What do you have to do To design your own car?

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KillerShadow

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Im thinking of designing a supercar exept I dont have a name or design, I just thought about this now so be easy. I just want to know how much on average it would cost. I know companies like lambo probly create them for cheap and then sell them for like 9)% profit. If I were to make a super car that just went I dont know 200?212? how much would it cost about? thanks, I take any opinion or thought on this, like I said I never had this thought till now and im interested in what it would actually take, obviously money is the biggest problem.
 
To make a "supercar" it would cost billions. And billions. And a few extra. And even then, since it would be a no-name company, with no heritage, out of nowhere, it would be hard to gain the "supercar" status.

Generally, they don't make them cheap and sell for a huge profit. Take the Bugatti Veyron for example.

On the other hand, making a car go 212mph could probably be done for under $40,000
 
Depends how you want to do it. When you say design, do you mean 'sketch a body for'? If so, get yourself a vehicle design degree.

If you want to make your own car, then it is very much definitely knowledge, and not funding you need. However, let's start with the easy stuff that cash can buy.

Let's say you want to make a mid-engined car which weighs 1000kg, and has 500hp.

First. Design your powertrain. Forget it, it's too hard. So pick pick it off the shelf. Hmmm... cheap 500hp? Chevrolet LS7 engine. Gearbox to suit? Porsche/Getrag six-speed transaxle, plus an invert kit. Brand new, these components will set you back in the order of $30,000, once you include a few hoses, bolts, bellhousing etc.

Now you've got a powertrain. So you have to put it in something. Chassis design. Well, if you can use a sawzall and can weld, you're sorted. Designing a spaceframe chassis is quite hard, but only because you have to choose the compromises. A simple sketch will get you a design which will locate your powertrain, somewhere for the driver to sit, space for fuel tank, radiators, gearlinkages, and of course, four wheels and tyres hung off some suspension components.

Ah. Suspension. This is the fun bit. It has to be very good for a car with 500hp/tonne. And you have to decide whether it is going to be usable on a road or purely for a track. Tough. Plenty of books to help you out there. I'd recommend Milliken and Milliken. This will include a few other topics about vehicle dynamics.

Wheels and tyres... easy. Hubs, carriers, driveshafts, off the shelf if you look hard enough.

But... it has to look good. So, you need a design, and some way of making it.

Forget carbon fibre. Too much like hard work. Perfectly functional bodywork can be made in glass-fibre reinforced plastic. You will need to make your buck, refine it, smooth it, paint it, wax it... then take a female mould of it. Then, from that female mould, you'll make fibreglass parts to form your bidy. You'll need to figure out how many parts, how to fit them together, how ot fit them to the car, how they work with glazing (need a windscreen... unless it's a proper spyder!) door latches, making boot space, how to access the engine... how to fit the lights... and that's not even considering the interior!

So you've done all that. Did you read all the laws which govern how cars should be made and what should be where?

it it a thousand times harder than what I've said above... but it can be done on your own. Look up http://www.kimini.com/ and see what you can do, and how long it takes. Plenty of links there to keep you busy.

And if you decide it's a bit much - cheat a little and build one yourself from a kit:

Go here: http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/

Have fun. And if you do it, take the time to do it right. :)
 
Venari
When you say design, do you mean 'sketch a body for'? If so, get yourself a vehicle design degree.
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That's probably the most practical answer.

If designing cars is your dream, KillerShadow, then I suggest you take the above advice and go for it. :)
 
Venari
Depends how you want to do it. When you say design, do you mean 'sketch a body for'? If so, get yourself a vehicle design degree.

If you want to make your own car, then it is very much definitely knowledge, and not funding you need. However, let's start with the easy stuff that cash can buy.

Let's say you want to make a mid-engined car which weighs 1000kg, and has 500hp.

