#volvo 960

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Volvo 740?

Yes, yes, yes and yes!

(Okay, technically none of those are Volvo 740s, but the 940 was just a small update of the 740 and the 960 was the same for the 760 which was a slightly more upmarket version of the 740, with the 4 and 6 standing for 4 and 6 cylinders in the 7 series, connection that got more tenuous with the 900 series as the 940 got 6 cylinder diesel engines and the 960 4cyl petrol ones).

Also, like Paul Newman I say extra yes to the 740 Turbo (especially in wagon trim!).

To me, if a car has an analog clock, it is automatically cool. If it has an analog clock and a rev gauge, it's automatically very cool (for the unaware, analog clocks were often used to fill the rev gauge's spot if a car had versions too cheap to even include it). If it has an analog clock and a boost gauge, it's some real connoisseur shit.

Hence, a 740 Turbo is a guaranteed lip bite whenever I stumble into a cheap one on Marketplace. Speaking of which, I remember it serving me an ad for a 740 hearse (not much different from the standard wagon, I must say) that tempted me a whole lot more than a 30+ year old hearse had any right to, especially considering it would've given even more character to my Rice 'n' Shine project (see fourth yes).

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

[aiiaiiiyo]

[rekofan101]

A special treat for the car thing bc it immediately reminded me of this

DAY 361: THANK YOU SILVER this is her finally selling her volvo 960

[swimmingback]

I will never be over my Volvo 960

[radracer]

any volvo 740 or 960. thanks..

No problemo!

[rarekatana]

my 1992 volvo 960 wagon is getting a part from a limo put in it <3 she's already cool cuz she has a porsche engine and now she's cooler <3

[caradsfromthepast]

Volvo 960 advert. Spain, 1990s

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

You know a lot about cars so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask: How hard would it be for me to make up brand new cars and 3D model them? The stuff shown here looks fun, and I want to give it a go sometime. (p.s as compensation for submitting an ask not focused on a thing about a car: the interiors of the Italdesign Orca and Mazda MX-81 Aria are silly looking things that everybody should get to see.) (p.p.s i don't understand cars or 3D modeling but i believe it'll all work out fine)

If you want encouragement: every single 3D car shape you've ever seen, from videogames to renders to cars on the street, was either drawn with 3D modelling or with something even harder - and none of those people have a significant genetic leg up on you. You're too short to play basketball, you're too fragile to boxe, you're too heavy for marathons, but you're not too anything for 3D modelling. The only thing it takes is effort.

If you want a warning: effort it does take. 3D modelling is deceptively complex - you think you can model a radio no problem and an hour later your work amounts to a volume knob and you realize you're gonna be here a while. I've studied it for a semester and would be pretty lost if I had to draw curves as complex as a car's, although had I had your interest I would've likely dug deeper on some specific aspects on my own (and actually retained all the lessons on complex curves :/) But yeah, holy hell are cars complex. Nowadays especially, but in general - the lights, the vents, the seals, the panel gaps, all things that are incredibly minute yet essential details that can make or break a design, even at the lowest detail (because of course modelling difficulty varies wildly with the detail level you're targeting). Modelling a car from scratch, I'll be astounded if it takes you less than a year. But by the end of that, any car you model will no longer be from scratch, as you'll already have built the knowledge base!

If you want advice: take your time to learn the tools before you try and tackle any big project. For one because naming your first 3D model "car" and messing around until you have a car is like taking your new bicycle to the bottom of an alpine pass and messing around until you're at its top: you'll be there for as long as it takes you to give up, accomplish nothing and leave feeling useless. For two because starting a project without all the knowledge base it needs will just mean its quality will suffer from the start to the points of the project where you pick that knowledge up. For three because starting a project knowing what to do and how to do it speeds up the process massively and provides a massive boost in confidence and motivation because you know what is ahead and how to tackle it - there's nothing more demoralizing than closing up the day with no idea of how to progress from there. For four, because you need to make sure you like the tools. Modelling a car in abstract is "making a car" or "expressing your vision" or whatever poetic way you put it, but in practice it's using a piece of software for a troubling number of hours. If using that software is a chore to you you're never going to push through the learning curve involved in modelling a car, and that's for the best as modelling a car would be a miserable time.

If you want guidance: here's a Volvo wagon. Their boxiness is nigh on legendary, in the car community the "brick" nickname is nigh on a synonym for Volvo. And this is the 960, the boxiest Volvo that ever boxed.

Look at all the curves. The rear windshield curves forwards and the side windows curve inwards, making the angle between them curve diagonally (how pronounced are those curves? Are they constant?), the entire side of the car has a gentle curve to it, and the fenders flare outwards with a smooth blend between their slope and the body's (what do you suppose the radius of that blend is?) - to say nothing of the hood, the rims, and my God, that mirror is a positive sculpture! And also, the end of the rear door is tilted forward - why do you suppose that is? Well, it's clearer in the much older 240...

