Robert Allen wrote:
> Bill Eastman wrote:
>
> > To me, the basic questions of car design is whether it is efficient
> and
> > whether it looks good. <snip>
>
> That "looks good" part can be pretty subjective. The other side of the
> coin is
> how much one is willing to give up to have a car that "looks good." In
> today's
> market is would seem a hell of a lot in merely dollar terms as the
> rags now
> describe cars in the $30K range as a "value" compared to their
> competitors.
>
> The efficeint part is misleading. A full-zoot Sport-Ute is 'efficient'
> for
> doing all those off-road things you see in the adverts. People buy
> scads of
> them them (and they are hugely profitable) but they are never used the
> way the
> image suggests.
But it's a marketing image that people are buying, it's not whether you
would actually do those things, but the idea that "you can if you want
to" and the idea of a car full of youthful vigor, remember the Isuzu
Rodeo advert for a XXX horsepower fountain of youth"? They aren;t
selling cars, they are selling the image that the car presents, the idea
that your car says something about who you are.
> The 'green' folks say the Neon is efficient -- and I think it is cute
> in a
> 'butt-ugly' way. I wouldn't want to own one, however, and I can't
> imagine it
> would ever be a classic.
Funny thing is people said that about the Volkswagen Beetle, and guess
what, it turned out to be a classic. Hell, they even have a cachet to
them now.
> > So, most new cars are, by nature not original designs but more
> derivatives
> > of other existing cars. Most are derivatives of the "flavor of the
> year"
> > or the last car to be considered original, efficient and good
> looking.
> > <snip>
>
> It would seem that the 'Sporty' word has been stretched to
> meaningless-ness.
> You can get a Chrysler Minivan 'Sport'. Also, the whole Sport-Ute
> thing doesn't
> have anything to do with Sports Cars.
>
> I think the sports car idiom is dead. I would define a Sports Car as
> fun to
> drive, simple in execution, and uncomprimising in its mission. And
> that doens't
> mean 'fun to steer'. It means a car that is fun to drive aggressviely.
> It would
> take some effort to say that a Camaro, Mustang, or even a Miata
> doesn't fit
> that build..
I've driven a Camaro, and not really enjoyed it much, but then the chap
who sold me the Midget did so so he could spend more time on his "fun"
car... a Camaro. Fun is in the eye of the beholder. For some people a
muscle car is fun, for others a sports car is the ticket, and for others
it's an old beat-up 4x4 they can tosss around on weekends. I'm glad the
whole world's idea of fun isn't an MG, I would not be able to afford one
f that were the case. I don't know how a Miata handles, but judging
from the level of enthusiasm that car has generated amongst many of it's
drivers, I suspect it has something, maybe not what you get enthusiastic
about, but then an MG is not going to make a monster truck devotee's
mouth water is it?
> It would, therefore, be relegated to the 'other car' category in
> addition to a
> commuter car. This would imply the car would have to be affordable to
> the
> masses as a 'fun car'. I don't yet think the world is wealthy enough
> to afford
> a $30K+ car to languaish in the garage as their fun car while they
> huddle in
> the commuter car for the 9 to 5.
Our MGs weren't "second cars" for most of the people who bought them the
first time around. and they were reasonably comfrotable by the standards
of the day. And for alot of listers they aren;t today either.
> The other problem is that 'soul' thing. As in the Japanese are
> clueless at
> building a car that has any. Well folks, 'soul' is a car that is
> charismatic,
> has flaws, has eccentiricities that the owner lives with and chalks it
> up to
> 'soul'.
You know, try saying that to a Datsun 510 racer, and you'll get an
earful. Soul isn't something a car has, it's something the enthusiast
gives it. A car's soul didn't come off the production line, it's not an
accumulation of flaws and quirky behaviours, it came from inside you,
because for some reason the car triggers memories, or memories of what
might have been. For me the Beetle has as much "soul" as the Midget, but
that's because of memories, of my father talking about his road rallye
days in his TC and Morgan, and the long camping trips in the powder blue
and later the red Beetle when I was just a kid. A car's soul has
nothing to do with the nuts and bolts, and everything to do with how is
strokes my memory, of what was or what might have been.
Greg
|