If you haven't been following the lengthy discussion on the Legacy GT post from earlier this week, you may have missed some great discussions between K2 Mystery Car & Fleetwood T Brougham on just what makes a beautiful car and who makes them. For this week's Coffee Brake, I'd like to open up the discussion with what I think is the most beautiful car for sale today.
Today's cars are so burdened with impact, visibility, & safety regulations that getting a beautiful design through the DOT is almost impossible. So much so, that when a beautiful design appears, it is a surprise. The 2011 unveiling of the Jaguar C-X16 concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show was one of those surprises and to see a company like Jaguar come back from the dead with such a beauty gives hope for the future. The F-Type production car is no less stunning and for my money, the F-Type Coupe is just about the best looking new car money can buy.
Images from Jaguar. What do you think is the prettiest new car for sale?
Roadmaster. Now get off my lawn.
ReplyDeleteOK, OK... I recently saw a Ferrari FF close up. It was parked right on the street. My mutt peed on a tire. No he didn't. What a knockout that car is. And if you put it in the oven at 325 for 3 days, it shrinks down to an almost equally good-looking VW Scirocco, alas, non-US.
DeleteThe FF isn't a bad looking car, but to be honest, I think Ferrari's design department lost of bit of their mojo around the Enzo (not the old man, but the model) era. Sure, it was stupid fast, but it wasn't heart-breakingly beautiful like a 250GTB -- and the balance between form and function went in the direction of downforce and lap times when every new Ferrari street car purchase is an emotional purchase and lap time is inconsequential.
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I agree about the Enzo, but I think they lost their way before that.....just look at what a stylistic laughingstock the F50 was----function clearly won out over form with that car. As Ferraris go, I think I may be in the minority, but for my money the 575 is the most perfectly styled model of the modern era.
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Very close. A bit much nose overhang, but otherwise it hits all the 'classic' points.
DeleteI'm also quite partial to the C6 Z06, but not the ZR1 (don't like the bubble hood or the chrome wheels.)
For me, a car has to have greenhouse. If the glass-to-tub proportions are off, it's ugly, and it doesn't matter how much of the rest the designer got right. The current Fusion is a perfect example - it's a fat little ball of lard. It's cleaner than the Hyundai Sonata but the proportions - the height of the hood, the tall beltline and little windows - are almost exactly identical.
That's great.
DeletePhotographers should only take pictures of Ferrari's occupying two parking spots.
I would have to agree about the F Type, if it’s not the most beautiful available today I’m hard pressed to think of another. Ford’s new Fusion would have to get the nod for most beautiful plain brown wrapper, meaning the most fetching design in an everyday car, kind of housewife hot.
ReplyDeleteNow I’m going to commit heresy here, but I’m writing it any way. It has often been said that the Jag XK-E was the most beautiful car made, and although I think it’s very nicely styled I have always though it looked like a much smaller car stretched to larger proportions. The beloved XK-E gets thin in the middle like pulled taffy, that slight awkwardness knocks off a few style points.
Among classics, while I’m on the subject, I always thought the Lotus Elan was so simplistically beautiful that to my eyes it never gets old. The Elan does not waste a line or curve, no excess or tack-on frippery.
The first generation Miata borrows some of the Elan magic through imitation.
Finally, the Lancia Fulvia seems to be to be the perfect interpretation of the sports coupe. Lite, lean, and aggressive like a hyperactive kid straining to break an expensive vase.
I love that Jag, but I also love the coupe and convertible versions of the Alfa 8C. Also, the Audi Quattro concept tends to make me drool a bit, but I think it's because it reminds me of a Corrado (a car I love) on steroids.
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oops--sorry---MONSTER AUDI JPEG ALERT!
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ReplyDeletehttp://gearheads.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Maserati-Alfieri1.jpg
ReplyDeleteMaybe a little premature.
Coincidentally, I now need to change my underwear.
