Daft crushes that you can't explain

[dollywobbler]

Actually, another car I'd REALLY like to own is a Toyota Sera. I've driven one and it's actually as exciting as a maths exam, though one taken in a goldfish bowl. I still want one though.

[chaseracer]

There was a Sera for sale by the roadside in Cheadle not so long ago. Odd-looking thing.

 

I would, though

[pogweasel]

This:

Anyone who is not deranged and wants a luxury will buy an S-class.

Anyone who is not deranged and wants a sports car will buy an Ferrari.

I am utterly filled with pant-splitting lust for these QP's. This is my goal.

Therefore clearly in need of help.

[Volksy]

Therefore clearly in need of help.

 

 

I'll join you in that asylum.. They're fantastic.

[Pete-M]

My thoughts on the BiTurbo are documented. I'd love a QP. I may just have to.

[chaseracer]

This:

 

God, yes.

 

 

[Guest]

The Quattroporte is one of the most handsome cars ever made, nobody should have to justify it to themselves.

[Mr H Sceptre]

Thats one big fuck off 10-4 for the Mazzer.

 

[Guest EccentricRichard]

My dad had one of these - 1973 M reg Mexico Brown 3500S, Bronze Ambla interior. Sadly now extremely rusty - a combination of rust, my arrival in 1991 and its lack of rear seatbelts took it off the road. Sold two years ago as a hopeless wreck with an excellent engine and even better gearbox.

 

A gorgeous, curvaceous convertible a bloke can get away with being seen in, even in that colour, simply because it sounds bloody amazing. One day I'm going to have a Magenta Stag, I swear...

 

 

Love the FD Victor. Really fancy one with a Rover V8, or maybe a Carlton/Senator straight-six. Just such a great-looking car.

 

It's a Ferrari Daytona lookalike that goes, sounds and handles like a TVR, plus it can take five people and all their luggage, and it hasn't dated AT ALL. Fookin' brilliant (though not for its build quality).

 

The Alfa6 - Gandini's copy of his own 1st-gen 5-series. A big(ish) Alfa with the legendary Busso V6? Win-win situation. Pity about the fact it was just a stretched Alfetta with no extra interior room and the usual appalling quality and reliability. I'll have the Mk2, but with the lights and grille off the Mk1, and a totally new dashboard modelled on that of the old BMW 3.0 CSL, please (or maybe I'll just stick with the better-looking, more reliable E12/E28). Speaking of which...

 

Brilliant car - brilliant snarling straight-six engines, smooth ride, sharp handling, snappy gearchange, shark-on-wheels looks courtesy of the legendary Marcello Gandini (he also of the Lamborgini Miura, Countach, Diablo, Espada, Urraco, Jarama, Maserati Khamsin, Ghibli, Shamal, QP4, De Tomaso Mangusta, Lancia Stratos, Ferrari 308 GT4, Fiat X1/9, Citroen BX, Bugatti EB110 etc etc etc ad nauseam), plus it's just BORN to hoon, and it looks it too.

 

Brilliant car - brilliant snarling straight-six engines, smooth ride, sharp handling, snappy gearchange, shark-on-wheels looks (why does this sound familiar?) courtesy of the legendary Paul Bracq (he also of the Mercedes 600 "Grosser", the Pagoda SL, the W108, the TGV - yes, really! - and the E23 7-series), bottomless rust-prone moneypits now. Still want one, badly.

 

Much as with the 6, except the engines were V8s and V12s, not sixes, and the styling wasn't by Bracq. Very modern for its time - the best Britain could throw at it when it arrived was the XJS, and, by the time it died, the XK8 and DB7. Not great, eh!

 

Just look at it - then remind yourself that it first hit the road in 1978. Absolutely incredible (just how much money they'll swallow these days). Still decades ahead of its time - kept going for 18 years and I don't know why they killed it then either.

 

Dad had one of these too (it replaced the inherited Volvo 340 which replaced the P6). Sadly, it was a tappety 318i on steel wheels, basic hubcaps, and it was bright red. Someday I'm gonna have a dark blue 325i Touring on those Lattice alloys...

