Classic Cars as Works of Art
Classic Cars as Works of Art
There is absolutely no doubt that North Americans LOVE cars. Why do we choose the ones we do? Perhaps it's for practicality, perhaps for prestige, perhaps for handling, perhaps for the aesthetic beauty of them. Which of these 11 classic cars you consider the most beautiful There are thousands of beautiful car designs, so these 11 arechosen based onmy own personal taste. I'm not interested in extreme designs, or cars for racing or muscle cars, but these are ones you might have seen on the road yourself.
My first car was a second hand 1950 Ford Custom Coach, two tone brown, manual gearship on the steering post. It wasn't a particularly beautiful car but I sure as hell loved it, because it was my first car and I was 16 years old. But I do have an appreciation for beauty, whether it's a classic "Woody" boat, a classic car, or a classy lady. First of all, please choose the car you like the most, keeping in mind its on the basis of design, not power or mileage or colour or cost or longevity. Youmight have another favourite classic, and if so, please comment and tell me about it, hopefully you can link to a picture of it. Please, no weird concept cars - I'm talking about ones you might actually see on the road.
1959 Jaguar Mark IX
1. My first choice is the 1959 Jaguar Mark IX. In 1959 my father had the dealer deliver oneto his office for a test drive. I was there so I saw it, got into the back seat and was swallowed up by the soft glove leather seats andfelt almost drunkfrom the magnificent smell of soft new leather. I folded down the polished burled wood desk, similar to (but oh so different from) an airplane tray, and saw that the dashboard was the same kind of solid wood. My God, what luxury, what class. This was not neuveaux riche , this was noteven old money, this was ROYALTY. So what happened? My daddidn't like it,or maybe he had heard that those cars had to stay in the garage for the Canadian winter, so he did the neuveaux riche thing andbought a 1960 CadillacCoupe de Ville that was so longyou almost needed two parkingspots to leave it on the street.
1952 Hudson Hornet
2.Going back some years,my dadbought a 1951HudsonHornet. It was known as a "step down" design vehicle because it was so low to the ground.As I was just learning to drive he asked me to put it in the garage. In doing so I ripped off the door of the car andjoining into the sound of the last tinkle of some broken piece of metal hitting the ground was my father's scream. That wreck was then traded in on a 1952 Hudson Hornet. 145 hp, two tone blue, and handled so beautifully it didn't need power steering. When one of my father's friends saw me turning a corner on two wheels I ended up with a 3 month father-imposed driving suspension. But look at that car, and realize that it was a design from 60 years ago that the cars of today actually resemble, after car design went from one kind of boxiness to another for about half a century.
Ferrari Dino
3. Have to talk about that Ferrari Dino. Ferrari named it after his father. My next door neighbour for some years had three Ferraris. He had been a summer camp buddy almost 40 years before and he happened to build his dream home with two double garages, right next to my home. We lived next to each other for years and he never offered me a ride in one of his magnificent Ferraris.
Lincoln Continental Mark 1
4. TheLincoln Continental Mark 1 fascinated me when I first saw it, with its covered spare tire imbedded outside the trunk. (If you're in England I guess you would call that the boot.) At the time I really did admire that car.
1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe
5. Canada 's late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau drove a Mercedes 300SL gullwing. He was a really debonaire figure,extremely intelligent, fullybilingual - could change from language to language in the middle of a word, let alone a sentence, and as amiddle-aged man married a beautiful youngVancouver womanjust out of her teens.I believe heDID inhale, but that's another story. You ultra-patriotic Americansmight be horrified that he happened to be really good friendswith Fidel Castro. Castro came to his funeral and sat next to Jimmy Carter. I had a client that had a 190SL Mercedes, a similar looking car but without the gullwings. One day she had it bumped a little by a street car tram and before I had a chance tostop her she sold it to the Mercedes dealer for $1,000. I was really pissed because I sure as hell would have bought it from her.
Mercedes Benz 540K
6. On the subject of Mercedes, the pre-WW2 540K was in my opinion a very beautiful car. When I was a kid I used to draw pictures of cars that almost always looked like that.
Jaguar XK120
7. The older brother of one of my bestlaw school friends and poker group regular drove a Jaguar XK 120. A lovely looking car, but true to its reputation it spent a lot of time in the mechanic's garage. Many people say the XKE is a better design, but for some reason I never really liked it.
