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Future Classics


MasterDon

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Hi All,

Like in all discussions classics are a source of conflict-did you see last two weeks Top Gear they thrashed 2 morris Marina's and raised many objections.

By the way GT AM I have driven and maintained a Citroen BX GTI 16V the top model, powerful it was but for real fun in driving I preffered the Renault 5 GT Turbo, I also owned a 205 GTI which was driven at its limit almost on a daily basis for 100,000 miles by me in 3 years -both above already classics in the UK-but so are the Morris Oxfords, Marina,s, Allegro's Cambridge's as well as hoards of the various Subaru's-how ever at least in the UK the Nissans Toyota's Honda's apart from the very rare 3000 turbo and the honda s2000 do not seem to inspire the kind of devotion by previous owners to restore and use as classics-they love their Classisic British Disasters mainly!

The italian cars, mainly the Alfa's do have a very strong following.

Some like the the 70 and 80's american Muscle cars (they emptied most of the arab's oil wells), They normally believe Elvis is alive!

I am still looking for a Peugeot 203-Some will think that's extremely sad-I know but I still love them!

Maithri

P.S. I hope you all have enough petrol to drive on whilst the Courts and Tin pot Govt. posture over who is bigger!

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i bet the people in the 50's 60's said the same thing when their beetles,2cv's and mini's were running around :lol:..nah i think this era too will also produce it's share of classics... :)

All the above cars were truly special. They were the work of geniuses who thought out of the box. Dr. Porsche, Andre Lefebvre (hope I got the name right) and Alec Issigonis were all came up with very radical designs. They were unique in a few ways that set them apart from the rest of the market.

The Beetle was a cheap, reliable and economical form of transport for the masses. Yet it was unique and innovative enough to last decedes in production. It's the same with the Mini which took space utilization to a new level and probably accidently earned a cool image. I can't picture drab old Leylend thinking "Let's make the coolest car now"! ever!. As you know the 2CV is an engineering masterpiece as well and production lasted until the 80's.

This is an era that's moving very fast. Today companies have to please their shareholders much more than during that time. Therefore being adventurous is not on the cards for most. The bean counters will axe something too radical. Then also today consumers are a lot more image concious. So before the accountants the innovative radical product might get chopped my the marketing dept who go by stats and focus group discussions.

There are too many economic failures around. The Smart, The Audi A1, the Sinclair C5?

However, today the requirement of cuttting edge innovation in greater than ever before. Time to go "Back to the Future"?? ;)

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All the above cars were truly special. They were the work of geniuses who thought out of the box. Dr. Porsche, Andre Lefebvre (hope I got the name right) and Alec Issigonis were all came up with very radical designs. They were unique in a few ways that set them apart from the rest of the market.

The Beetle was a cheap, reliable and economical form of transport for the masses. Yet it was unique and innovative enough to last decedes in production. It's the same with the Mini which took space utilization to a new level and probably accidently earned a cool image. I can't picture drab old Leylend thinking "Let's make the coolest car now"! ever!. As you know the 2CV is an engineering masterpiece as well and production lasted until the 80's.

This is an era that's moving very fast. Today companies have to please their shareholders much more than during that time. Therefore being adventurous is not on the cards for most. The bean counters will axe something too radical. Then also today consumers are a lot more image concious. So before the accountants the innovative radical product might get chopped my the marketing dept who go by stats and focus group discussions.

There are too many economic failures around. The Smart, The Audi A1, the Sinclair C5?

However, today the requirement of cuttting edge innovation in greater than ever before. Time to go "Back to the Future"?? ;)

another reason for the lack of innovation and originality in design i feel is the use of common platforms..

True it keeps cost down, but one can begin to see how a car that is just a culmination of bits n pieces from the parts bit of a collective group can not have as much soul as lets say a Morgan that had a few trees cut down to make it by hand!

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another reason for the lack of innovation and originality in design i feel is the use of common platforms..

True it keeps cost down, but one can begin to see how a car that is just a culmination of bits n pieces from the parts bit of a collective group can not have as much soul as lets say a Morgan that had a few trees cut down to make it by hand!

Very true. It's all about cost cutting and pleasing shareholders. Too much Greed in the world I guess....... It's been getting out of hand. The proof is the Veyron!

Morgan - the Aero 8 is quite a high tech piece of kit isn't it. They even came up with a new high tech eco friendly concept recently.

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another reason for bland car design is all these safety standards,like the euro NCAP....in order to go for the max 5 star rating all mass produced cars have to sacrifice some styling,so they all end up looking the same...eg:-the new accord and camry...

car designers in the 50's & 60's didn't have to worry about safety stars so they had better freedom...and they didn't have to worry about meddlers like greenpeace either...

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another reason for bland car design is all these safety standards,like the euro NCAP....in order to go for the max 5 star rating all mass produced cars have to sacrifice some styling,so they all end up looking the same...eg:-the new accord and camry...

thats where Renault deserves a bouquet for something like the Megane hatch :) ticked most of the boxes didnt it

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I would add the Range Rover Classic which spanned a life of about 23years (last of them were built in 1994).

Then the Nissan Patrol Y60 LWB (dont know why but I think it should)

Nissan March K11 - a bit of a bold decision

BMW E39 M5

BMW 7 series E32??

