Another classic turns 50 this year.

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Tom Young
Skilled Systems Installer
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:57 am
Location: Rockport Maine

Another classic turns 50 this year.

Post by Tom Young »

The Jaguar XKE. I know this is a car, but I was looking at the design in a NYTs article and was struck by how it's era in design is so clear. A prominent element of the cars design to me is the window shape. And so I see that shape repeated in some boat port designs of the same era, like mine and others.

It's quite an amazing shape. To me, it looks as though the window shape is the heart and center of the cars "biological look"(per the article). The car itself, the lovely living shape, it's lines, begin from the window shape and follow gracefully.
Jag-E-collecting-1-popup.jpg
Before(?) the XKE, a similar port design was used in some of Aldens designs and other boat designs. It percolated into many ports with various subtle changes for some time. The "poof", it was gone.

I don't know who drew that port. I doubt it could be traced to one pencil way back when. More a collaboration of designers over some years. But someone saw some magic in the shape and things developed from within. While you can't really pin point who started these individual elements of design, looking back from a 50 year perspective, you can't miss this wonderful era.

Any idea where this shape started in boat(car?) port(window) design?
Xmas port shape.jpg
Duncan
Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:28 am
Boat Name: Coquine
Boat Type: Cape Dory 27
Location: Montréal
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Re: Another classic turns 50 this year.

Post by Duncan »

Tom Young wrote:...Any idea where this shape started in boat(car?) port(window) design?
I always think of those as "Alden ports". Here's a variation, on the Alden 50 (built by Cheoy Lee).

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Cape Dory 10 & 27
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