Tag: Cars

Not mine, this time, but those of a guy named Frank Stephenson who, it must be said, is a bona fide  car designer and not just some guy on the Internet with an opinion — that would be me, among so many others.

Like me, though, Stephenson seems to favor cars designed in the pre-wind tunnel era — and certainly his design of, for example, the Ferrari 430 bears that out, even though he never actually admits it as such.

Anyway, our Frank opines on several brands’ designs — designs which he feel are statement cars and ones which either set, or reshaped the manufacturers’ designs for years to come.

Amazingly, though, I am in agreement with a lot of his selections despite my being a total amateur in this field.  His take on BMW’s three best designs are spot on, for example — the M1, 507 (which are my top pair, as you may recall) and the E9 / 3.0l CSi (which would be my number 3 choice, by the way).

I don’t agree with all his Ferrari choices, though.  Of course I agree with his selection of the Dino 246 GT and the 1960s-era 250 GT Lusso, but not so much with the 1970s 365 GT BB (which was really just a knock-off of the Lambo Miura P400 — as Stephenson himself acknowledges).  From a pure design standard, I would have picked one of the Scuderia’s other offerings, although which one I’m not quite sure.

Anyway, here are the episodes I think are interesting:

• Ferrari
• BMW
• Jaguar (and I disagree with him vehemently, but that’s a whole post unto itself)
• Alfa Romeo (see Jaguar, above)
• Aston Martin
• Mercedes
• Porsche  (!!!)
• Lamborghini

So kiss your Saturday goodbye, and if yer Missus yells at you, blame me.  I’ll be talking more about this topic tomorrow.

Iain Tyrrell walks us through the two Dino cars — Fiat and Ferrari — and I think you will begin to understand why I love them both.

Fiat Dino 2.0 V6:

Ferrari Dino 246GT V6:

That slooshing sound you may hear in the background is my drooling.

This post was prompted by my (belated) Sunday post from earlier this week, wherein I described the BMW 507 and M1 as my choice of “companion” cars.

Which leads me to wonder the following:  if you had to pick two models from the same badge on the hood as your companion pieces, which two would you select?  (Examples:  Ford GT and F150, Mercedes G-wagen and SL*, Toyota Prius and Corolla — okay, that one’s a joke — or MGB and MG Midget, etc. )

When picking a model, be as specific as you can. — e.g. Mercedes 230 SL / Mercedes 500 SL, with the year if possible.

In addition to the BMW pair above, I’d also like the 1956 Mercedes 300S Coupe and 1964 Mercedes 230 SL:

No need to provide pics;  if I run another post later on the choices, I’ll get them myself.

When I posted my little paean of car-lust for the BMW 507 a few days ago, there was a certain degree of good-natured ribbing of Beemer drivers.  For all that, though, we all know that BMW has turned out some pretty good cars over the years, and another of my personal favorites was the first of the M series, the M1.

I first saw one of these back in the early 1980s in South Africa, and fell into complete lust for it.  Of course, it was way out of my means to buy one, and I was saving for another classic at the time anyway.

But in doing some research on this beauty, I unexpectedly stumbled on something fine:  a man who repairs and restores classic cars such as these, and I was instantly drawn in.  (Many hours later…)

We’re all familiar with the brilliant “Primer” series, hosted by Othias and Mae — who educate us about classic guns — and I think I’ve discovered a similar channel for those of us who, like me, are in love with old cars as much as we are in love with old firearms.

This would be Tyrrell’s Classic Workshop, hosted by Iain Tyrrell, and here’s his take on the BMW M1.

Just as watching Othias and Mae talk about old guns makes us (well, me at any rate) want to possess one of those old beauties, Tyrrell’s discussion of the car’s history, his repair and final test drive of the M1 makes me want one of those M1s with a desire so much it hurts.

So I hereby announce that the BMW 507 and M1 are my current automotive love pairing:

1950s, meet the 1980s.

As Longtime Readers know, I have an inordinate fondness for sports cars of yore, and especially ones of my misbegotten and largely wasted youth.  The Alfa Romeo Spider, Austin Healey 3000 and the little MGB GT, to name but three, were all the objects of desire in my younger times, and it’s easy to see why:

However, if I were asked today which sports car of the pre-1975 era I would like to own today, unchanged, it would probably be a car of which I knew nothing at the time, probably because I was only about 3 years old.  Yes, I speak of the impossibly-sexy BMW 507 of the late 1950s:

I know, this is the car which nearly bankrupted BMW, but that’s all ancient history.  The fact of the matter is that the 507 embodies almost all my list of desirable features:  a small 3.0-liter V8, adequate acceleration and top speed, and of course matchless good looks, all in a neatly-sized package of simple yet tasteful design.

It was also more reliable than any of the later sports cars I alluded to above, which satisfies another of my must-have features.  I’d even take the soft-top cabrio:

Feel free to take issue with me in Comments.

This was the Sunday post which went AWOL on me.  Once again, my apologies.