My roommate at Dragon Ball Run XI, ofsalesmen, wrote this essay upon the passing of Steve Jobs. I trust that you will enjoy reading this as much as all of us at the news team did. Having read it, I am sure that you too will come to appreciate and possibly theorize, like we did, that had Steve Jobs been an automobile engineer, he too would have created something akin to the S2000. Without further ado click through and read what ofsalesmen has to say about his recent Soul Searching on the passing of Steve Jobs.
The recent passing of Steve Jobs has left the world reverently reflecting on his tremendous technological achievements. His creations not only epitomized the ability of technology to better our lives, but also the essence of design and forging a seamless interface between human and machine.
To quote the aesthete: “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
The S2000 perfectly exemplifies that particular definition of design. To most, automotive design may simply mean bodywork: the creases, curves, and cuts of body panels. Or, in Mr. Job’s words, the “veneer.” But for the S2000, the design goes much deeper than the skin. It pervades each and every inch of metal, plastic, rubber, and glass that constitutes the car. Every component on this vehicle fulfills the mission of the S2000: to deliver pure, unfettered driving pleasure.
Start with the heart of the car: the engine. Details like fiber-reinforced metal cylinder liners, forged internals, and even the bright red valve cover express the desire of the S2000’s engine to breathe and blow at stratospheric RPM levels. Move back from the engine and into the cockpit, an exercise in minimalism that Jobs himself would appreciate. No confusing array of buttons, no flashy radio/navigation display… no functional cupholders, even. There is no design excess to distract the driver and prevent physical and emotional integration between him and the car. Zoom out further and consider the sub-3,000-pound weight and near 50/50 weight distribution—the results of perfect packaging, again to engender the car’s purpose.
The soul of the S2000 ultimately manifests itself on the surface. It’s no surprise that we tend to anthropomorphize cars; headlights are eyes, fenders equate to hips, and so on. In doing so, we imbue machines with human attributes—a soul, in other words. Ask a group of S2000 owners what their favorite exterior design feature is and you’re bound to receive several answers, like the aggressive, intent eyes. The half-smiling, half-sinister mouth, perhaps. Or how the wide, sculpted shoulders up front taper gracefully into a lithe waistline. Some might even say the tight and attractive rear end (yes, you know who you are, weirdos). The point is: one look, and you know exactly what this car is about. Every single exterior surface on the S2000 communicates a sense of speed and ability. Every line, every shadow, and every shape evokes emotion, the anticipation of euphoria and excitement that occurs every time we press that big red button marked ‘Engine Start.’
The most immediate aesthetic impressions may occur visually, but the most powerful ones occur physically… especially in the driver’s seat of the S2000. It’s the forward push under acceleration, effortlessly transmitted from the contact patches of the rear tires to the driver’s backside via the monocoque chassis and double-wishbone suspension. It’s the embrace delivered by the deep seat bolsters when exiting a tight corner. It’s the slight rearward jerking of the head when that VTEC solenoid actuates and injects an extra burst of adrenaline into both the engine and the driver. (True beauty cannot always be seen… sometimes it just has to kick in, yo.)
Recently, at DBRXI, I had a conversation with Ron about driving the S2000 on the Dragon. He mentioned how a driver becomes one entity with the car, a cyborg that rides on rails. That phenomenon is surely the hallmark of a great product: when it seamlessly integrates into your life and brings you happiness. Many can say the same about their iPhones and Macbooks. Countless people have fallen in love with Apple products, just like how we have fallen in love with our S2000s.
I am completely smitten with my S2000 because I believe it has a soul. I can see it when the sunlight shimmers on the Suzuka Blue paint. I can hear it when the tachometer sweeps across the dash to kiss the redline. And I can feel it each and every time I get in my car. It’s all in the design…
Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. Thank you for helping me appreciate the design miracle that I am so fortunate to have in my life.
- ofsalesmen
Images courtesy of ofsalesmen, energetic, Jalopnik and American Honda
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on Nov 5th, 2011 at 9:48 am
Very nice writeup. Great job :thumup:
on Nov 5th, 2011 at 11:57 am
Great write up…and anyone that attends DragonBall Run is instantly better (sarcasm). Well done! :thumbup:
on Nov 5th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I appreciate the analogies made (and they were well written)…but really this article has nothing to do with Steve Jobs.
If Steve Jobs made a car, he would have ripped the design off something else, and instead of making something niche like an S2000 he would have made a mass produced vehicle that everyone and their grandma would want to own. Charge a premium for it, and the fanboism that would run rampant would make SRT-4 owners everywhere bow down in sheer awe.
on Nov 5th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Very nice write up. I feel the same emotions when looking at and driving my S sometimes.
on Nov 5th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
With all due respect for the author and the late Mr. Jobs. While it was well written as other have said, Steve jobs has created nothing comparable to the S2000. What he did is … I guess what you could call “Pioneer the dumbing down of technology.” Unfortunately if he were to have made a car it would have been something like camry or focus. Something with lots of easy to use features and loads of margin for error. Apples technologies, While loved, are safe and loaded with fluff.
on Nov 6th, 2011 at 1:26 am
Budgy has a point.
