We are at the end of the sixties, that decade in which everything turned around, in which values and customs, until then, almost untouchable, were questioned. In Paris, the students claim the power for the imagination and forbid prohibiting (decades later their heirs will already take care of prohibiting everything imaginable…). In London, the girls free their legs thanks to Mary Quant while they dance to the beat of the White Album, by the Beatles… “Hey Jude, don’t let me down…” (“Listen Jude, don’t let me down…”).
London…, Diana Vreelan, the editor of Vogue, defined it in 1966 as “the most fashionable city in the world at the moment”. Yes, everything is possible in that capital of “swinging”, the one that sets the fashion. Boys and girls who imitate Veruschka or Twiggi, who walk through Carnaby Street, Kings Road or the Chelsea area, mark “what is in”: fashion is more than clothes, it is culture.
And avant-garde, also on wheels. And through its streets you can see, door to door with classic representatives of the “establishment”, such as Rolls or Aston Martin, provocations on wheels like the Quasar Unipower.
a vietnamese creator
The capital of the Thames attracts creators from all over the world such as N’Guyen Manh Khanh, born in Hanoi (Vietnam) in 1934.
Quasar and Emmanuelle Khanh; a creative and avant-garde couple that will mark their time
When he married his wife, the French fashion designer Emmanuelle, in 1957, Khanh decided to adopt the pseudonym Quasar, in reference to a star that shines millions of light-years away. The second half of the sixties saw his career as a designer and engineer blossom.
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 the global engineering and consulting firm Coyne & Bellier , Khanh became involved in the construction of the world’s largest multiple arch dam at the time, Manicouagan 5, built in Canada. And he 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 applied, he came up with the idea of using compressed air. This would mark the beginning of a long and prolific chapter in his career, placing him in the very restricted circle of designers who marked the 20th century.
One of his most celebrated works, a range of inflatable furniture titled “Aerospace”, made in the year 1967, and which will become an instant pop culture icon. 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 pouf…, as well as lamps, poufs…
Quasar Khanh’s furniture, guarantors and witnesses of the modernity of the moment in terms of decoration, can be seen in many films, including the famous pool scene in “Le cervau” (“The Brain”, 1969) by Gérard Oury , with Jean Paul Belmondo, David Niven and Silvia Monty. His work, one of the landmarks of furniture design, has been exhibited in museums around the world, including the Pompidou Center in Paris and MoMA in New York.
Your vision of urban vehicle
In fact, his creativity covers a very wide multitude of products, from boats and planes, to houses and cars. And this is where we find the heart of our story, a transparent cubical 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 gets to work. The first prototype is ready in 1967, thanks to the work of Ludovic Bernard and Jacques Barillet. Intended for use in the city, it is a car reduced to its simplest expression. They use a BMC undercarriage (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 seats, associated with an automatic gearbox. The body is made up of tempered glass panels, with six sliding doors, and can carry six passengers (three in front and three in the back) at a speed of up to 80 km/h. Although there is talk of “Cube”, in reality it is not such because it is the only car produced that is wider than it is long (1.80 m compared to 1.70 m), and 1.80 m high. And its turning radius, only 7.60 meters (a Mini at that time needed two more meters), makes it very manoeuvrable.
The body is made up of tempered glass panels, with six sliding doors
And to accentuate this mobile transparent space, the seats are made up of a molded plastic frame, on which two separate cushions are placed. made of inflatable transparent plastic.
Five seats, expandable up to six, thanks to a carrier between the two front seats
Manufacturing, already with an 1100 engine, is carried out by the English firm 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 build a series of lightweight sports cars with the Mini’s mechanics. The Quasar Unipower is produced between 1967 and 1968, in small quantities, there is talk of about fifteen units.
The Cube together with some of the pieces from the ‘Aerospace’ collection of armchairs
Curiously, 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 drague 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, hands down the perfect car to see…and be seen.