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Basically the idea behind ICON was revisiting classic transportation designs but in a modern
context so out with the kind of charmingly archaic mechanical systems where like the
own one you kind of feel like you have to be a martyr to it and tinker with it all weekend
and thump away at the pedal and pull the choke to just the right spot like I have no patience
for that but I love the classic aesthetic.
So when we started ICON that was really the founding principles of it was like maintain
that vintage aesthetic and style and purposeful design but then marry it with modern engineering
and chassis and components so that you really have like a viable daily driver versatile
vehicle but with like a more timeless kind of hand wrought aesthetic.
The totally irrational side is this series of one offs that we do that we call the derelicts.
Started with my personal car project and really what I wanted to do have a bad habit of like
restoring things too far concourse totally geeked out on it and then I don't want to
use it like I'm scared to use it and ding it with a surf board or my kids open the door
into a curb and scratch it up that just sucks but again like with the utility premise that's
a big driver behind what I do I want something I can beat on and use every day so we took
a 52 Chrysler town and country wagon we found rotting in a backyard in Bocaima and I just
love the interior and the aesthetic and the car had this magical patina but the front
end was stupid ugly so I just kind of like stared at it for a couple years in our warehouse
trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do with it and one day I was in Burbank
picking up an old Land Cruiser and this guy had a 52 DeSoto sedan it was pretty beat up
I was looking at it and now that's a front end because like everyone loves that DeSoto
like you know the old Mercs and everyone used to rob the teeth out of them and the car had
the same patina and crust green finish that the Chrysler wagon did so right there on the
spot I thought I did not know but I thought I remembered that same parent company and
sheet metal is somewhat interchangeable so I rolled the dice I bought the DeSoto brought
it back and that same day we took the sheet metal off the Chrysler and bolted on the DeSoto
nose and said yes okay now like now like it's coming together so once we have those two
pieces together the whole derelict concept kind of evolved and we took it from there.
The derelict style by definition is you know there's that Japanese art ethic called Wabi
Sabi which basically defines you know time-earned natural finishes and patinas so a lot of people
that busted my butt online saying that we're faking the patinas on the car but now they're
totally as found and that's almost like nine tenths of a good derelict is that right car
man you know like that blank canvas that just hits that sweet spot that just has that natural
decay.
So what we do is find that patina virgin car bring it into the shop we isolate the body
lifted off of the chassis we do CMM collection data using pharaoh arms and lasers to get
all the mount points and dynamics of the body and then fire that off to art and then art
engineers the chassis using known solutions to really give like high performance but like
daily driver friendly like not kick your ass such a trap car that it's a bitch to drive
because the whole idea of it is like total daily driver refined reliable fast sleeper
like no one sees you coming or going but the latest derelict that we finished the 52 Chevy
style line that one the interior is a crazy story but basically I stumbled into on some
blog online we found the original die code for this bitch in briefcase that Hermes had
made for JFK back in the 60s and it's just the sexy warm kind of vintage brown feel.
You know it's kind of funny because you know the general reactions to the derelict style
falls in two different categories you've got one group that sees it and pities you and
wonders how much longer you're going to save up for your bright red paint job and flames
and then the other group like totally get it and it's interesting because it's like
it almost attracts more of like a sculptural or artistic kind of affinity with people you
know they want to reach out and touch it and feel it and experience it and to me that's
a blast because that's really what it's all about you know trying to save some vintage
iron but really kind of recycle repurpose it into something that's truly daily usable
and user friendly and we love building them they're just there's so much fun they're
probably not good business you know we should stick to production stuff but it's just so
much more creative for me and my team we get to play with all sorts of new materials and
textiles and different design themes and it's enabling to say the least we're really stoked.
