D Car — July 2004

Creating a new form: the Transformer is complete!

WELD president Ito handled the bodywork. “Art Factory’s Sawada wanted it to feel as if the car could transform. The del Sol already has a TransTop, and so many parts open up, that I suggested tilting the hood and opening the fenders too.”

Honda CR-X del Sol, a transforming-body show car

“I said that, then found myself doing all the hard work (laughs). But it paid off—we made something with a shape you don’t see every day!”

The open hood recalls the dramatic front ends of exotic cars such as the Countach and Lamborghini Miura. That striking view is the best way to appreciate this unusual hood.

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Tilt-up hood

It is more than an ordinary tilt hood! The factory striker is retained. To open it, the hood first lifts, then slides forward, and then lifts again. It is an elaborate mechanism.

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WEBERS

From the side you can clearly see it sliding forward as it opens. Space is tight on the del Sol, so installation was a real challenge.

UNDERGROUND

The tilt-up hood is special

the beautifully finished hood can be viewed head-on,

But that is not all:

because its opening motion is so unusual.

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See page 58 for an explanation of the mechanism!

ARTEACTORY

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Variable front fender. “The fender opens?!” This tilting front fender is unexpected, and the built-in monitor makes the display even more eye-catching.

This is a tilting front fender.

They first considered a design that would slide the fender backward, but that required too much travel, so they abandoned it in favor of the tilt mechanism.

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Simply opening the fender would have been boring, so they added a monitor inside. One idea was to have a machine gun pop out when it opened.

See page 58 for the mechanism explanation!