WE’re bombarded with 34gb of information EVERY SINGLE DAY.
I think we can all be a little… scatterbrained for lack of better term; At least, I can, in that I have constant ideas pouring into my mind. Some stick, whereas most are just passing by as a gentle breeze to be briefly experienced, as our brains are designed to do. I’m an endlessly curious person with an eye for an interesting or new way of doing things, or lets just call it the extraordinary. This is as true with sounds/music composition as it is visually; my mind is constantly analyzing everything it is exposed to. I pay attention to how things are put together, how they operate, wondering what prompted the artist to make them that way, that direction, with that function. I used to think of this as a flaw, but in recent years I’ve come to realize its actually one of my superpowers. Let me share with you what I think it means to go beyond “pushing the envelope”.
You’ve probably seen scattered across the site my appreciation for Rolls-Royce vehicles and the like; I watch them very closely in terms of design and ethos as I aim to make my 7 series as much like a Rolls-Royce as possible, but in my own way. I know, I could just buy a RR but that’s not quite as fun as analyzing their engineering and design cues and going on rabbit hole dives on things like peltier refrigeration, humidors, mother of pearl inlays, and abundantly creative use of fiber optics in substrates besides the popular Starlight headlining such as atop the slats of the iconic grille, or within the wood trimming on the doors in the Luminary Collection Wraith.
This willingness to break through existing barriers in pursuit of the ultimate luxury nobody knew they needed has always been extremely intriguing to me, and inspires me to do the same. I’ve fiddled about with illuminated kidney grille slats, etched headlight projectors, ambient lighting—which, lets face it, have become relatively commonplace within the luxury realm, particularly within aftermarket spaces as LEDs become cheaper and cheaper to manufacture and manipulate. Most modern vehicles have ambient lighting from the factory, while things like glass etching are reserved for BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Maybach. I needed a new way to solve the creative problem that is individualistic expression and the pursuit of exclusivity; in other words, I needed to move the envelope. But how?
THERES NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Or so the saying goes. In this instance, I take it as there is no such thing as a completely original concept, but instead only the merging of ideas to create a new perspective. That said, I can’t give full credit to coincidence when I first had this idea, but instead I pulled information from previous experiences of working with different materials and different optics. Let me share with you what started the end product just a few years ago.
On BMW’s latest and final vehicle to boast the coveted V12, one detail you’ll find about it is that they wanted you to know it had a V12 — this was made obvious by the fact that it had seven instances of “V12” text throughout. One on each door sill, one on each c-pillar, and one in the center console — Let’s focus on that one for now.
With my 7 having been converted to a 12-cylinder and me being in the process of revitalizing the wood trim with a darker finish and mother of pearl inlays, it seemed fitting to add that little detail to give some balance within the interior given the pearl above the glovebox. Having it near the gear shifter is a sensible place for BMW to have put it as it gives the driver a reminder of the experience they’re about to have, every single time its put into gear.
This process started with an altered image before wasting any time with manual labor — I had to make sure I actually would like it in the car — so to photoshop I went. The result:
I liked it so I moved forward with stripping the existing finish off of the wood, which I cover here, and once complete, I carefully measured where the insignia would go and used pencil to “mock it up”. I chose to use the BMW E65/E66 generation of the font simply because I like it better than the E38 version. I knew of it because a few years prior, while at a salvage yard - I popped off 4 of these illuminated door sill pieces:
In the car to make sure I really liked it — remember, this car is built around me and my individual needs/tastes, so extra surety on these types of things are important.
I had ordered more Mother of Pearl from online, which I discovered was paper thin and translucent.
I then carved out the wood where the pearl would rest, as well as cut the pearl at the same scale. Not bad for my first time working with the material.
The pearl came alive with a clear coat on it; it was mesmerizing in a way. But then I thought, what if it had a dual purpose as a piece of ambient lighting like the door sill lights from the E65? I ground out the back of the trim piece and put LEDs behind it and it worked!
As sad as it is, during this phase of experimentation, the piece was damaged and I abandoned the idea — but that’s okay and sometimes necessary. As an artist, experimentation is critical for cultivating new ideas/concepts — they don’t always have to stick or become final pieces. The biggest thing is the information you glean from the experience and can carry with you, should you ever need it again. You never know when or even if it will ever become useful, but there’s nothing wrong with a little added wisdom. This was a push against the envelope, but no real movement yet.
TWO YEARS LATER
I decided to take another stab at passively letting people know I had a v12 in the car. The way most people do this on E38s is buying a physical badge from BMW and putting it on their quarter panel just as Princess DIana’s had, as well as the newer ones. Examples:
This example uses the E65/6 version:
Now, I’ve spoken before on how the roots of my affinity for cars are deep within the lowrider world. Gold/silver leafing, patterns, water droplets, lace masking — the possibilities within the paint of these cars are absolutely endless.
It dawned on me that since I have pearl within the car, why not go outside with it? I had some lefttover pearl and cut out another V12 logo and simply glued it to the car; again for proof of concept, scale, placement etc. I left it on for a few weeks to see how I liked living with it, and yes, I was a fan. I was in Atlanta with the car during that time and decided to take a few pictures to sort of bring the idea to life .The first:
I turned it around to get the other side under the light and took this:
Immediately after getting this photo onto my laptop, I thought to myself “how interesting, it looks like the text is just glow— wait, what if it was illuminated?” Inspiration had struck with a great force and my mind got to work on figuring out how this was possible to pull. I could draw on past knowledge and put together that:
M.O.P. is easy to work with
Is also translucent
Is thin enough to lay under clear coat thereby having the visual effect of a physical logo/badge without the collection of dirt/debris or being stolen(that happens on other models more than you think)
C.O.B LEDs provide a thin profile & are even flexible — good for fitting in tight spaces
Sheetmetal is … sufficiently easy to work with
That is a pretty healthy start for something I’ve never seen or even fathomed prior to that photo, but there were still quite a few pieces missing. I’m a hands-on learner, so I need to actually see, hold, touch, manipulate the materials to really get the best understanding, and this includes the car itself. However, I was absolutely not about to cut into the body of my car solely for experimentation’s sake. I had to have something I could afford to really play with and potentially break. Again, I was very willing to fail, just not on my car. I’d let this idea simmer in my mind for another 6 months before I’d come across an opportunity to buy a parts car for my 740i restoration project. Given that it was a wrecked vehicle, I knew it would be getting scrapped after my time with it, so I held nothing back cutting into the body of it to get test pieces. One example was the roof, the reason for which I’ll cover in another story another day; the other was the quarter panel.
