The front half of the Europa qualifies, but the back half has always looked to me like a dwarf El Camino. Totally. It's fair to say that Ferraris look the part; they WERE super fast for their time, and reasonably agile too. It's icing that they made the best noises, too. I owned a 3.8 Mk II years ago, and it really was a terrific car to drive. Unfortunately I bought it when it was old and tired, and they are painfully expensive cars to maintain. I would have another in a minute if I had a trust fund to keep it up. Oooohhh, you guys (Rick and Jimmy) thought I said BLOOPY!! Hi, Derek! I think the Avanti kinda qualifies, but I'm not sold on the Airflows. Clever and innovative cars, certainly, but speedy looking -- naaahhh. Porsche, like Ferrari, looks the part. They were designed and built to be fast and agile, and that intent is apparent in most of their cars. I have lusted for Just The Right 911 for some time. I'm with you on this one, and have commissioned a sectioned '40 for myself. Have you looked at Ryan's thread on the Jilek car? And are you familiar with this convert that Pete Brock had a zillion years ago? [/quote]
Tony said: "Oooohhh, you guys (Rick and Jimmy) thought I said BLOOPY!!" Ahhhh.....you funny guy Yankee dog.
Tony, No, I haven't looked at Ryan's thread on the Jilek Car, but I will most certainly check it out. And I have not seen that sectioned convert before, but I would like to see more. My research homework for tonight. Thanks
Some one in this post said Morgans were ugly? I think not, here is a new V8 Morgan on historic Franklin St at last years vintage weeked in Watkins Glen. The new The old my MG
I always thought that the racing version of the Europa, the Lotus 47, was a very good looking car. And yeah, the Elite was beautiful.
Well, purely subjective of course, I never "got" the looks of the Europa/47. There was a VERY rapid Lotus 47 at Westwood regularly when I was young. Dont think anyone will dispute the looks of the elite, man they were pretty.
In one of my Lotus books there is a pic of a Lotus Elite Funnycar. I'll have to dig that pic up, and start a Thread about it. I'm hoping somebody here on the HAMB will know more about that car...
Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France..... Osca MT4 2AD 1500 Vignale Coupe..... Siata 208 CS Stabilimenti Farina Berlinetta.... Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada.....
This was the later version of Pete Brock's convert, and there's a whole thread about it: Nonono. I love traditional looking Morgans. It's the new Aero models that I think are hideous with their cross-eyed headlights. I'm not sure that this is the exact model that was posted -- there are several roadster and coupe variants of it -- but I haven't seen one that I liked even a little: The Lotus Elite HAS already been posted, but in my opinion it would be difficult to have too many pictures of this elegant little car. Swoopy, I'm not so sure, but it certainly looks (and is) agile: I guess there were several slightly different variations of the TDF, but this is a particularly nice one. Trying desperately to find stuff that is HAMB-relevant, here are a couple of swoopy (but probably not agile) Cadillacs. GM's own Aero-Dynamic Coupe from the early '30s: ...and the remarkable Gibbons/Coddington collaboration, Cadzilla. This car has kinda faded from the public consciousness since it showed up 20(?) years ago, but it certainly nailed swoop:
That's a really interesting Ford, Rick -- thanks for showing it to us. I recall running across it while researching a Nash that belongs (belonged?) to somebody here on the HAMB, but I had forgotten about it. I Googled "Ford Darrin" and found several other pictures of it. It's apparently the first project that Darrin did after he returned to the US from France. I think it really succeeds on the Swoopy Scale, and a side view reveals an interesting detail of its design: Unlike modern cars that have a forward rake designed into their body shapes, this one has the speedboat drag designed in. The hood actually rises from the cowl to the nose, and the body is subtly tapered toward the back to a really tight little ass. Funny, Brizio and others pie-cut the hoods on '32s and '40s to get rid of that uphill line, and here's a car that emphasizes it beyond what the factory did. This suggests a whole new discussion about rake vs. drag. Maybe this afternoon, even.
I think there was a pic of Webb's homage car in here, but we should give a nod to the "original" swoopy car, the Miller/Oldfield "Golden Submarine". Interesting note about this car: Oldfield sent Miller a letter during constuction in which he proposed that if an airplane wing were mounted on the car upside down, it would surely help hold the car to the track...think about that. 1915. They never tried it, but I've never heard "active aerodynamics" mentioned anywhere earlier....
Hey Tony, It ain't just the '' up hill rake " from the cowl to the prow of the hood panel I find interesting 'bout Howard Darrin's designs, but also the ''falling wastelines "that were incorporated into those designs,. Several prewar coachbuilders in europe ( Van den Plas & Letourneur & Marchand ) come to mind, ran with this design detail to add motion and line (Swoopy ) to their work. General Motors design, in some of its' post war studios, picked up the detail espically in the Chevrolet studio with the ubiquitous '55,'56 &'57's A book on Darrin's designs from his days in France, to his pissin' contest with Harly Earl, to his days with Packard/Hollyweird & finely with Kaiser would make for some good readin' '' Life ain't no Disney movie "
Rex, I imagine that the falling waistline (cutaway doors) started with the Brit sports cars like MG, Morgan, Jag SS100 and others, to provide clearance for flailing elbows whilst navigating corners. The Jensen Ford and Darrin's stuff borrowed this to give a sporty flair to their prewar convertibles, and GM resurrected it again in '53 for the Skylark, Eldo, and Fiesta of that year. As you point out, it was institutionalized in a subtler form for the entire GM line in '54 and '55. I personally admire Darrin's hand on these pseudo-sporty converts, as well as the Packard Clipper '42-'47 and the whole Henry J/Kaiser line from '50 or so. Articles about him seem to liken him to Loewy (and Earl), as a conductor of designers rather than a hands-on designer himself, but I seem to like all the work that he influenced from the late '30s to the early '50s. Maybe 'cause I'm more an arm-waver than a skilled wrist myself.
Not sure what kind of feedback I could get over this one, here goes any way. The first submission is my VW Karmann Ghia. Don't forget that this design goes back to 1956. The suspension is very similar to the 356 and by the end of pruduction in 1974(?) its horsepower was more than the 356. Agility? Mine is a blast. Next up is Dean Moon's "Promotional" streamliner. I captured this shot upon a visit to his store in 1984. If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken some close-ups of the shelving around the car. Those are original Moon Equipment casting plugs, for all the cast Moon brand parts. Talk about historic. And last is a custom build, by a local craftsman. He saw the Chrysler Atlantic show car and decided he wanted one for himself. This is his interpretation. It is such a piece of art that I think it deserves a little recognition. The original design of the Atlantic was inspired by the Bugatti of the same name in the thirties. Sorry about the pictures being in the shade. In a way it reflects (pardon the pun) the craftsmanship of his metal work. By the way, the top folds into the trunk just like a Skyliner.
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