VALIMET, Inc. was among the sponsors of the 29th IRONSTONE Concours d’Elegance, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
We captured a deep teaching on Imitation and Innovation, following the perspective of renown French Philosopher Rene’ Girard -read here:
THE FACT:
A sprout-green, verde germoglio (to be confirmed) DeTomaso Longchamp took Best in Class (see the picture, courtesy of Nelson Cardadeiro).
The DeTomaso Pantera usually carries the spotlight—there were more than a dozen present—but here it was the Longchamp that prevailed.
Why did that happen?
THE CONTEXT:
Both cars were drawn by the late Tom Tjaarda for Ghia – see his personal website to get accustomed with this great designer and his design.
American from the Mid-West, Italian by marriage and professional choice.
Some observers trace the Longchamp back to his 1969 Lancia Flaminia Marica prototype (Hagerty UK, CarrozzieriItaliani.com).
That parallel is too simple, in our opinion.
Tjaarda himself recalled the actual briefing from Alejandro DeTomaso: design a grand tourer to echo the recently released Mercedes-Benz SL (C107).
The use of Ford Granada headlamps nod in that direction, but the architecture differed significantly:
Tjaarda steepened the A and C pillars, setting the Longchamp between a GT and a sports car. That tension defined the car’s character—and gave DeTomaso a car that went beyond Imitation.
A wannabe-Mercedes became something unique.
That’s probably what the IRONSTONE jury wanted to proclaim and celebrate.
THE NON-OBVIOUS™ LESSON:
French philosopher Rene Girard wrote that Imitation is a path to Innovation, despite conventional thinking casts them as opposites:
Early in the process we tend to stick to a model, but later, more or less consciously, Innovation begins.
“At that moment, it may—or may not—generate some additional improvement which will seem insignificant at first, because it is not suggested by the model, but which really is the genuine Innovation that will turn things around.”
In other words: leave Innovation-from-scratch to the wannabees and build on top of what’s been done before: follow Tom Tjaarda.
An essential step is to abandon the over-abused, over-praised terminology of ‘revolutionary’, ‘disruptive’. Leave them to the commentators of your work, after you’ve completed it.
We’d like to congratulate Gail Kautz and all of the organizers of this very special event.
Murphy’s vines, cars and sunshine are a truly special mix and we at VALIMET are glad to be part of it.