Window dressing and four wheels!
February 28th 2008 13:41
Not everybody likes to look good in their car, I mean not everyone uses them as a fashion accessories otherwise they wouldnt sell Camry's, right?
The art of making some old nail look like its doing 100mph standing still, has been a favourite pastime of motor manufacturers the world over for as long as there has been cars. If you slap some Italian design house's name on anything automotive you ( In theory) strike gold.
The British, bless their hearts, had a plethora of boring things to choose from and they gave us such a selection as the Austin Atlantic was based on the old Austin A90 sedan. This baroque classic looked all the world like a 1950s era Jukebox, all chrome stripes and thin pillars, it looked okay, but with wheels based about 6 inches in from the bodywork, it looked roly-poly and at more America dollars than an XK120 when new, the Yanks ignored it in droves! The Nash/ Austin Metropolitan, looked like a 6/8 scale American car until you opened the bonnet, where there sat a cowering 1.5 litre BMC 4 cyl. The Sunbeam Alpine was based on a Hillman Husky van floorpan!
The king of all British sedan based sports coupes was the Ford Capri, when first released the range carried a Capri for everybody from a 1.3 base version all the way up to the flash Harry version, the 3000 GXL V6. Sideburns and a Capri, if you had these, you knew you had made it in the early part of the 1970's
Germany was brilliant at this ability in making a sows ear look like a silk purse, the VW Beetle became the Karmann ghia, a sexy two door coupe that stole a lot of its looks from the Borgward Isabella coupe which funnily enough was based on the Borgward 2300 sedan, a technically advanced sedan which did not sell and eventually bankrupted Herr Borgward. Another Beetle based special was the South American Puma, looked like a Ferrari and dak-dak when you you drove it. The VW Scirocco was no more than a coupe version of the first generation Golf!
We havent even started on the Japanese yet! Lets face it, the term hairdressers car was invented for the Celica!
The art of making some old nail look like its doing 100mph standing still, has been a favourite pastime of motor manufacturers the world over for as long as there has been cars. If you slap some Italian design house's name on anything automotive you ( In theory) strike gold.
The British, bless their hearts, had a plethora of boring things to choose from and they gave us such a selection as the Austin Atlantic was based on the old Austin A90 sedan. This baroque classic looked all the world like a 1950s era Jukebox, all chrome stripes and thin pillars, it looked okay, but with wheels based about 6 inches in from the bodywork, it looked roly-poly and at more America dollars than an XK120 when new, the Yanks ignored it in droves! The Nash/ Austin Metropolitan, looked like a 6/8 scale American car until you opened the bonnet, where there sat a cowering 1.5 litre BMC 4 cyl. The Sunbeam Alpine was based on a Hillman Husky van floorpan!
The king of all British sedan based sports coupes was the Ford Capri, when first released the range carried a Capri for everybody from a 1.3 base version all the way up to the flash Harry version, the 3000 GXL V6. Sideburns and a Capri, if you had these, you knew you had made it in the early part of the 1970's
Germany was brilliant at this ability in making a sows ear look like a silk purse, the VW Beetle became the Karmann ghia, a sexy two door coupe that stole a lot of its looks from the Borgward Isabella coupe which funnily enough was based on the Borgward 2300 sedan, a technically advanced sedan which did not sell and eventually bankrupted Herr Borgward. Another Beetle based special was the South American Puma, looked like a Ferrari and dak-dak when you you drove it. The VW Scirocco was no more than a coupe version of the first generation Golf!
We havent even started on the Japanese yet! Lets face it, the term hairdressers car was invented for the Celica!
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