Over the weekend, I was watching Jay Leno drive Joe Rogan’s resto-modded ’67 Corvette Stingray, and Jay made the comment that this model (’63-’67) was his favorite Corvette body style.
Look, it’s lovely:
I have no issue with the car (and for the purposes of this discussion, I’m not interested in the engine or the performance of the different models). It’s one of the great classic shapes.
But (and you knew this was coming), for my taste it’s not sexy enough — and unlike my usual preference for an older design, I actually prefer the shape of the post-67 Corvette:
As with the 246 Dino, this model looks like a woman lying on her side: shoulders over the front wheel, slim waist in the middle, and voluptuous hip in the back. Here’s a profile of each (67 and 70 respectively):
I like both, but I prefer the ’70 shape.
As always with discussions of this nature, there’s no right or wrong — it’s all about taste. However, I do prefer both the above to the modern (2021 C8) Corvette:
…which looks like any other modern sports / supercar shape.
And none of the above holds a candle to this:
If you look closely at Nemidoff’s face (between portrait and photo), you can see that he captured it rather well. What Boldini did was to take her hair out of that ridiculous corseted Edwardian hairstyle and tousle it into that wild, wanton bush.
Now throw in a little non-Edwardian off-the-shoulder decolletage and a sexy pose with hooded eyes…
…and there you have it: a perfect Boldini portrait.
No wonder they all loved him and he had more business than he could handle.