Form and function in car design

An MA45? Not a name to trip easily off the tongue or set feelings alight. Like Mustang, Cobra, or Viper. Or Diablo.

Well, it’s not as bad as some of those other names like Mazda Bongo, Volugrafo Bimbo, AMC Gremlin, Suzuki Justy, or Honda Acty Crawler.

And its looks?

Its aesthetics may not win a concourse. But its sound! A straight six has this distinctive note. Especially shooting through the Manawatu Gorge. Wagnerian!

What about those other ones with nice lines cited in the lineup? Maybe your budget wouldn’t stretch to an E-type but a DS would tickle the old chap pink. You know he has a soft spot for Citroens.

That’s because he values function as highly as form. He likes to open the trunk and throw in a few hydrangeas along with his chainsaw as well as his lunchbox. You know, he still likes to tell the story about a DS being able to get along on three wheels if one falls off. But I know, that’s just an urban myth that’s been around the block more just a few times.

And you prefer pure form?

Well I couldn’t find a Dino.

A Dino? You can’t get a lawn-mower in the back of one of those.

When I get my Dino, I won’t have to be mowing lawns anymore.
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The Car as Art?

The car as art? Watched a Discovery program on a flight a couple of days ago, a concours d’elegance for cars. It came down to five contenders.

5. Citroen DS 1957. Sleek lines and the unique hydropneumatic suspension, but if you weren’t a French sympathizer you might have other ideas particularly about its rear end treatment.

4. Aston Martin DB5. 1964 James Bond chariot, a British based, Italian-tweaked design, powerful but heavy to drive.

3. Ferrari Dino 1968. Low looks make it one of the most beautiful Ferrari shells but a smaller engine let it down in performance compared with its bigger brothers.

2. Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic 1936.

Pronounced mudguards and goggle-eyed windows; certainly a unique sculpting of the car shape. But engine and suspension technology has improved since 1936.

1. Jaguar E-type 1961. A popular vote for a beautiful and easy enough to drive sports car. And it WAS a comparative cheap performance car at the time.

Interesting that Italians were involved in three of the designs, that two of the cars were French and two of the cars of the cars were British. All designs are pre-1968.

Anybody want to line up something German, Japanese or American and made after 1970 against these?