First. Design your powertrain. Forget it, it's too hard. So pick pick it off the shelf. Hmmm... cheap 500hp? Chevrolet LS7 engine. Gearbox to suit? Porsche/Getrag six-speed transaxle, plus an invert kit. Brand new, these components will set you back in the order of $30,000, once you include a few hoses, bolts, bellhousing etc.

Now you've got a powertrain. So you have to put it in something. Chassis design. Well, if you can use a sawzall and can weld, you're sorted. Designing a spaceframe chassis is quite hard, but only because you have to choose the compromises. A simple sketch will get you a design which will locate your powertrain, somewhere for the driver to sit, space for fuel tank, radiators, gearlinkages, and of course, four wheels and tyres hung off some suspension components.

Ah. Suspension. This is the fun bit. It has to be very good for a car with 500hp/tonne. And you have to decide whether it is going to be usable on a road or purely for a track. Tough. Plenty of books to help you out there. I'd recommend Milliken and Milliken. This will include a few other topics about vehicle dynamics.

Wheels and tyres... easy. Hubs, carriers, driveshafts, off the shelf if you look hard enough.

But... it has to look good. So, you need a design, and some way of making it.

Forget carbon fibre. Too much like hard work. Perfectly functional bodywork can be made in glass-fibre reinforced plastic. You will need to make your buck, refine it, smooth it, paint it, wax it... then take a female mould of it. Then, from that female mould, you'll make fibreglass parts to form your bidy. You'll need to figure out how many parts, how to fit them together, how ot fit them to the car, how they work with glazing (need a windscreen... unless it's a proper spyder!) door latches, making boot space, how to access the engine... how to fit the lights... and that's not even considering the interior!

So you've done all that. Did you read all the laws which govern how cars should be made and what should be where?

it it a thousand times harder than what I've said above... but it can be done on your own. Look up http://www.kimini.com/ and see what you can do, and how long it takes. Plenty of links there to keep you busy.

And if you decide it's a bit much - cheat a little and build one yourself from a kit:

Go here: http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/

Have fun. And if you do it, take the time to do it right. :)
Click to expand...

That's just about everything right there! :lol:

The kit-makers have it easy because they don't have to design the chassis... just find a way to fit a shell over it. But the kits still have to meet regulations for road cars.

You'll want at least a good knowledge of engineering to design your own spaceframe. I know it may seem like supercar manufacturers are cropping up in every nook and cranny imaginable, but these cars are being designed by people with very interesting-sounding degrees. You may have a bit of a laugh at a car as ridiculously named as the Apollo Gumpert, but this is being made by a guy who used to engineer Audis.

I say, forget about the supercar angle... get some experience under your belt, first. Make a kit-car or two, or better yet, build a Lotus Super-Seven from scratch. It's good experience on what goes into building a car, and it's relatively cheap... buy the book on building "Locost" Super-Seven replicas... you can have a great little sports car that'll kick butt on the racetrack for less than $25,000... or a running one that'll do... okay... for half of that.
 
Get into welding and buy some books on aero, chassis and suspension dynamics (these are usually multiple-volume tombs) and study it all. After that, all you need is money. Since you seem to be focusing on the exterior of the car, then you'll also need to know how to lay fiberglass. I'd suggest getting into a trade school and enroll in some sort of engineering diploma, so that way you have all the machinery at your availability, without having to purchase or rent it yourself ($$). It takes several years, from start to finish, but it is entirely possible to do yourself.

Here's someone who's done it all himself:

http://www.dpcars.net/

If all you want to do is design cars, get started sketching at the youngest age possible, because by you're 17, you should already have a solid application portfolio to try to get into a design school in Transportation Design. This is the automotive design-specific course that can land you a job at a design house. A top-end education will set you about a quarter million dollars, so making that lo-cost supercar yourself doesn't seem so bad, now does it? Cheaper way to get that education? Major in Industrial Design, and go to a graduate school in Trans Design for a year, which will qualify you (if you have the skill, of course) to work in the field.