Jaguar S-Type

3rd Gen Mitsu Pajero / Montero

Land Cruiser LJ70's series

Oh yes I do agree with whoever suggested the Citroen XM (techno marvel)

What about the Jap Luxury cars the rest of the world dont get like the Toyota Century, Nissan President, Mitsubishi Debonair?

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I would add the Range Rover Classic which spanned a life of about 23years (last of them were built in 1994).

i'll second that :)

some may argue that it was the Jeep Grandwagoneer that introduced the concept of the Sports Utility Vehicle , but i'm sure we can all agree that it was the Range Rover classic that truly wrote the book on the subject and defined the segment originally

& the technology it came with wasn't half bad either - functional beauty

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What about the Jap Luxury cars the rest of the world dont get like the Toyota Century, Nissan President, Mitsubishi Debonair?

hmmm simply cuz they were JDM specials they might hold some value...

but having said that i recall a certain Nissan President which was a good 20 yrs old being aroud for douth of a million - lets not forget the V8 & the many electric (hydraulic? :unusre: ) trinkets it had packed in!

so maybe there time is yet to come..

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hmmm simply cuz they were JDM specials they might hold some value...

but having said that i recall a certain Nissan President which was a good 20 yrs old being aroud for douth of a million - lets not forget the V8 & the many electric (hydraulic? :unusre: ) trinkets it had packed in!

so maybe there time is yet to come..

Thats in the SL context right? But what about globally? Nissan had a much more exclusive model something like Prince Royal

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Thats in the SL context right? But what about globally? Nissan had a much more exclusive model something like Prince Royal

The lack of originality is the biggest problem with the Japanese. Everything was a copy and a derivative of a western product. But I reckon all the old Skyline GTs are definitly going to be very sought after.

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guys as far as i know the rav 4 was the car that kick started the whole suv trend....so doesn't it deserve a spot as a classic?

and what about the freelander mk1

Hmmmm the Range Rover was born in 1970 I believe. The Rav4 did kick off the mini SUV pseudo off roader genre. So the original could end up a classic one day. It depends on how desirable people find it.

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Hmmmm the Range Rover was born in 1970 I believe. The Rav4 did kick off the mini SUV pseudo off roader genre. So the original could end up a classic one day. It depends on how desirable people find it.

sorry....i forgot the "mini" part before suv....

i admit i have a secret love for the 2 door versions of the rav :D

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Thats in the SL context right? But what about globally? Nissan had a much more exclusive model something like Prince Royal

The Princess Royal was exclusively for the use of the Japanese moonarchy i though.. :unsure:

A*W has a couple of the 90's Presidents/Inifinity Q45's

The Toyota Century was sold in larger volumes i think..

do you recon the Japanese embassy had/s one? i've seen them use the new Crown as of late , but nearly a decade back i recall them having a stash of large luxury barges parked at the back of the embassy compound on Gregory's Rd

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GTAm..i'd like to know what you mean by "The proof is the Veyron!"? :)

Well just think about it who would really need 1001bhp when 500bhp is so adequate...... The Veyron is simply a symbol of the absurd exess the whole world was indulging in. Bhp was getting higher and higher quite uncontrollably. For me it's like the the 'sign' or bad omen that things were getting too hot. And now we have a global economic meltdown. Things and especially cars were getting very ugly!

How would you sell a used overweight overpowerd Veyron in this market?

There's nothing truly admirable with the Veyron engineering. They just went on adding extra cylinders and turbos to reach their 1000bhp goal and then had to figure out ways to cool the engine down and stop the damn thing. Just an image thing.

Gordon Murray's Mc F1 is a much more admirable approach. After that car the Veyron seems like a step backwards.

Btw I learned another interesting thing about the Bug. VW loses 3m Euros on each car!

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hey GTAm....just saw your FB profile pic.....looks like the new 500 is here... :jumping-smiley-013:

how about a peak ah?.....pretty please!!!!!!! :)

Not mine mate.... :( I had only about an hour with it. Truly funky styling. In the metal it seems so much closer to the original. I am not a fan of retro but this one is so cool. Interior is Italian mixed with 50's Americana! An dthe drive was better than I expected too. The ride was super considering it has such a short wheel base and 1.2L seemed 'hondatama athi' :D

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Not mine mate.... :( I had only about an hour with it. Truly funky styling. In the metal it seems so much closer to the original. I am not a fan of retro but this one is so cool. Interior is Italian mixed with 50's Americana! An dthe drive was better than I expected too. The ride was super considering it has such a short wheel base and 1.2L seemed 'hondatama athi' :D

no worries mate...yeah i too think it's the best reincarnation of a legendary car to date... :)

meanwhile i'm kinda getting attached to the old one....i strongly objected when dad tried to sell it....believe me i'll never ever be seen driving it but it's kinda gives me a warm felling inside knowing that little white bugger is still with us :)

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no worries mate...yeah i too think it's the best reincarnation of a legendary car to date... :)

meanwhile i'm kinda getting attached to the old one....i strongly objected when dad tried to sell it....believe me i'll never ever be seen driving it but it's kinda gives me a warm felling inside knowing that little white bugger is still with us :)

I have not driven an old 'nuova 500' too. Shame on me :( . But folk who have rave about how much fun it is. Most famous raver being Michael Shcuey so there really must be something there!

Don't sell it mate. You'll regret it. 500s are hard to come by. A guy I know was desperately looking for one but we could not find one and he settled for a 500C (bug) instead. This one does not fire me up though.

Have driven a 600 briefly and it felt unique. Wish it was a longer drive. .....

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