 

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant car. Dad replaced Mum's old 205 Roland Garros (H2 VHC, where are you now?) with an E46 318i Touring, which we've still got, and of which I'm not so fond. The E30 died a couple of years later, and, last year, along came one of these. E39 520i Touring, 2.2 litre straight-six, turbine-smooth, fast enough for most purposes (9 seconds to 60 and a top speed of 139 ain't bad for a 1600kg+ estate, nor the 36 MPG it gets!), sounds pretty good too, even with the factory exhaust. Ours is the rare combo of post-facelift (meaning angel-eye headlights and LED tail-lights) with Oxford Green metallic. It's on the 20-spoke "Turbine" alloys, not the bigger 15-spokers in this pic. Rides pretty well, handles astonishingly. Oh, and its drag coefficient is just 0.30 - the brand-new Five is 0.31! So much for progress...

 

BMW's E60 5-series (an M5 in this example). Stunning-looking car. One of the best designs in decades IMO. Very distinctive in the sea of blandness that are today's cars, putting its replacement to shame. A lot of people don't like it, but I think it'll stand the test of time. Also, it gave the world BMW's sequential twin-turbo diesel straight-six - 286bhp and 442 ft lbs of torque, but 35mpg combined too. Astonishing. Plus it's got even more to give - apparently 350bhp and over 500 ft lbs is quite possible without hurting the fuel economy too much. Over 110bhp/litre - from a bloody diesel!

 

The back end is wonderful too:

 

Said back end has just been ripped off by the Chinese with MG, too:

 

Now that's a car I DON'T like much.

 

Here's one I do:

As with the E60, I don't get why people don't get this thing. It's really pretty and bloody good to drive too. Sure, the interior quality isn't brilliant and the ride is firm (appallingly so unless you get rid of the runflat tyres), and there's not a lot of space in the back or the boot, but it's big enough for a lot of people, and it gives easier access to reliable RWD thrills for a lot of people who might otherwise be forced into FWD dullboxes... you got to admire BMW for its bugger-you-all way of doing things unconventionally, following its own rules rather than those of its competitors. RWD - tick. Straight-six engine at the top of the range - tick. Eye-catching styling - tick. Take that, Audi A3.

 

Love this, too. It's the car today's MINI should be - cleverly packaged, fun to drive, lightweight, cheap, utterly free from stupid 'premium'/'chic' retro-fripperies. Issigonis would far prefer a Swift to a MINI. Now, if only we could get Audi to redo the interior (especially now VW has bought a significant stake in Suzuki...).

 

Sorry for that being so bloody long!

[Guest EccentricRichard]

As for trains? It's got to be this:

 

 

I understand the A1SLT want to build one now they've got Tornado out and earning...

[Richard]

This:

Anyone who has no imagination and wants a sports car will buy an Ferrari.

 

EFA.

[CIH]

Posh early carlton. It's either a mk2 or facelift mk1 (I forget which);

 

Or any early/mid 90s Jap 4-door with something like a 2.0 16v TwinC. The sort of thing Spotted Laurel seems to gravitate to ie; camry, 626 or especially a factory stock Carina E GTI!

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Posh early carlton. It's either a mk2 or facelift mk1 (I forget which) or any early/mid 90s Jap 4-door with something like a 2.0 16v TwinC. The sort of thing Spotted Laurel seems to gravitate to ie; camry, 626 or especially a factory stock Carina E GTI!

 

Oh, FFS! I can just about understand the appeal of the Carina - with the right wheels, bodykit, engine, paint colour, and in decent nick, it can be a quite nice-looking thing - but the Voxpox? Please... hopeless cheap-looking piece of shit. Gimme a Rover SD1 any day... or, more to the point, a BMW E12/E28.

[barrett]

Oh, FFS! I can just about understand the appeal of the Carina - with the right wheels, bodykit, engine, paint colour, and in decent nick, it can be a quite nice-looking thing - but the Voxpox? Please... hopeless cheap-looking piece of shit. Gimme a Rover SD1 any day... or, more to the point, a BMW E12/E28.

 

I fear, dear fellow, that you may have wandered into the wrong forum.....

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Oh, FFS! I can just about understand the appeal of the Carina - with the right wheels, bodykit, engine, paint colour, and in decent nick, it can be a quite nice-looking thing - but the Voxpox? Please... hopeless cheap-looking piece of shit. Gimme a Rover SD1 any day... or, more to the point, a BMW E12/E28.

