Monday, March 26, 2012

Bejeweled on wheels

Brilliance in motion
Delray Beach, FL
December 2009
About this photo: We're winding down this week's "lights on" theme. Head here to drop in your own contribution before our new theme, branded, launches tonight at 7 o'clock Eastern.
I thought I'd balance off the Buick LeSabre post with something a little more modern. Behold the tail lamp assembly of a second-generation Toyota Prius. If the LeSabre is the auto-tech equivalent of the Stone Age, the Prius is something close to sci-fi, minus the fiction.

You can see it in the lights: Complex, jewel-like fixtures that betray the hybrid wizardry going on underneath. In fact, no matter what might lie under the hood, auto vendors have turned formerly humble headlights and tail lights in recent years into fashion platforms, with ever more sophisticated designs and technologies being used to tell the world just how much you spent on your car.

It's a process that only promises to accelerate as even newer technologies take hold. LED-based lighting, in particular, promises to revolutionize how we see the world whether we're on wheels or sitting in a room. Low power, tiny footprint and freaky-cool sizes, shapes and colors - I suspect it's only a matter of time before the modern equivalent of the Yugo puts even this Toyota's design to shame.

We live in interesting, and apparently bright, times.

Your turn: Got a favorite car? Why?

4 comments:

darlin said...

Cool shot Carmi. I had to read to see what it was, then it came together.

Have a wonderful week!

Lisa Shafer said...

Spiffy shot.
Favorite car? Max should be here soon to discuss that!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I'm pretty happy with the Thundermobile (a 2006 Honda Civic): didn't cost me that much, gets me there comfortably, doesn't use too much gas.
~

21 Wits said...

Quite a jewel, and even more interesting is driving one and watching how it evolves switching between gas and battery!
Amazing!