Mind you that, as planned, I still have yet to take any of this to the canvas/car itself yet and I’m still in a safe space to play. The problem, however, with safety is that sometimes it leads to stagnancy or a lack of urgency.
What finally got me moving on this project 4 months after cutting these pieces out was that rapper Rick Ross was having a car show at his Georgia estate & I saw this as a great opportunity for people to see my work, and what I can do. Up to this point my 7 has been a pretty good example, but it needed to go beyond what it was before. The car needed an engine, basically a full respray along with other bodywork, and for the interior to be finished back up — A lot of ideas I had started but not actually brought to full fruition, such is the case for many artists. New ideas pop up and inspiration goes away, especially on a car thats been sitting for months. In short, there was a LOT of work to be done in a very short period of time, a true nod to the Overhaulin’/automotive reality shows I’d grown up watching, and now I get to experience it. I would spend about $1000 just to GET to the show and I had about 2 months to do all of this. Oh, and there were no refunds. Once you bought that ticket, good luck. How’s that for urgency? I hit that “purchase” button and got right to work as the clock had officially started, namely on this illuminated, inlaid pearl piece on the exterior; something that could not be done after paint is laid!
I brought the cut piece inside to get to work on it. You can read this section, or watch the video at the end of it.
Remember those door sills I picked up all those years ago? They came in handy as they were the perfect size. I used a dremel and a file to cut each piece out, with a lot of test fitting, filing, test fitting, filing, test fitting, and a little bit of filing to get to actually sit flush. Putting the LED behind it was really the Genesis of this idea in reality(see what I did there?) and I was definitely motivated to keep going.
The next part was on the insert itself — I sanded the chrome finish from the letters and glued pieces of pearl onto them. The most critical aspect of this was keeping in mind the context: the angle the piece rests at, the angle at which it’ll be viewed, etcetera, with consistent grain laid the right way on it. The reason for this is that its iridescence has a bit of a striated finish to it, meaning that it must be “upright” in order for it to reflect/cast light the right way back to the viewer. One could choose to ignore this, but the end result would be an incomplete image across its elements and would look more like an afterthought than something extremely intentional. Notice how artisans use it in the following pieces; how the way the pieces are laid help give it dimension and intention. Think of it as a brush stroke.
That in mind, I used multiple smaller pieces and laid them out so that they caught the light at the same time. I filed around the characters, laid them in, and gave a spritz of water to give it that true depth, and then gave the light a shot:
I primed the panel itself to give a better idea with the contrast that would be present when all of this is said and done:
It was at this point that I knew this project was fully feasible at scale, and took my reaction to the above photos as nothing less than a green light to myself to go ahead and do the unthinkable(after doing all of that again for the other side) and take 180g on a DA and worse, a cutoff wheel to the perfectly fine body of my car.
After a few hours of gluing, welding, grinding/filing, metal-reinforced filler, and sanding on both sides, here’s what we had — you could see the vision beginning to come to life:
After sealer(under tape):
After base, first few coats of clear, wetsand, and some water to catch the pop:
After painting, I had to get it home and reassemble the entire car in addition to wiring the LEDs in. As you’ll see in the video, I fabricated and welded a “ledge” upon which they rest so that they wouldn’t fall down into the quarter panel for any reason and be irretrievable. I got them set in there and wired them to both interior lighting systems (door open and illumination) with a relay so that it could come on either way and switch back and forth depending on which had power.
The idea was that when the car was unlocked with the key, or a door was open, the logos would illuminate as a “welcome light”. The effect is very luxurious:
They were also wired to the illumination/light-on wire so that at night you’d see the logo from many lanes over, making it unmistakably clear that you’re next to a serious automobile — This effect is important because as BMW has done since the E39 and the introduction of the CELIS tail lights and Angel Eyes, it adds identity to light whereas before one could only distinguish a car during the day. Speaking of, during the day, it gives its eye-catching glimmer under the sunlight. The eye is drawn to it, but upon further inspection surprised to find that its beneath the paint. This effect is more especially highlighted at night because its a light that can’t be touched nor does it protrude from the surface.
As it stands, this is some of my most progressive thinking in terms of design and the meshing of worlds. I guess its not so bad to know a little about a lot, huh? I gleaned from vintage Asian art, modern optic technology, and automotive design to create something the world has never seen before — at least not from this perspective or combination. This is relatively monumental to me as most of my work prior has been taking ideas that existed on other automotive platforms and just fit them to a different, but “similarly shaped” canvas; work I’m certainly proud of, but this is what cutting-edge is supposed to look like. The best part is that I get to enjoy and drive it every day as a part of my personal oasis.
IN PARTING
I would say its time for me to think about the next way to move that envelope a bit further, but to be honest, its already underway! I look forward to speaking with you again in due time over an update on what I came up with next. Until then, thanks for reading and definitely leave a comment below/share this article!
Best,
Derrick D. Bundy
M&B Mobile Detailing & Coatings