August 25: Colourful Memories

The other day I saw a beautiful soft blue car cruise by our condo, complete with matching blue rims. It was stunning. Of course, this particular car would have looked gorgeous in mud brown. I love the new Porsche Taycan, but more to the point, it reminded me of years, many times gone by, when one could order just about any colour on your new car and you didn't have to be a Porsche buyer to do so.

Recently my brother got a new car. The colour choices? A couple of greys, a silver, white, black, of course, and a killer red. Nothing special, although that red is stunning. Made me long for the very old days, when a colour palette like this would be available........

Pick a colour, any of the twenty five available on this Plymouth. Only one black and maybe a grey. Some difference back in those days. Dream of a colour and unless you wanted one of the three or four blacks that Mercedes has, you were good to go.

Imagine a colour chart like this one when ordering a car today? Pick one of the many solid shades. Change your mind and want a tutone? Then you could go absolutely wild. The variety and selection was endless. Some even showed good taste.

Even the brochures let you imagine how your dream ride would look in a few of those bright and optimistic colours........

Smoke a little dope and visual your new Honda, Kia or Benz in one of these fantasy shades. That Porsche in the lead picture might be as close as you can get these days. But at what a cost!

How did they do it back then? The easy answer is that there were only a very few brands available, so when producing that many cars, each manufacturer could have limitless colours on offer. These days, when there are so many more companies, everyone's market share is much smaller. No economy of scale to let the endless colour choices reign. 

Of course the times have changed as well. Will somebody please tell Porsche.......

Until next time.......

TOGG

 So why does this fellow look so doggone happy, maybe even smug? 

Could it be that he is the head of what he hopes will be Turkey's first homegrown automobile company? Yeah, yeah, haven't we heard this all before? The rush to EV (electric vehicles) and no doubt, Tesla's success, has made producing a new car the thing to do. Oh and the new vehicle must be electric.

If all the EV's that have been announced over the past two or three years came to pass, not only would we all have two of them sitting in everyone's driveway, but the world would more than likely be suffering brown outs from all that charging. Enough ranting, BT.

So Turkey is aiming to have their own car, starting with an suv. That's smart thinking.

Good looking, although a bit derivative, but hey, what isn't these days? To begin with, this new arrival, if indeed it does arrive, will only be sold in car crowded and car crazy Europe. I have no idea how anyone makes any money selling vehicles over there, as with all those countries churning out cars, trucks, etc, it's amazing that any company can sell enough to matter.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, that this is the TOGG. Turkey will be the proud producer of vehicles called TOGG. Heck, why not? 

And check out this 21st century interior........

A screen for every occasion? The new TOGG better be self driving, cause there is no way any driver would be able to see what is on all these screens and still find time to drive their car.

Shouldn't a so-called car company, also make cars?

Of course and this is the TOGG sedan to fill that rather small need. By the way, TOGG has hired a big name to design its car, Pininfarina. It shows. Quite a difference from an earlier Turkish car produced in the 1960's, that wasn't designed by Pininfarina, the Devrim. It also shows......

Any wonder why this one didn't make it?

Really want a TOGG, but also really want your neighbours to know that your new ride is an EV? No fear, TOGG has an answer for that......

 

Will TOGG actually make it to market? Will it be a rockin' success? Will you remember that you even read about it in this blog? Well folks, you can see the intro date above. Mark it on your calendars and cross your fingers.

Until next time.........

Bad drugs and Rock 'n Roll

Ah, those classic machines from the 1930's. Even today, close to a hundred years later, these cars retain their elegance and grandeur. The old Mercedes SS was stunning with those cool side pipes coming from the engine and out thru the side of the hood. This thing has POWER written all over it. One problem, though. The car above isn't from the 1930's. Try the 1970's. This car is an Excalibur, designed by Brooks Stevens to replicate an old classic, but with modern mechanicals. Like the old stuff? Can't afford it? Want modern reliability? Look no further.

So this is a copy. A good one. But this car blew the door wide open for all sorts of ersatz old cars, which were called neo-classics. Ha! Nothing classic about them, but the Las Vegas and south Florida crowd loved them. They went well with those white suits and gold chains.

Always loved Mustangs, but longed for yours to look like a 30's classic? Sure, who hasn't? Take those modern day simple lines and add on a few classic touches. Crack folks up at the local cruise night. When someone tries to steal that fake gold hood ornament, hit them with a blast of what look like Mack truck horns. Then ask them politely to wipe off their grubby finger prints.

No one will ever dare to question your good taste again. Well, ok, maybe the good folks at Ford might have a few reservations about what has been done to their pony.

Maybe the originator of this neo-classic should have started further up the automotive food chain? Maybe use a Lincoln, instead of a Mustang? Maybe just buy a normal Lincoln and forget about the glitz and glamour(?) that goes with a neo-classic?

This model has the same classic stuff, but on a modern classic luxury sedan. Ok, ok, it's just a Lincoln. Enough with the hyperbole. Never will you or your ride be taken for granted again.

Need a four seater and you know that everyone can see the Lincoln under all that added on stuff, then maybe a fresh sheet of paper design would be more to your liking? Still with the side pipes and that fake gold hood ornament...........

Drive up to the next family picnic in this ride and all those low class relatives will know that you've arrived, if they don't then remind them with a toot toot of those classic horns. This will guarantee you a second helping of potato salad (as long as you brought it).

Of course, it's inevitable that something tastefully designed will sneak thru.......

......and it doesn't betray its pedestrian underpinnings.

None of the above turns your crank now or back when these creations were in their prime? Also, you lean heavily towards a Cadillac and you don't mind people knowing it. Ok, let's turn to the Dunham Coach works for a look at their neo-classic.......

Ah yes, those classics of the 1930's were beautys. Don't you wish they had stayed there, rather than have some dubious designer resurrect them as a neo-classic? It's tough to have good taste when so many others lack it.

Until next time.......

A Good Joke

I love a good joke and love a great joke even more. Irony? Sure, that will also work. All of which brings me to an article I read in yesterday's paper (remember them?) about a Chinese company protesting about a US company's patent infringement. Get that? The Chinese complaining about patent infringement. The great knock off kings complaining. Now, that's a great joke. And tons of irony.

The auto companies have been complaining about the Chinese designs for a few years. Land Rover even took Land Wind to court over their blatant knock off of the very popular Land Rover Evoque. How similar you ask? A picture is worth.......well you know.........

A gold star to those of you who can pick out the real deal over the knock off. Not that easy, eh? And who wants a gold star anyway?

There are many examples, but I'll show you a few of my favorites..........

Here's a classic from Geely, the Xing Yue..........

Look familiar? Maybe like a BMW X6?

How about this very popular Ford sedan, the Fusion.........

Well, popular until the suv steamroller met up with it. Still someone in the Forbidden Kingdom liked it enough to come up with something rather similar, the Geely Bo Rui........

And now a Chinese company has the gall to complain about patent infringement? Guess they have a better sense of humour than I thought. The strange part is, that many of the new designs coming out of China are very distinctive in a good way. Beautiful is a good description of a few. So why carbon copy a vehicle from somewhere else in the world? Especially when you might want to sell your product in the other's home market. It happened in Europe with a BMW knock off and also the Land Wind. Crazy times.

See something different in the look of today's blog? So do I. The format has been changed by Blogspot, so it will take me a few blogs to find my way. Patience, please.

Until next time.......