Club Le Car: The Atlas of Car Design Goes to the Sunday Motor COmpany

Club Le Car convened at the Sunday Motor Company cafe in Madison, New Jersey to celebrate “The Atlas of Car Design,” a new book published by Phaidon that provides an extensive overview of the most relevant car designs of all time. Brett Berk, one of the book’s authors and a Le Car contributor, joined Tamara Warren for a conversation about the book and the extensive research it required. Guests snacked on oysters from Perla and Detroit-style pizza from Buckys.

Along with Berk, UK authors Jason Barlow and Guy Bird curated hundreds of cars from around the globe — 663 of the most impactful vehicle designs of all time, grouped in sections by continent and chronology. The weighty book is almost 300 pages, illustrated with rich, matte photos, and essays that get at the heart of what’s gone right and wrong in the field of automotive design. When it comes to the cars, each concise entry serves as a primer for the chosen makes and models. The icons are all there — Porsche 911, Jaguar E-Type, and the original Mustang, but the real fun is in the more obscure makes and models like the Hino Contessa 900 Sprint, the BMW Isetta, and the Glas Goggomobil, a tiny convertible shown with the image of a driver and her dog. Not all designs were chosen for their beauty, but rather, also for shaking things up with polarizing character. Berk cited the Pontiac Aztek, the Ford Pinto, and the Tesla Cybertruck in this category.

The conversation covered some of the stories behind memorable makes and models and the criteria for what made it into the book, along with audience questions about the ins and out of the car design field. After the discussion,spilled into the Sunday Motor Company parking lot where several interesting cars made for futher conversation pieces. The modern, airy cafe is the brainchild of Nick Vorderman and his wife, Renee, an interior designer, built around the culture of historic cars and gathering a fresh community of curious and burgeoning enthusiasts in what they call an “auto inspired cafe for all.”