The Designer

Daniel Simon is a concept designer, producer and author, with professional roots as Senior Car Designer at Bugatti and Volkswagen.

Today, Simon’s design clients include racing teams like Lotus all major film studios and, with focus on Hollywood blockbuster films like Tron Legacy , Tron Uprising, Captain America, Prometheus and Oblivion. Recently, Simon focuses on own design ideas.

Simon is most acclaimed for the Tron Light Cycle (the film version) , the Captain America Car and his bestselling book Cosmic Motors – Spaceships, Cars and Pilots Of Another Galaxy.

Currently, Simon develops his own automotive fantasy franchise, which will launch May 2013.

The Clip

The clip seen here is the car Daniel Simon designed under his credit Lead Vehicle Designer for Marvel Studios, appearing in the 2011 Marvel feature film ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, directed by Joe Johnston.

It is a digital animation, showcasing the styling sophistication that designer Daniel Simon puts into his creations. It also echoes the love and passion for vintage cars, which is in great contrast to his normally futuristic projects.

The Car

The elegant 1942 supercharged V16 Coupé is the personal car of Marvel's villain Johann Schmidt - the Red Skull. It is 7.62m long, and with 10 wheels driven by a 16 cylinder cube power engine, it is said to be the fastest car of the era.

Stylistic inspirations given by Captain America director Joe Johnston were the Mercedes 540K, the Mercedes G4 and some hints of the Bentleys and Duesenberg’s of the 40ies.

Due to the shear size of the car demanded by the movie script and character, a truck chassis was used for the practical film car, and proportions were a major challenge for Simon. Existing cars could only be used as reference, all surfaces had to be carefully balance over the huge chassis.  

Technical Info Clip

The animation was rendered in Bunkspeed software, using nVidia GPU technology with Quadro 6000 cards.