Why is the original design of the Enterprise such a design classic?

I think Matt Jeffries is a brilliant designer. He was a pilot for many years so he was more familiar with aeronautics than most art directors would be. He brought to that original ship a classic design, and remember, this was the middle 60s. All through the 50s there had been the UFO scares. There was certainly a great interest in extra-terrestrial ships, and they almost always ended up being flying saucers in the movies of the time.

I think Matt Jeffries took a flying saucer idea and added an aeronautical shape to it, in the form of the engineering section and the warp drives. That was a direct order, I think, from Gene Roddenberry, who had read an article about warped space. Matt felt that he had to have an engine that was extremely powerful to go faster than the speed of light times nine cubed. Roddenberry never felt that we could achieve past ten. I�m not quite sure why, maybe it was just that he decided for himself that was the limitation that he should put on the warp capable engine.