Talented Alex has designs on your next new car

A MERSEYSIDE dad has spoken of his pride this week after his son landed a dream job designing a Chinese car company's latest models.

Jeff O'Brien, from Thornton, told Life On Cars that after impressing car industry executives with his design flair his son Alex has now jetted off to Shanghai to help design vehicles for Qoros, a joint Israeli-Chinese firm which will be launching its first cars in the UK next year.

Mr O'Brien said yesterday: "Alex's designing and sketching skills are out of this world, and after completing the car design course at the University of Coventry he impressed a lot of design executives for different companies, who all saw what he'd come up with and wanted to take a look. One of them was a manager at Qoros, who spoke to Alex and was absolutely delighted with him.

"Alex wanted to work with Qoros because it's a new company, and they're really keen to use some of his design skills in their models."

The model which former Manor High School pupil Alex created to conclude his design course, a sports car design aimed at supercar builders Bugatti (pictured above), attracted attention from car industry executives at an exhibition, used to showcase the UK's latest car design talent, held in Coventry last year. Father and son worked together on the car, with Jeff, a retired Craft, Design and Technology tutor, helping to fashion the wheels for the model of Alex's sports car design.

Although work commitments in Shanghai meant Alex was unavailable to speak to Life On Cars, a Qoros spokesperson said of its new range of cars: "Qoros is a fresh, new brand without legacy. It is driven by a passionate international team of expert designers, engineers and marketers who are united in their desire to develop sophisticated and highly individual products.

"The company is dedicated to meeting an ever-increasing demand for cars that are highly differentiated from other products within a crowded automotive marketplace. In addition to design that is both elegant and functional, Qoros products will be distinguished by a strong focus on state-of-the-art technology, with high levels of user-friendly in-car connectivity and vehicle safety standards which compare to the best in Europe."

The first Qoros car to be sold in the UK, an as-yet-unnamed four door saloon, will make its European debut at the Geneva Motorshow next March.

A Life On Cars tribute to the Raleigh Chopper

 Alan Oakley, designer of the Raleigh Chopper bicycle, has died today. Life On Cars writer David Simister, who owned two, pays tribute by remembering why the funkily-styled Seventies icon was such a class act...

It’s mechanically challenged, outgunned at the lights by any moped, and has room for just one on its rather exposed seat. Yet the Raleigh Chopper is no ordinary bike, being to cycling what the Mini is to motoring or the Volkswagen Caravelle to camping.

A legend in its own lifetime, it somehow encompasses both iconic and ironic within one spin of its tiny wheels. Running a Chopper is a surreal experience. I bought one way back in 2007 to replace my old Vespa, and although it couldn't hope to beat the Italian scooter on speed, it’s a surprising equal in the style stakes and yet far cheaper.

When I was at university in Carlisle I used my Raleigh Chopper (pictured below) every day to get between my student digs on one side of the Great Border City, the campus on the other and the supermarket, somewhere in between the two. I loved it so much that it was one of the treasured possessions I took all the way to Bristol with me after I graduated, and after a couple of weeks I realised how cool a bike it was after a couple of bolt cutter-wielding thieves stole it while it was chained up a stone's throw from the SS Great Britain. I responded by immediately getting another one - even though it meant travelling to Yeovil on the train to get it - which I still have to this day.

My red Raleigh Chopper MK3, even though it's now in need of a restoration and has sat unloved in the garage for years because it isn't a car, is still one of my most treasured possessions. It is, put simply, as much an icon of Seventies Britain as the Capri or the Rover SD1 were.

Compared to a normal bike, the Chopper feels very odd to ride at first. Those enormously high handlebars seem to have no control over where the tiny front wheel goes, while the comparatively enormous rear makes every getaway a wheelie. Yet given time and a slightly different riding style, it becomes easily one of the most amusing forms of transportation ever conceived. The wacky proportions raise eyebrows, but the reincarnated Raleigh has enjoyed massive success three decades after the ancestor’s heyday.

It’s even practical - the chrome backrest is perfect for loading shopping bags onto, and much safer than dangling them off the handlebars off a normal bike. The modern Chopper’s just gone out of production, but there’s never been a better time to buy second-hand.

Compared to the hundreds of pounds the 1970s originals fetch, now is definitely the time to buy. BMXs might be the more obvious choice for bike-riding yoofs, but with the Raleigh Chopper, you’re making a cool, retro statement.

It’s still not really motoring, but going back to the 1970s has never been cheaper.