Screening Green
April 1, 2008
Staring at the sketch, Underhill describes the unique doors, gullwings, one per side, that give immediate access to both front and rear seats. He says elements of the car came from his love of Ferrari’s rakish Enzo, while the cab-forward look—complete with preposterously, but deliciously short front and rear overhangs—was drawn from his enduring appreciation for another Ferrari that hasn’t fared so well over time, the Mondial. "If I start Underhill Motors, I’ll arrange things so that you can come to me to swap out batteries whenever they go bad, or perhaps even change out the entire body if you want something slightly different," he says.
So, is Underhill nuts—or just another visionary, a "DeLorean without the cocaine" as one coworker quips? Hang out with the guy and you get the feeling there are elements of both to this maverick.
Lunch arrives in the form of a catered buffet. But Underhill wants no part of it, waiting instead for delivery of his favored array of McDonald’s delights. Sitting on a recycled couch in one of EcoManiacal’s Spartan offices, the rebel in him radiates from his selected wardrobe (jeans, a ripped hoodie turned inside out, sunglasses and carefully mussed hair) to his choice of words.
"I’m not political or religious, and though I care about the environment I just thought the movement itself was stupid," he says, biting into a burger. "Some people were denying the planet had a problem. And others were sitting in trees. Neither was useful. My thought immediately was, ‘What if I make a TV show that would make the whole green thing cool for younger kids?’" Although Underhill drives an Escalade and owns a Prius, neither car reflects his longstanding passion for exotics. "I always need to drive cool cars," he says. "But why should I have to feel guilty about it? My feeling was, you shouldn’t have to compromise your love of cars to be green."
In thinking about creating a car-makeover show, Underhill immediately set his sights on the boldest statement possible: "I wanted to go way beyond shutting off the water while you brush your teeth. I figured one way to do that would be to be the idiot who tears apart a Ferrari to make it eco-friendly."
Back in the cavernous main studio, Underhill slowly walks past the cars that will soon be transformed, which also include Bentley Continental and Lamborghini Gallardo drop tops, a Millennium Edition Porsche 911, as well as a new Escalade and a vintage fastback Mustang.
While the cars await their fates, surely Underhill must sample the goods? "Sometimes," he says, admitting that he spends most of his time with the Porsche. Underhill says the Ferrari 612 is a bit boy-racerish for him, a bit too showy. A big favorite is the NSX, which, despite being more than a decade old, still manages to thrill.
But he should get his rides in now. Once any of these cars go green, they’ll become, for better or worse, entirely different beasts, Underhill’s personal Frankensteins on a mission to prove you can go on a serious joyride while saving the planet.
EcoManiacal Productions, 213.687.0761, www.ecomaniacal.com
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