Also, one would have to buy Honda fuel, battery, tires, window wash, etc and there would certainly be no aftermarket parts at all, no DIY maintenance and if the tires or battery would fail one would have to buy a new S2000.
Don’t even mention the lawsuits to ban the MX-5 – clearly a copy of the S2000.
No, I’m glad Steve Jobs had nothing to do with the S2000.
Btw.. all the people that now suddenly wear black turtleneck sweaters didn’t understand the phrase “Think different” at all.
on Nov 6th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
sorry this is kinda of off topic,
but i wanted to know what kind of exhuast is on that red AP1 in teh begginning of the article.
thanks
chuis2k
on Nov 6th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
One of the core things about Steve Jobs was that he focused on making things just work. It wasn’t dumbing things down, it was making sense of complicated systems through intuitive design.
You can see a lot of that in the S2000 in its simplicity and how much thought went into the design and the car’s usability. Uehara was a lot like Jobs in that regard imo.
on Nov 6th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
If we are talking about user friendly design, the S2000 really doesn’t fit that description….takes a different kind of driver to get the most out of that car. Sure it ‘works’…but I continually fail to see the parallels.
on Nov 7th, 2011 at 1:53 am
it’s always funny to read comments about famous people made by other people that have no will to be.
No one on this board will ever change the world like Steve jobs did during his second tenure. – no one
And to read peoples comments you would think they are all his equal or better, your not.
He didnt talk about changing the world he with all the attitude necessary gave us the first modern smart phone.
Yeah there was the Treo with Windows mobile but it was just a patched together blackberry type phone with limited web access.
But the iPhone really started the smart phone. And that continues today.
Not just it’s sales prove that but the access logs of website showing how much iPhone traffic there is. To consumer photo hosts showing the large number of iPhone pictures downloaded. To te sheer number of music downloaded on it – all to one device, there was no device before it to copy from. No G force meters that were even accurate for consumer use at anywhere near that price which gave rise to much of what googles phones can do today.
As did the touch screens, user interface which even 3 years later google hasnt caught up to.
And then there’s the Ipad, or should I say flight manual, child distraction device, media player, digital medical archive, e book ect ect ect.
Even 2 years after it was released google has nothing competitive.
I am not an apple fan boy I haven’t had an iphone since the moto droid came out and gave me free turn by turn navi.
But as an engineer I understand what he gave us and it was really him, apple pissed away there future without him and may very well again.
Instead of iditoic hating you might try praying to god that you or maybe your children will ever do so much for this world.
As for cars he would not have built and s2000 though he did like sports cars but he would have given us a much better Mercedes.
on Nov 7th, 2011 at 10:12 am
There’s a lot of theorycraft going on here, but I think the author has a point. If you look objectively at the S2000, it went out to accomplish a very specific task for niche of drivers, but in that capacity it accomplished it with a sense of simultaneous beauty and simplicity that I think everyone on this forum can appreciate. This is its legacy, and is why this community exists.
Steve Job’s creations, and their eventual run away success, owe their start to the same principals. Take something that’s already been done, but make it better by focusing on the presentation, the quality of the build process and the materials involved, but above all else, the end user’s experience. While the parallels are not exactly obvious, I don’t think there’s any denial that Uehara and Jobs were both very passionate about their work and in the realization of their respective visions, without compromise.
on Nov 7th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Hey everyone, this is Jon (ofsalesmen), the author.
Glad most of you liked this article! I’m also pleased to see that it sparked some discussion. Though not everyone might be a fan of Steve Jobs or his products, I think it’s still important to remember the importance of design when it comes to the things that we use everyday. My S2000 is a huge part of my life and I’m sure it became that way because of the way it was developed and executed.
My intention is not to deify Steve Jobs, but rather channel his appreciation for product design by using the S2000 as a perfect example. Hopefully, by reading this article, other owners like myself can feel more proud about owning one of the most well-designed cars in recent times.
on Nov 8th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Bookmarked! ^^
on Nov 8th, 2011 at 9:37 am
@ budgy
The car’s user design is extremely friendly. From 10 and 2, or 9 and 3, the driver can touch every control in the car without lifting hands from the steering wheel. You really never see that in a car that isn’t designed for pure racing.
Apple’s slogan, “Think Different” is pretty well known, but what many people don’t know is that it was a counter point to (then competitor to Apple) IBM’s “Think” slogan. In a lot of ways you can see a parallel between the typical Honda product and the S2000 imo.
on Nov 8th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
I certainly can’t argue the ergonomics of the interior and the functionality of it…but if the S2000 is a knife designed to carve up roads than it is a delicate touch on the handle that is required, and this is not user friendly to the unskilled.
on Nov 9th, 2011 at 12:42 am
@chuis2k, this is the Greddy Spectrum Elite Exhaust