I had always been fascinated by all things with four wheels. As a young person my tastes in cars touched on all the great sports car designs. And in the 70s the greatest super car to a young formative mind was the Lamborghini Countach – a design that was every little boy's wet dream (he just hadn't realised why then).
The Countach was something that defied every single design element in a car in the 70s; it was an anti-car – a vehicle that looked as much home in the air as it looked out of this world on the streets. The Countach probably stretched or challenged every design parameter for a car in its time. There was nothing like it.
Fortunately for me during my wee formative years we lived in Hong Kong where you could see a Lamborghini on the streets alongside countless other current models from other manufacturers. Something that would have evaded had I spent those years in my native Bangladesh. So when I first saw a Countach, I knew there was nothing like it on the roads (and I was right).
I should confess that while speed and power were on the top of needs in a car when I was younger they were not high on list as was design and how the design made me feel. Between amused and aroused, when it came to cars I'd rather be aroused.
The Countach probably encouraged car manufacturers to push the envelope and start designing cars that explored the limits of the imagination.
Unfortunately the opulent and excessive 80s followed and cars were too over the top. So much so that the Porsche 911 – one of those great car designs had smitten me (and continues to still do so) – would turn ugly and bloated with its dropped nose and pop-up lights (blasphemy, if I knew what it meant at the time) and gargantuan 'whale' tail (which I admit actually liked).
The 90s had its moments in my mind, but as I look at car designs today I am weak kneed and in back to being a 9-year-old (and this time I know what a wet dream is!).
I look at the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Ferrari 458, the Porsche 911, the Aston Martin (all of them, including the one77), the Maserati Quattroporte – among the top tier players, and realise that the “lesser” players are not that far behind – this is something that was never the case in the 70s and 80s or the 90s.
While a lot of the car designs are 'retro' the new designs stand out. Of course 'retro' designs affect people in my age bracket who were too young to hold a driver's license or couldn't have access to them when the original came out – American classic muscle cars like the Ford GT40, the Mustangs, Camaros, and Barracudas of the from the mid-60s. The Mini Cooper or the Fiat 500 are two other retro designs that look amazing. And while retro designs have great appeal to 40-somethings for the aforementioned reasons, they are popular because the designs have an effect of infecting 20-somethings as well.
The icing on the cake, however, is the new Jaguar F-type. Its predecessor the E-type is stuff of legend – in design and performance – this was a car that, like the Countach, set new design standards – and that too a good 3/4 years years head of the Lamborghini.
The E-type was fluidity in motion and style – it was sensual. You wanted to run your hands across from bonnet to trunk; feel the body, almost expecting it to purr or arch back in anger! I believe the design demanded a tactile reaction from whomsoever saw it. Sadly by the time I actually saw a E-type, the last thing the owner would like to do is allow a random stranger “have a feel” and run his fingers across the pristine paint work (no matter how needy he looked; or perhaps it was precisely for that reason).
Fluidity in motion is, in my opinion, the new automotive design language. Most of the cars starting from the (not so) lowly Hyundai to the Aventador today follow more-or-less this school of design (blame ever perfecting wind tunnels) – but none of the designs presently provide the visual delight or give off the sensual “pheromones” of the new Jaguar F-type.
Seeing is okay. But I want to touch it.
The Countach was something that defied every single design element in a car in the 70s; it was an anti-car – a vehicle that looked as much home in the air as it looked out of this world on the streets. The Countach probably stretched or challenged every design parameter for a car in its time. There was nothing like it.Fortunately for me during my wee formative years we lived in Hong Kong where you could see a Lamborghini on the streets alongside countless other current models from other manufacturers. Something that would have evaded had I spent those years in my native Bangladesh. So when I first saw a Countach, I knew there was nothing like it on the roads (and I was right).
I should confess that while speed and power were on the top of needs in a car when I was younger they were not high on list as was design and how the design made me feel. Between amused and aroused, when it came to cars I'd rather be aroused.
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| This sort of design in the late 60s! What was it not to lust? |
Unfortunately the opulent and excessive 80s followed and cars were too over the top. So much so that the Porsche 911 – one of those great car designs had smitten me (and continues to still do so) – would turn ugly and bloated with its dropped nose and pop-up lights (blasphemy, if I knew what it meant at the time) and gargantuan 'whale' tail (which I admit actually liked).The 90s had its moments in my mind, but as I look at car designs today I am weak kneed and in back to being a 9-year-old (and this time I know what a wet dream is!).
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| The new 2015 Barracuda |
The icing on the cake, however, is the new Jaguar F-type. Its predecessor the E-type is stuff of legend – in design and performance – this was a car that, like the Countach, set new design standards – and that too a good 3/4 years years head of the Lamborghini.
The E-type was fluidity in motion and style – it was sensual. You wanted to run your hands across from bonnet to trunk; feel the body, almost expecting it to purr or arch back in anger! I believe the design demanded a tactile reaction from whomsoever saw it. Sadly by the time I actually saw a E-type, the last thing the owner would like to do is allow a random stranger “have a feel” and run his fingers across the pristine paint work (no matter how needy he looked; or perhaps it was precisely for that reason).Fluidity in motion is, in my opinion, the new automotive design language. Most of the cars starting from the (not so) lowly Hyundai to the Aventador today follow more-or-less this school of design (blame ever perfecting wind tunnels) – but none of the designs presently provide the visual delight or give off the sensual “pheromones” of the new Jaguar F-type.
Seeing is okay. But I want to touch it.
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