1937 Cord
8. I added that 1937 Cord only because I thought of the hood and grille design as being really 'art deco', and very unusual. When this article was originally posted on NV one Newsviner commented that he was a designer with GM and used the Cord as the model for the Olds Toronado.
Citroen SM
9.Thefirst time Isaw aCitroen SM I must have thought it was some kind of dream car. I thought I remembered that someone told me that it was bullt in partnership with Maserati, but I'm most likely mistaken about that.
Lamborghini Muria
10. Italians really know how to design cars. I don't know if I like this one for its looks or its name. Lamborghini. Sounds like some kind of pasta.
Alfa 8C 2900-B1
11. Someone said they liked cars with long front hoods, so I thought this classic Alfa would fit the bill.
Please let me know about your choice, and the reason why.
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1957 Chevy Corvette
A work of art!
Because sometimes a classic doesn't mean having to spend an arm and a leg to impress. It just has to have beautiful lines.
'67 Shelby Mustang!
Thanks for the replies with pictures. It's really interesting to see the variety of everybody's taste in car design. As for the MG, Perrie, when we were young that car was so desireable, but a similar car that is more to my taste is a Morgan:
Matt's first car was a 1974 Cuda 360. He loved that car until he got, but between the insurance, (he was 19) and the gas (it got 8 miles to the gallon, steep for a roadie)he sold it. Now he wishes he didn't. Ha! It seems you and Matt do have a lot in common, you Libras you!
We have a white Shellby running around my village. It even has racing stripes! Matt and I get so excited when we see it, but we haven't had a chance to stop the owner yet.
Buzz,
You know I really like the Morgan, too. But something about that classic MG just screams good times in England to me. I would take a 1960's MG, too. They are a lot of fun. But for lines, that one is a classic.
BTW, love that pic with all the puppies. They kind of show up the car, LOL!
He is at that!
But definitely not under it's own power.
These two would be pretty cool, but the museum won't let you drive them.
A great subject ... America's classic autos are the peak of functional art!
Here's a couple of shots I've taken on this subject.
A.Mac, is that old car a Deusenberg?
I actually have forgotten ... I'll check my database to see if the information is in my keywording.
I'm pretty sure it's not a Deusenberg ... but I'll try to nail it down ASAP.
It's a Franklin c. 1929-34 ...
The Franklin Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in the United States between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, New York.
Thanks for your research, A.Mac. It was hard to see the markings on the car. Too many great car names have gone, such as LaSalle, Packard, Hudson, Zephyr, DeSoto, and for me a great loss because I owned and loved a few over the years, Pontiac.
One of my long ago girlfriends' grandfather lived up in the mountains near Lynchburg, Va, a real piece of work, used to be a rum runner. He had an old tractor made from a Model T, that damn thing just couldn't die. Hell, it only took about twenty minutes to rebuild the whole damn motor!
My brother had one, yellow.
That old T-Bird was something, the new one just sucks. I wanted to buy my wife a red sports car and thought of the new T-Bird, no way.
Ended up buying her a red Z-3, rag and hard top, she loves it and so do I.
My favorite is the Jaguar XK120. What a car!!!
This is very much like the 'Stang that my ex-husband owned when we were married. I was only 16 (gasp) and didn't have a drivers license, so learned to drive in a 1973 Mustang. Call me spoiled!
Our 'other' car was like this....
Ah, can't believe some of my favorites weren't posted.
the bathtub Porsche!
How about the TR-4a
And my favorite:
the Studebaker Avanti! A muscle car with beauty!
Thanks Max, I also remember that the engine shaft wasslightly bent and at about 70mph the belt would pop off; so all I had to do is pull over and put it back on and then get going again. Also the first time I drove it, it ran out of gas; the needle just had to get close to E and you where out of gas.
You mean road hog.
Exactly !
One of the cars I owned was an original modelBuick GS350 coupe, that resembled a Skylark. I didn't mind that car, but it was certainly exceeded by my 1973 Pontiac Grand Am coupe, which I really loved - fast as hell.
Great choices wmolaw. The Porsche shape has been a classic for years, and I love the burled wood dash on the Triumph.
As for the Avanti, it was a tossup to use it or the Citroen SM. The Avanti was too far ahead of its time to be popular.
Agreed about the Avanti, but it had a hell of a power plant under the hood!