“Okay Kim,” you whine, “them furrin cars is all very well, but how ’bout some Murkin goodness?”
Ask, and ye shall receive. Here are the Corvettes:
Go on; you know what to do…
Tag: Things of beauty
Art, music, whatever
Peerless
If I could play one indoor game very well, it would be snooker (not pool). And should you want to know who I’d like to play as well as, it’s Ronnie O’Sullivan. For your Friday night movie, here is the man himself absolutely demolishing his opponent in a best-of-nine competition. (Hint: it doesn’t go to nine games.) As any good snooker player will tell you, it’s not sinking the ball that’s important, it’s where you leave the cue ball for your next shot, and in terms of skill, Ronnie’s like Tiger, but with better smeeking:
But this is the expression that his opponents dread seeing:
So pour yourself a drink, sit back, and enjoy the next three-quarters of an hour, seeing a man on top of his game.
Beauties And Beasts – 2
Judging from my overfilled Inbox, it seems as though this series may be quite popular. So without any further ado, here are some creations of Herr Doctor Ferdinand:
Given that I think that most Porsches are hideously ugly, it’s easy to see where I stand on which is beauty and which the beast.
As always, you may vote for your favorite (car, of course).
Beauties And Beasts 1
As Sundays at this address seem to have degenerated into discussions of beauty (with a little gratuitous leering thrown in — you animals), I had an idea for a new series: beautiful cars, suitably accessorized.
Here, for example, is the Ferrari thread:
Your votes in Comments.
Next week (unless y’all hate this idea): another brand.
Thanksgiving
Last year I missed Thanksgiving because I was over in Britishland chez Mr. Free Market. As I recall, I went out and had fish ‘n chips for dinner with The Englishman, as the Free Markets were unavailable.
This year I’ll be doing it properly. Daughter is doing the cooking, and Son&Heir will be hosting the dinner at his place. Today I will be back with my family again, and for that I am truly thankful.
May your Thanksgiving be as blessed as mine.
Sacrificing All For Beauty
Back in the early 1990s, there were essentially three “production” sports cars vying for the title of “fastest”: the Ferrari F40 with a 2.9-liter V8 engine, the Porsche 959 with a 2.8-liter flat-6, and the Jaguar XJ220 with a 3.5-liter V6, all three featuring twin turbos. While all were nominally production models, only a couple-three hundred of each were ever made because they were designed specifically to compete at Le Mans in the then-Group B class. To just about everyone’s surprise, the car with the highest straight-line speed was the Jag, at 217mph.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today.
As always in posts of this type, the thing is pointless without pictures, so here we go, in order:
All three are beautiful by the standards of the time: the F40 because Ferrari; the Porsche despite being a Porsche (I actually think the 959 was the nicest-looking Porsche ever made until the Cayman); and the XJ220 was gorgeous even in a marque which had always made beautiful cars (XK120, E-type, etc.).
All three are crap to drive — the F40 has a spartan, ugly interior with a hideously-stiff clutch and gearbox, the 959 was also a handful (although the toughest of the three: in 1986 the 959 entries finished 1st and 2nd in the Dakar Rally), and as for the XJ220, let me quote one of the reviews of the time:
The testers liked the “sheer blistering pace, looks and a superb cabin” but its size, the doors not opening far enough and handling were criticised: “If there’s a more evil device on our roads, I wouldn’t like to find it, for the XJ220 suffers from immense initial understeer followed by violent and snappy pendulous oversteer.” Most disappointing was the engine; at idle it sounded “like someone’s clanking a bucket of rusty nails together”.
However, given that these beauties were never intended to be “passenger” cars, all the above can possibly be forgiven.
The last pic, that of the XJ220, is a special one. I took it at the Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace over a year ago (full report here and here), and I have to tell you, with all of the automotive beauty on display that day, the XJ220 quite simply took my breath away. It looked like a jaguar [sic] : feral, sleek and dangerous, and even in repose, it seemed to be begging someone to drive it really, really fast. I’d never seen one in the flesh before, unlike the other cars listed above — and good grief, my carlust was almost ungovernable that day.
I suspect that others may feel the same way, not necessarily about the XJ220 but about the other two, or others. So, Gentle Readers and fellow Gear Knobs: which cars make you forget how terrible they may be to drive simply because they’re so beautiful?
Responses in Comments (or by email, if you prefer). I’ll make the best three suggestions the subject of next Saturday’s post, and add pictures if necessary.