Dressed in the Mary Quant mini, the girls walk down Carnaby Street imitating Twiggi and Veruschka. London is the center of the avant-garde and a Vietnamese engineer comes up with the idea to design a provocative car…, Hey Jude…
We are at the end of the 1960s, that decade in which everything turned around, in which values and customs, until then almost untouchable, were called into question. In Paris, the students claim the power of the imagination and forbid it (decades later, their heirs will already ensure that everything imaginable is banned…). In London, the girls free their legs thanks to Mary Quant as they dance to the beat of the Beatles’ White Album… “Hey Jude, don’t let me down…” (“Listen Jude, don’t let me down…” t let me down…”).
London…, Diana Vreelan, the editor of Vogue, described it in 1966 as “the most fashionable city in the world today”. Yes, anything is possible in that capital of “swinging”, the one that defines fashion. Boys and girls imitating Veruschka or Twiggi, walking down Carnaby Street, Kings Road or the Chelsea district, mark “what’s hot”: fashion is more than clothes, it’s culture.
And avant-garde, also on wheels. And through the streets you see, door to door with classic representatives of the “establishment”, such as Rolls or Aston Martin,
provocations on wheels like the Quasar Unipower.
The capital of the Thames attracts creators from all over the world, such as N’Guyen Manh Khanh, born in Hanoi (Vietnam) in 1934.
When he married his wife, the French fashion designer Emmanuelle, in 1957, Khanh decided to adopt the pseudonym Quasar, referring to a star that shines millions of light years away. In the second half of the 1960s, his career as a designer and engineer flourished.
Khanh studied in Paris (his family had moved to the French capital in 1947), where he graduated in engineering from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in 1959. While working for global engineering and consulting firm Coyne & Bellier, Khanh became involved in the construction of the world’s largest multi-arch dam at the time, Manicouagan 5, built in Canada. And it addresses the problem with the toxicity of mercury and lead used in construction. In his search for an alternative to these problematic materials, as well as the pressure they exert, he came up with the idea of using compressed air. This was to be the start of a long and fruitful chapter in his career, which brought him into the very narrow circle of designers that marked the 20th century.
One of his most celebrated works, a series of inflatable furniture titled “Aerospace”, created in the year 1967, which will instantly become an icon of pop culture. It will be exhibited in 1969 at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris and at the Milan Triennale.
This collection includes: the Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Mars armchairs, the Satellite footstool…, as well as lamps, footstools…
Quasar Khanh’s furniture, sureties and witnesses to the modernity of the moment in terms of decoration can be seen in many films, including the famous swimming pool scene in “Le cervau” (“The Brain”, 1969) by Gérard Oury, with Jean Paul Belmondo , David Niven and Silvia Monty. His work, which has become one of the landmarks of furniture design, has been exhibited in museums around the world, including the Pompidou Center in Paris and the MoMA in New York.
In fact, his creativity covers a very wide range of products, from boats and planes to houses and cars. And here we find the core of our story, a transparent cubic vehicle, called “Quasar Unipower”. The late 1960s encouraged free thinking, so why not a car built around six sliding doors? The French-Vietnamese designer wants to create the ultimate city car. And he goes to work. The first prototype is ready in 1967, thanks to the work of Ludovic Bernard and Jacques Barillet. Intended for urban use, it’s a car reduced to its simplest expression. They use a BMC chassis (that of an Austin Mini), but now with the mechanics in the rear: the 850 cc engine is located under the seat of the rear seat, coupled to an automatic gearbox. The body consists of tempered glass panels, has six sliding doors and can carry six passengers (three in the front and three in the rear) at a speed of up to 80 km/h. Although there is mention of “Cube”, it is not really, as it is the only car produced that is wider than it is tall (6ft vs. 5ft 7in) and 6ft tall. And thanks to its turning circle of only 7.60 meters (a Mini then needed two meters more), it is very manoeuvrable.
And to accentuate this mobile transparent space, the chairs are made of a molded plastic frame, on which two loose cushions are placed. made of inflatable transparent plastic.
Production, already with an 1100 engine, is carried out by the English company Unipower. Created by Ernie Unger, an engineer from Lotus, Ron Bradshaw (a Ford designer who worked on the GT40 project) and Tim Powell, owner of an engineering company (Universal Power Drives), who will be building a line of lightweight sports cars with the Minis mechanics . The Quasar Unipower was produced between 1967 and 1968, in small quantities, about fifteen pieces.
Oddly enough, more than the English themselves, it fascinated the French who acquired most of these. And she also captivated filmmakers: she appeared in several films, including “Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drage pas, mais…ele cause” (1970), directed by Michel Audiard, with Mireille Darc at the wheel.
Khanh, who passed away in 2016, left us this Quasar Unipower, without a doubt the perfect car to see… and be seen.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
