About That Beauty Thing

New Wife and I have a Saturday morning ritual which involves me making us tea and coffee and bringing the laptop to bed, where we read the online news and browse a few websites together.

The first thing we look at is this here website, because she doesn’t have time to read it during the week, so we scroll back while she gets a Whole Week Of Kim in one gulp, so to speak.  (And yet she still stays with me, which is a miracle, quite frankly.)

Anyway, our first read this past Saturday was my post about beauty and the differing definitions thereof.

I should point out that New Wife has if anything more conservative tastes than I do, and anything that reeks of “flashy” or “loud” makes her nose turn up in disgust.  Needless to say, she thought all the ’68-’72 cars I pictured were “dreadful” and “disgusting” except for the E-type (and even that gets only a begrudging pass from her).

One of the other websites we visit each week is C.W.’s Daily Timewaster, which on this occasion featured this vision of loveliness, a Jaguar Mk II from the early 1960s:

This she pronounced as the most beautiful car ever made, because it was classy (inside and out).

By her terms, of course, it is the most beautiful car ever made — because she thinks that almost all sports cars are “flashy”, and the family saloon car is the sine qua non  of automotive desirability.

I would actually agree with her, because as 4-door saloon cars go, the Mark II is undoubtedly exquisite, especially when compared to others of its ilk and era both European and American.  (With its 3.4-liter engine, it’s also plenty powerful, which she sniffily dismisses with “If you’re interested in that sort of thing”.)

And in case you’re interested in which sports car she would appreciate were we to win the lottery, it’s this one, the 1964 Mercedes 230SL W113 (“Pagoda”):

Can’t really fault her on that one, either.  (I’d prefer the later-model W113 280 SL because MOAR POWAH, but she’s unmoved by that, as we’ve seen before.)

Eye Of

Beauty of the visual kind is always subjective and as such, therefore, there will always be differing opinions on the various kinds of beauty.  I, for one, find the voluptuous Kelly Brook and Salma Hayek to be exquisite:

 

…whereas others may refute that, and prefer the more-slender silhouettes of Charlotte Hawkins and Nicole Kidman:

It’s not that I find the latter pair unattractive — not in the slightest — it’s just my preference is for the body shapes of Mlles  Brook and Hayek.

In similar fashion, therefore, do I regard Insty’s comment about the Lamborghini Miura interesting:

“I think the Lamborghini Miura was the most beautiful car of its time, but a spoiler doesn’t make it prettier.”

(He’s talking about Liberty Walk’s version of the Miura, by the way, which I think is quite beautiful for a modern car despite the spoiler.)

But the Miura was made between 1966 and 1973, and in terms of beauty, it had some stiff competition in the beauty department during those seven years.  Here’s the “traditional” Miura:

…which I agree is an absolute stunner.  The 4-liter V-12 engine didn’t hurt, either.

Then again, if we’re looking at the 1966-1973 years, there’s my personal favorite, the Dino 246 GT:

…and also from that period, the Bizzarrini Strada / Spyder:

…not to mention the incomparable Jaguar E-type:

Okay, as far as I’m concerned that whole decade (1963 – 1972) was the golden age of automotive body design, and there is scarcely a car made back then that I wouldn’t take in a heartbeat.

All more beautiful than anything made so far in the 21st century — in my opinion.

But you all knew that already.

A Tale Of Two Viewpoints

So:  the Ferrari Purosangue (“thoroughbred”) FUV  [sic].

First, you have Chris Harris’s take — the usual obeisance to the Wonder Of Scuderia Ferrari;  and then there’s Richard Hammond’s rather sour puncturing of the said Wonder.  (His analysis of the badge alone is worth the price of admission.)

I wouldn’t get one, even with a large lottery win, but then I’m more of the Hammond mindset than in the Harris one.  Even if it is quite beautiful…


…for an SUV.

Blown Away

You have to know that if you can impress Iain Tyrell with a 1970s-era car, you’ve achieved something.  As always with Mr. Tyrell, his history and styling/engineering overviews alone are worth the price of admission.  Go ahead and watch the video now.

And if after seeing Iain’s reaction to driving it you want to look at the Pantera for yourself, feel free to browse the market

I’ve always loved them, but I have to say that I doubt whether I’d be able to fit inside one.  Man, they are tiny.

But still… who cares about stuff like personal comfort when you’re driving pure power and self-indulgence?