Dirty Penny

"Dirty Penny" is one of my favorite 911's.  One reason is its "Cocoa Brown" metallic brown paint.  This color doesn't look great on most cars--including my own Mazda RX-7.  But it works on the subtle curves of the 911.  Another reason I like "Dirty Penny" is because it's the perfect compromise between a track-day car and a street car: truly dual purpose.

A partial listing of the specifications of this Pelican Parts build:  some light-weight body parts on a 1978 911 SC, stripped interior, a "built" 3.2 short-stroke engine driving through a a 915 gearbox with special ratios to 15 X 9 rear wheels (15 X 7 fronts).

The Harley Earl Look

My choice of the 1958 Oldsmobile to represent Harley Earl is maybe a bit unfair.  But he'd like this angle.

Here's a link to an interesting Petrolicious piece:

http://www.petrolicious.com/the-hollywood-look-runs-deep-in-car-design

While on the subject of great-looking (but under-appreciated) mass-produced cars, I'll return here to a pet peeve: Harley Earl's ugly designs for General Motors.  The 1958 GM lineup was the worst, and the '58 Olds was the ugliest of them all.  Lineal yards of chrome applique looking desperately for a unifying theme--any theme--to be hung on.

Consider the classic GM design of the 1950's, the "tri-five" ('55-'56-'57) Chevy.  I believe Earl's aesthetic input was minimal because he wanted its simplicity to direct attention toward his more garish Pontiac and Oldsmobile stable mates.  The "tri-five" itself got progressively less attractive as Earl hung gingerbread on it.  The '55 Chevy can hold its head up in any company.  The '56 and '57 were progressively less attractive.  When Earl finally turned his full attention to Chevy in '58 and '59, he created two of the ugliest Bowties to come off the line: finally, part of "his" GM family.

Consider other sedan designs available in the '50's: Jaguar, Mercedes, Lancia--even the low-priced Fiats and the V.W. Beetle.  More to the point in those pre-world-market days, consider what Virgil Exner did with American Gingerbread in the late '50's as he was chasing Earl's styling "lead."  Nobody did wretched excess better than Exner in the '57 and '58 Chrysler lineup.

The Earl story has a happy ending.  Upon his retirement, Bill Mitchell succeeded him as head of G.M. design.  It took two years to flush Earl's tortured sheet metal stampings out of the system.  But by 1961, General Motors was headed toward some of the best-looking cars to come out of Detroit.

This image choice is fair enough: from an Olds catalog.

Unsung Heros Of Mass Production, Great Lookers Category (#3)

Acura RSX Type S (2002-2006)

I believe I've posted about this car before--as The One That Got Away (from me--one of the ones  ;-)  ). I vividly remember seeing my first one in the flesh, waiting in the oncoming lane for the same red light I was stopped at: "Wow...that's a styling home run."  I still wish I'd needed a new car at the time.  One of the pix below shows an aftermarket tuner car wing.  Even that integrates successfully and inoffensively.

Seeing Is Not Necessarily Believing

Gordon Shedden and his Honda Civic Type R: 2015 British Tour Car Championship... Champions.

I have watched this video half a dozen times and still don't fully believe it.

A valid argument can be made against "equivalency series" which add and subtract weight depending on where the manufacturer finished in the last race, or strangle the engines with induction restrictors, or whatever.  I understand the gripe and often agree with it.  But the top series, including Formula 1, do the same thing, don't they?

The BTCC is brilliant racing and this is the most brilliant drive I've seen in many a day.  Suck it, Formula 1:

http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/behold-one-of-the-most-gripping-ends-to-a-championship-1737017925?rev=1445097320359&utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Who Wudda Thunk?

Among other things, the Mille Miglia was famous for hordes of Fiat 500 Topolinos which, as Stirling Moss said (I paraphrase) "had no business being in the event and mostly crashed and burned within the first few kilometers."

The Citroen 2CV was even more underpowered than a Topolino.  Henry Lobes and Yves de Faily were DNF on those baby buggy wire wheels.  The Beauty Part: they were only 30-40% down the list of DNF's, so they outran or outlasted many of the Topolinos.  Sacrebleu!

Unsung Heros Of Mass Production, Great Lookers Category (#2)

Normally, I'm not a fan of random creases and swoops to make a box look less boxy.  Just be honest: form follows function and, as Mies van der Rohe said, "less is more."

Not to mention wrap-around tail lights and other tricks to make a small car look bigger.  So I have no explanation for why the Generation 5 Hyundai Elantra appeals to me.  It just does.

And as always, reader nominees for this series are welcome.  (Or thumbs-down on this nominee?)

Early 1950's California Road Racing Film

Thanks (once again) to the Chicane Blog for the link.  Santa Barbara, Torrey Pines, and Pebble Beach. The video is 19 minutes, but there are some interesting and rare cars in it (an Arnolt-Bristol, for instance):

https://youtu.be/EAzd1F0VKAU