Edition #FIFTEEN
So Fresh & So Clean
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Still coming down from our high of driving Prototype 1 for the first time, we took a little break before tackling the next step in Laguna’s development program: tearing it apart! As painful as that was, the resulting shiny chassis, brushed aluminum interior panels, and beautifully trimmed wiring loom made it all worthwhile. Here’s what went down over the last six weeks since our last update!
It wouldn’t be a Shoreline Bespoke update without mention of manual labor, and we really delivered this time. When the prototype was assembled for its first drive, the plan was always to dismantle the vehicle (once we confirmed everything worked) so we could paint the chassis. “Why didn’t you paint it before you put everything together?” is a question we have fielded about twelve thousand times, but it’s a valid one. The answer is: we thought we might have to modify the chassis as we worked out any assembly kinks. If we had painted it and then continued cutting and welding, it would have become a mess. We actually didn’t need to make any modifications, but it was impossible to know that in advance. As a result, we had lots of surface rust to remove. Rust occurs naturally on unprotected steel and doesn’t affect its strength, but it certainly doesn't look nice. We tasked ourselves with completely dismantling the car to remove the rust, and then coating it to prevent future rusting. After just two days of disassembly, this is what we were left with:
The quick disassembly process made me reflect on how difficult modern vehicles are to work on. Kyle and I both worked in auto shops when we were in college and we gained a lot of practical knowledge from that experience. Sure, our prototype has fewer parts than a typical production vehicle, but it is so much easier to work on that the difference is shocking. Engineers who design production vehicles are tasked with cramming components into tight spaces for packaging efficiency, but for the mechanics who have to service those vehicles it means the simplest maintenance task can become an hour-long affair. We designed Laguna to be easily assembled, disassembled, and maintained; a no-brainer given we are the ones who have to work on it! This design philosophy is nothing new in motorsport, where parts are designed to be rapidly replaced mid-race, but it’s unusual for a road car because it costs more to engineer and doesn’t produce the hefty maintenance bills some automakers rely on for recurring revenue.
Kyle and I spent over 100 man-hours hand-scrubbing the entire chassis, removing rust that had accumulated over the last twelve months. Next, the topic of rust prevention: do we paint, powder coat, or chemical coat the bare metal? Painting or powder coating would require drilling out 100+ rivets to remove pre-installed hardware, hauling it to a paint shop, and then re-riveting all of the hardware after paint. In favor of saving several thousand dollars and a week of time, we opted for a high-tech yet DIY friendly coating: Boeshield T-9. It was developed by Boeing to protect aircraft components from the elements, and it just wipes on! Thank you, aerospace industry. 😎
As far as before/after comparisons go, this is a pretty satisfying one in my book. Go ahead, scroll up and down a few times. I’ll wait. The freshly brushed steel chassis can once again be appreciated as a piece of automotive art - a testament to the beauty of engineering. All production chassis will be finished to our customers’ specifications, but after seeing this in the garage I know what my choice would be! Here are a few more pictures:
The next item on our prototype makeover to-do list was to clean up the wiring. Now that we know everything works as it should, we wanted to make the wiring more presentable by consolidating cables, re-routing them around the engine in a discrete manner, and shrouding them with a protective insulating wrap. The resulting system looks a lot more OEM and a lot less “prototype.” See for yourself below:
Lastly, Kyle and I have taken up a new profession since our last update: we are now both lawyers! (Pretend this email is going out on April 1st, and then pretend that made you laugh.) In all seriousness, we have been reading up on a lot of state and federal regulations regarding raising investment so that we can successfully close our first round, which will hopefully conclude this month. We were quoted an eye-watering sum to draft a number of legal documents, so we spent two weeks familiarizing ourselves with the Federal Code of Regulations, the California Corporation Code, and a number of publicly available investment documents from prominent California corporations. Once we had a comprehensive understanding of our specific legal requirements, we spent another two weeks drafting our own documents (with assistance from a few lawyer friends). Those documents are now under review by a recommended firm with extensive experience in corporate law. We learned so much in the process and reduced our legal fees by about 90%… Talk about a win-win!
With all of that taken care of, we can start reassembling Laguna Prototype 1. Once that is complete, we will begin preparing for our first official test day! In the meantime, you can visit our website to learn more about our vision for Shoreline Bespoke, reach out, and shop for apparel. By subscribing to this newsletter, you’ll be the first to know about vehicle updates, future reveals, apparel releases and more… stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Spencer Beckman
Founder & CEO, Shoreline Bespoke Vehicles