called the Thunderbolt.
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