X2 I had the chance to compare a 350Gt and a 400Gt side by side last year. Not a panel on them was the same. Incredible compound curved gl*** on the door windows. Not sure how it actually winds down, but I guess it just sort of does.
oh my god CAR ****!!!!!!! I cant get enough of these elegant cars. I hope to own a few one day... keep em rollin!!
This Australian car certainly fits the "Swoopy" thread. 1939 ZiS 101A Sport Coupe. I stand corrected, this is a Russian built car. sorry for the mistake.
The Zis is hardly a beauty, but is pretty radical for 1939 -- particularly considering its country of origin.
Pretty radical indeed, too bad that not much other elegance-oriented customizing happened in the later years, only a few prototypes and racecars, like the Le Sabre inspired ZIL 112 and the few aerodynamic (chopped!) GAZ m-20 Pobedas... ..do they get my reply back on topic, though?
Yep! Here's a swoopy one that just LOOKS old. The »Autobahnkurier« was designed and built in 2006 by the German manufacturer ISDERA. The engine is a 10-litre V16 made of 2 linked Merc W126 blocks. It also has 4 wheel drive. As you can see the main parts of the bodywork (roof, windows, doors) are taken of an early Volkswagen Beetle. Maximum speed is 242 kph.
I'd say that the builders of the last two additions had a sense of humor. I think this guy did, too, and I believe that he was yet another Russian:
I've long had the idea of using a VW Beetle from the cowl back as the rear half of a front-engined '30s/'40s-esque GT. My thinking had revolved around grafting a front clip to the VW floorpan to create a Lotus-like backbone frame of considerably longer wheelbase, with a DeDion rear axle carried by the VW arms and torsion bars, and a beam front axle. In my mind the Beetle provenance would be slightly clearer, the detail somewhat more traditional, and the overall character something between an early Bristol and, say, a Gordon Keeble. Welcome, VOOV, by the way.
Bristol 400: Gordon Keeble: A Jensen 541 or CV8 might also work, character-wise: DeDion is in this case a suspension type rather than a manufacturer. Here is a fabricated DeDion axle: See also the thread, DeDion axles on hot rods. I did a drawing of the VW idea many years ago and fear that I can't put my hand to it. That prompted me to redo it in Photoshop (or rather Gimp):
The Bristol certainly announced their connection to BMW in an unmistakable way. The Gordon-Keeble, as I recall, was a predecessor to the Iso Rivolta -- whether there was actually any design in common, I don't know, but the concept was nearly identical. Too bad that so few G-K's were built, because they are very neat looking cars (aside from the headlights) and were apparently very nice drivers to boot.
Hey Tony, I don't remember a connection between the Gordon Keeble & the Iso Rivolta other than Giugiaro penned them both, and Bertone built the aluminum prototype, but The Peerless and the later Aluminum Buick V8 powered Gordon GT did , however spawn the square-tube space frame that would become the Gordon-Keeble. The early 283 c.i.d. and later 327 c.i.d. Chevrolet powered Keebles were kinda ''kitcar like'', with their fibregl*** bodies, but were fun to drive "if'' ya could keep them running & together.
This is a local friends 35 Chevy Master sloper (All enclosed coupe), totally unique to Australia. A sedanette before GM built them in the US. Not in the same vein as others in this thread. While I'm at it here is another local car, a genuine all aluminum 32 Chevy speedster.
A number of years ago, I saw Phil Hill run one of those teardrop Talbots at the Monterey Historics. Now, Phil could get around a race track quickly in a school bus, but the Talbot was cookin'! Definitely a sporty car, despite its boulevard style.
i bet some of the collectors nowadays would turn around in their skin seeing a picture like that though... id really get a kick out of it tho
It has, and they are. Here's a picture of a very early Tatra type 77, and I think it's just about as swoopy as cars get:
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