I had a Fisker pull up along side me and then pass me on the highway yesterday. That car suffers a little of what was described above for the XKE. Very lithe, but somehow I can't shake thinking that it looks like a cat and a roller skate found a way to consummate. The cat contributing its ability to reshape itself while in motion and the roller skate....4 wheels.
ReplyDeleteYep...I had a cousin who had a Fisker for a short while before it was totalled in an accident. Neat car, but the look to me was similar to what you describe.....it's like Henrik was thinking "I'm going to make my masterpiece", and then tried a little too hard and took it to 11 when he should have stopped at 10.
DeleteToday: Aston Martin Vanquish
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Ever: Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
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ReplyDeleteThe Bugatti 57 S(C) Atlantic. Just love the exposed rivets.
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ReplyDelete2015 Ferrari California
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What the...!?! Where were you guys when I was going on and on and on. It takes a separate post to get you guys to typedy-typedy and clickedy-clickedy?
ReplyDeleteThe reason why the Jaguar F-Type is so special is that it's pretty and fresh. But nothing beats the sheer stunning beauty of the NISMO Juke. All joking aside, I saw this on the road the other day and thought to myself, "Hmm, when did that happen?" What do you think of it - pretty or pretty ugly?
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I've already picked my favorites and discussed them at length. Frankly, not many of the current crop of cars are actually pretty and their beauty is often so derivative that it nearly doesn't count. Here's a partial list of my honorable mentions. I agree with several other posts above and haven't included them.
M-B AMG GT
Askari KZ1
Fiat 500
Tesla Model S
Chrysler 200 (though they're just following the Koreans)
Melling Wildcat
[img]http://www.performance-car-guide.co.uk/images/L-Melling-Wildcat.jpg[/img]
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DeleteGood for them. It's nice they found a way to use up all the remaining taillights from unsold Toyota Solara convertibles.
I don't think I see exactly what you're seeing, but I get your drift. Hilarity aside, do you think it's pretty?
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I ask the hard hitting questions that apparently people are too afraid to answer.
DeleteAlfa 4C. I wouldn't want to own one based on reviews, but it is pretty.
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I'd love to own one based on the reviews. Seems more like a typical Alfa from days gone by. Flawed in some areas, but great in others. Like having an Italiian supermodel girlfriend. Great when things are going great, but then she decides to set your pants on fire. While you are wearing them...
DeleteI don't much get off on exotics, most of them are too gimmicky, IMHO none of them save the 360-430 and 550-575 Ferraris have improved one bit on Tjaarda's Mangusta and Pantera, Ferrari 430 or C6 Z06? Monica Bellucci or Kate Upton?
ReplyDeleteNow, when it comes to things with more doors, and sticking with the last-fifteen-year theme:
The last (not the new one, it's joined the high-beltline/little window conspiracy) Maserati Quattroporte is the best-looking sedan (that is, anything with four doors intended for at least four occupants) of the past decade or two. Nothing else quite measures up.
The original XE10 Toyota Altezza/Lexus IS ties with the Tesla Model S for second. The Toyota is such a perfect shape, a smooth wedge with a low, short hood (especially amazing that it's got a fairly big inline-six under there) and no extraneous crap hung on it (until the tuners start with the clear lights...) It is exactly what a sedan that size should look like, after the '92 Camry and the Mk3 and Mk4 Supras kind of a last hurrah for attractive cars from Toyota since everything since then's been a joke.
The Tesla is a great, organic shape, they should be damn happy Henrik Fisker went walkabout before he screwed up their design. The mouth could be a little less pronounced, but they had the luxury of a big canvas to paint on and a highly distributed powertrain with no big lumps to wrap the body over.
Following that you have a long list of mostly German and Australian product, headed by the E39 BMW, the current B8 Audi and the Benz W220.
After spending ones whole life thinking about cars I can narrow it down to two.
ReplyDelete300sl
and early XKE
They both have such great proportions and sensitivity to design.
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I am going with the Porsche 911, timeless, yet fresh and still instantly recognizable as a Porsche
ReplyDeleteLet's try this again. Sorry, I'm still lernding.
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They say it's going into production. I want to believe!!!!