...you can clearly see the rear door's window frame is following the lower, downward-sloping roofline of a sedan, indicating the sedan's doors are being reused for the wagon. But now that you looked at the Volvo before, you can see the shape is more bare, more simple -free of the indentation that circled the 960's body, for instance- but much more soft and rounded, with the taillights curving inwards (how much?), the rear windshield having rounded corners (and perchance a rounded top to match a curved roof?), hell, the curve of the rear angle kicks outwards at the bottom to meet an inwards slope that goes from headlight to taillight!

This is how you have to come to see cars - by which I don't just mean noticing these details, but this analytical look being how your eye approaches a car shape. Because you can't learn to write without the ability and interest to read, if you catch my drift.

Once you've got a grasp of the tools involved, a nice idea could be to get a 3D model of a car (I recommend starting with a very boxy one and potentially working your way up), deleting a part (like a fender, or a door) and trying to recreate it yourself by eye - see what challenges you encounter, what you struggle with creating, how the result looks compared to the original, and such.

Also, a thing I would advise is to look into cutaways and diagrams and such, just like you learn anatomy when drawing humans because if you don't you'll end up with something that looks awkward and unrealistic and you will not know why. For example, these two designs seem starkly different, don't they?

And yet, if you overlap them...

...the driver seat is at exactly the same place. Why? Because that's just as far forward as you can seat a person before the crumple zone either is insufficient to absorb the force of a high speed impact or begins including their legs. This is just one of plenty aspects but I've gone on long enough already.

If you want a challenge: set a reminder for next year to come back here and show me your progress. Even if it's not anything close to a car yet, if -as you should- you set some intermediate goals that stimulate and excite you, you can still be back in this askbox with something to be proud of and I'll go wooo!!! I remember you!!! It's so cool you stuck to it and have now made this thing!!! That's great! and you'll feel SO good about yourself. Deal?

Oh about the concepts, The MX-81's steering wheel... sidewall? always made me uneasy, it looks like it's coming off (and like some airport surface that has been touched by too much gross stuff) but I do dig the CRT right in front of you! The one that's going in my car is black and white and a lot smaller than that, so a tinge of envy is there.

Also, if you like the Orca's steering wheel, you may well enjoy the '88 Grand Prix and Citroën C4/C4 Picasso's! Ride, Pontiac Ride! Or transform and dance, that's cool too!

[straightsixisstraightsix]

[rekofan101]

idk if i asked this before cause i was thinking of asking it and im not sure if i ever sent it BUT whats your hc for reko driving. i know a lot of people hc her as riding and owning a motorcycle but me personally i think she drives a crossover. semi small but big enough to carry band equipment. sure shes more popular and famous now but i imagine when she was starting out how else would she get her equipment to their sets???

DAY 355: i've had discussions about this irl (of course i have)

people headcanon her to drive a motorcycle mainly because it just looks cool. its the classic punk mode of transportation. no diss to that headcanon, i quite like it as well, but i feel reko is more into Practicality rather than Aesthetic. at least, when it comes to things she will actually use everyday. fashion is a different story, of course.

so, practically, a motorcycle wouldn't really cut it. also, i feel like she'd be a chronic road rager and borderline horrible driver, so a motorcycle isn't the safest option either!

i've always headcanoned her to be the type who is determined to keep anything she has working for as long as she can-- she often diys clothes and fixes her own equipment rather than buying new things (maybe i think this way because all of her articles of clothing look a bit raggedy and diy... + she is punk!). i think this would extend to her car as well, which means she probably owns this horrible shitbox she is constantly working on or beating the shit out of for being faulty. but she's had it since high-school, and it still drives straight, so she doesn't mind having a project... she's much too stubborn to get rid of it at this point.

as to what car? i don't know a lot about cars, i'll be honest. but i think she would like an older-looking model (this is about the only time an aesthetic would come in...) and they would've been easier to afford in her younger years. it needs to be a bit roomy though, so no shitty trunk that can't carry an amp or something. with this in mind, i've settled on her owning a shitty volvo 960 (1990-1997, haven't deduced a year of model). either black or silver. she probably decks out the inside but leaves the outside plain.

hope this suffices!

[carbrochurespl]

Volvo 960 Limousine brochure

@carbrochurespl

[swedmet]

960

[thafit]

[rrrroyale]

[carmenkennylukeyip]

KMB V6B46 @ 960 (2020-01-12) @kmbhongkong @volvobuses 九巴 富豪 B8L 12米 KMB Volvo B8L 12M #香港 #巴士 #香港巴士 #九巴 #富豪 #富豪B8L #富豪B8L12米 #V6B46 #九巴V6B46 #WD5326 #屯門建生邨960 #九巴960 #kmbhongkong #volvobuses #CarmenKennyLukeYip #HongKong #Bus #HongKongBus #KMB #Volvo #VolvoB8L #VolvoB8L12M #V6B46 #KMBV6B46 #WD5326 #TUENMUNKINSANGESTATE960 #KMB960 #kmbhongkong #volvobuses #CarmenKennyLukeYip（在 灣仔北巴士總站） https://www.instagram.com/p/CUbFZtDvbo4/?utm_medium=tumblr

[caradsfromthepast]

Volvo 960 ad. Spain, 1995