 

I fear, dear fellow, that you may have wandered into the wrong forum.....

 

I know this is about essentially shit cars (hence my love for the SD1) but there has to be some appeal to the car, surely? Yet I cannot think of a single redeeming feature to those early Carltons...

[whitevanman]

They are very, very easy to fit a V8 into............reason one, do we need any others?

[AnthonyG]

I think most people here would rather a 1984 Carlton than the ghastly wankermobile that is the BMW 1 series. Whats the point of a 'family hatch' with no space in the back? Estate agents, media sales reps, and other horrific people who dream of going on the Apprentice, queue here. BMW themselves admitted that 80% of 1 series buyers/owners do not know (or presumably care) it is RWD.

[Guest EccentricRichard]

I think most people here would rather a 1984 Carlton than the ghastly wankermobile that is the BMW 1 series. Whats the point of a 'family hatch' with no space in the back? Estate agents, media sales reps, and other horrific people who dream of going on the Apprentice, queue here. BMW themselves admitted that 80% of 1 series buyers/owners do not know (or presumably care) it is RWD.

 

That 80% quote was marketing bullshit to justify moving to FWD for a new '0-series' (ie MINI without the stupid retrofripperies). The thing about the 1-series is that it's a strikingly good-looking car, it's small and RWD. It appeals to a different set of priorities to the Golf, for example. It's got enough space to do for young families with one or two kids. It's fine. It's also an absolute hoot to drive...

[Guest EccentricRichard]

They are very, very easy to fit a V8 into............reason one, do we need any others?

 

Thing is, it doesn't handle well, it's badly-built, it looks cheap, has no style at all... an SD1 is also badly-built, but it is stylish, handles well, and already has a V8 in the top models (and it's dead easy to swap into - GM LS9 SD1, anybody?!).

 

Also, the Carlton did have one redeeming feature - the straight-six engine. I'd gladly rip apart a Carlton or Senator to grab the engine and gearbox to put into a Voxpox Firenza or an Opel Manta...

[Rusty Pelican]

Much wantage for these , Chevy Firenza Can-Am . Probably not a daft crush but hey

Should also go in the sexy rear end as well.

 

[whitevanman]

They are very, very easy to fit a V8 into............reason one, do we need any others?

 

Thing is, it doesn't handle well, it's badly-built, it looks cheap, has no style at all... an SD1 is also badly-built, but it is stylish, handles well, and already has a V8 in the top models (and it's dead easy to swap into - GM LS9 SD1, anybody?!).

 

Also, the Carlton did have one redeeming feature - the straight-six engine. I'd gladly rip apart a Carlton or Senator to grab the engine and gearbox to put into a Voxpox Firenza or an Opel Manta...

 

 

Meh.anything V8 powered has some style and yes I do like SD1's I've owned a few, not any better than a Holden built Carlton

[pogweasel]

A load of old shit

 

Pistonheads called, they want you back...

[chaseracer]

 

This is an itch I need to scratch quite soon...

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Much wantage for these , Chevy Firenza Can-Am . Probably not a daft crush but hey

Should also go in the sexy rear end as well.

 

 

That one was originally a Vauxhall... lovely car. Definitely want one.

[Guest EccentricRichard]

A load of old shit

 

Pistonheads called, they want you back...

 

Hahaha! I've never actually been a member of pistonheads, I'm just an argumentative, biased so-and-so. Take no notice of me =)

[AnthonyG]

Don't worry, You'll get arguments aplenty if you think a 1 series hatch is a 'striklingly good looking car'!

 

You're not related to a certain Mr C.Bangle are you?

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Don't worry, You'll get arguments aplenty if you think a 1 series hatch is a 'striklingly good looking car'!

 

You're not related to a certain Mr C.Bangle are you?

 

No, I'm not, I just think he's designed some fabulous-looking cars. The Fiat Coupé, the 1-series, the E60 5-series, the first-gen Z4... all design classics IMO

 

Mind you, the E65 7-series was challenging in some respects, in both pre- and post-facelift variants, the 6-series is ugly from both ends (though the side is nice), the X3 is just awful, the 3-series is gawky and bland (except in coupé form), the E61 5er Touring wasn't as handsome as its saloon sister...