The automotive design field is flooded with students right now, and roughly 2% can be hired. That's a lot of people without the job they wanted.

Find your favorite car, wikipedia the designer and then google his personnal website. You'll find that most, if not all, of them have extensive experience in design fields other than cars, just to stay afloat.
 
Sell cocaine.

OK, wise-ass answer, but it illustrates the difficulty of doing what you ask about. Ol' John had been in the business quite a while before he took off on his own and went Tango Uniform. It's not like he wasn't an established player with recognizable credentials. Same with Bricklin, only without the cocaine.
 
dpcars.net is one of my favorite sites on the web... the things the guy has done (and is still doing) to produce his own car are astounding.

But the amount he is spending on the prototype is jaw-dropping, too. A build of that magnitude (ground-up design, custom-made everything except the engine) isn't for the faint of heart.
 
really good ideas+paper+pencil+pen+a good plan=perfectly designed car. in a few years, my friends design, KONFLIKT and NAZKA, will be released by GM.
 
bloogfelter
really good ideas+paper+pencil+pen+a good plan=perfectly designed car. in a few years, my friends design, KONFLIKT and NAZKA, will be released by GM.
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Uhhh huh, yeah, sher. Right back atcha.
 
My view? Desgin an absolutely kick-ass car, name it after yourself (The Shadow perhaps?) then sell it to an already existing caar company (E.g. Lamborghini or maybe Bugatti, they need a lower class car other than 250mph slugs)

The car company should be able to supply and engine and chassis from their existing line-up (Maybe a Lamborghini Murcielago replacement? It's getting pretty old now, for a supercar that is)

...also, put a badge on the car so the know who designed it, like Pininfarina does
 
benzoboy
My view? Desgin an absolutely kick-ass car, name it after yourself (The Shadow perhaps?) then sell it to an already existing caar company (E.g. Lamborghini or maybe Bugatti, they need a lower class car other than 250mph slugs)
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As if every car company on the planet doesn't have thousands of in-house designers waiting in line for the chance to detail the door handle of some new car design... let alone having some outsider like you guys breeze in with some sketches and "sell it" to some famous automobile company.

Nearly everyone in this thread who thinks that automotive design is simply a matter of scratching out some "kickass car design", getting it built, and cashing the checks needs a good strong whiff of reality.
 
Don't listen to Duke. All you need is some cardboard and a few markers.

Cardboard%20Ricer.JPG
 
They accidentally spelled V-tec right on their air dam.

And did you know that NOS sells an NOS-branded energy drink? It comes in little 16oz blue bottles with an orange cap, just like real NAAAAWS bottles.
 
I love the chevy badge on the front... and the fact that the box still says "this side up".
 
It's not that hard to build your own car. however, it is hard to build a good one.

People that think that designing and building a supercar would cost billions even millions, even hundereds of thousands for that matter are very wrong. though it would largly depend on just how much "design" your talking about. If the plan is to cannibalise other car parts and then simply have a custom body and interior, your talking about a cost in the thousands for a decent body and good interior quality (I'm talking the materials rather than a luxury interior).

You can build your own chassis from steel, or alluminium, but I wouldn't advise that without a hefty lump of knowledge regarding what your actually doing. Rather, you could always take another car, strip it to the chassis, and use that as a base, then cannibalise an engine off something else. A Chevy V8 would be a good choice for it's reliability and I beilieve they're pretty versatile.

I think that with the right knowledge, you could build your own supercar for under £10,000, considering you can build a Locost for under £600 you could probably do it for well under £5,000, but this is where quality is a factor. To do it right, and to use a good enough base car, your probably looking at more than £10k. It will not be as accomplished as something that has had millions spent on R&D, though with the right cash, attitude and knowledge, you could create something decent enough, and unique to be satisfied with. Though this would only ever be feasable as a personal project, it is not something your likely to make money from. If you want that, then your much better off going to university and getting a degree in something related to where your more skilled or more drawn to.
 

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