The cars we miss - what if they were still with us?

[alf892]

Great thread idea!

 

Following the fiat/bini/mustang vibe really I reckon

 

Mind you if they ever got produced this place would catch fire......

[Captain Mainwaring]

This looks fucking ace!

 

[quicksilver]

One simple question: why do most of these look so much better than the cars that are actually made these days?

[forddeliveryboy]

One simple question: why do most of these look so much better than the cars that are actually made these days?

 

In part, because practicalities and cost aren't in the equation. Otherwise, all modernz are shit etc...

[Fat_Pirate]

That X1/9 has actually set my trousers on fire.  I've had to douse the flames by looking at some photos of a Lexus RX.

[Lukas]

I never ever thought I´d love to drive a Wartburg, but this one IS sexy!!!

 

[Asimo]

They would all look better with smaller wheels and higher sidewalls.

But wheels can be changed, I'd buy the '16, or the Wartburg, or the Chevy or........

 

I would be interested to see what the same designer / artist could do with a few moderns. Could he/she save the Evoque 3 door or current Lexus or that grim Dodge thing?

[passmethegun]

The guys called Radovan Varicak! Surely needs to be an Autoshite honorary member.

[mouseflakes]

Fiat 127 looks great. Renner 16 is ace - I like the fact he's kept the door handle design, they're class!

[mercrocker]

I don't want to fan the flames of caution......But...Isnt this how we ended up with PT Cruisers and Fat 500s?

[Lukas]

And the horrible New-Beetle, yes... 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I know , eye of the beholder and all that, but I give you

And

Which seems to have influenced most of the saloons in this thread.

[cros]

I don't like any of the above retro shit- ask me 'what if' the real thing was still with us and you're talking. A real Healey 3000 could be built today for the price of a new MX5. Without airbags, abs, and all the crap that is deemed essential but which actually renders cars the sterile devices we now have.

I'll never afford a Healey, the car I'd most like to own, and neither will I be tugging myself off over that horrible pastiche.

[dugong]

Healey 3000s drive like shit and have no suspension travel.

Sorry to piss on your bonfire.

[cros]

You haven't pissed on my bonfire at all Mr Dugong. I only like cars that drive like shit and have no suspension travel.

[Ghosty]

300C's a modern 3 box, and thus an easy thing to cut and stick bits on in Potatochop.

[Sudsprint]

The MX5 based 124 Spider is on it's way.

 

Bit gawky from some angles but still glad they are giving it a go.

[406V6]

I don't normally like retro cars but most of them in the first batch are fantastic. Best to my eyes are the Renault 16, Ford Tranny, Citroen SM.

[Junkman]

If we forget the retro bit for a moment - if cars would generally still look like cars, like all these proposals do,

I would probably consider buying some, at least as three year old leasing returns.

But since cars started to look like the abominations they look like today, I'm completely lost as a customer

for anything newer than last century.

 

BTW, that Fiat Spider thing needs bumpers. And the door handles must be chromium plated.

And those indentations in the bonnet should be smoothed over.

[Lukas]

N bumpers for the Fiat Spider because of pedestrian protection laws. Klingt komisch, ist aber so. 

[Junkman]

Yeah, especially since there is a traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing every fifty fucking yards.

[garethj]

I think I can see the trick the designer has pulled here; it's a modern car's shape but just a change to the headlights.

 

As I wandered through the carpark this morning almost every car since 2002 has got headlights that pull around from the front and almost touch the A pillar.  If you want a replacement front wing for your brand new Fiesta it's probably a tenner as it's so small.  A headlight, however, will be a grand.

 

What the designer of the cars on the previous page has done is take the proportions of new cars with their massive wheelarches (basically an even more pimped up version of the Chrysler 300) and plonked on headlights that stay on the front.  Quite a neat idea as it gives the cars a more recognisable face.

[mercrocker]

Its all about a "face" really isnt it...

 

All that pimped and kicked bodywork is pretty generic but put a recognisable front end on and it suddenly becomes a homage and we respond with emotional ties to things that mean something to us...

 

Its a trick BMC did very well with Wolseley and Riley "radiator" shapes on anodyne Farina box shapes

[mercrocker]

Not to mention Rolls and Bentley.....

[carlo]

Some pretty good shapes there, like the Fiat 127 and Taunus P3 especially.

 

I'm sure the Fulvia Coupe was actually built not too long ago which looked exactly like that, perhaps he copied that one.

[Roverageous]

Please send this to my room immediately

[Zantimisfit]

No Consul Classic???? I'm absolutely staggered - an open goal missed!

[mercrocker]

As John Lennon once said.....You cannot reheat a souffle

[Skizzer]

I think Radovan Varicac is a talented chap, most of his renderings are more than just a face stuck on to something else and he's put some thought into proportions as well.  The others, well, they vary a bit.

 

The Lancia Fulvia (not a Varicac drawing) was indeed built as a concept in 2003:

 

"LanciaFulvia(2003)" by Späth Chr. - Photographed by Späth Chr.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

 

Shame they didn't put it into production.  But then everything about Lancia is a shame since about 1992.  Or was it 1980?  Or 1960?  etc.

[Junkman]

Everything was just fine until 1986...