 |
| |
|
Retro
or rehash? Over
the past few years retro inspired one-off concepts and production
models have been showing up thick and fast, more now than ever before.
Unlike most automotive legends which have matured gracefully over
time - cars like the Chevrolet
Corvette, Porsche
911 Turbo, BMW
M3 etc. Retro designs are influenced by long dead models, or
model years. The designers have done little original work and have
merely updated the design to suit contemporary tastes and needs,
leeching off past accomplishments and hard work. Sometime this approach
can be partially justified and sometimes it is inexcusable.  Take the Ford GT, the original GT40 was, and still is, Ford's only real production supercar. For Ford to create an entirely original supercar for the 21st century which could catch the imagination and rival the GT40's story of triumph over Ferrari at Le Mans, they would have had to use far more resources than what was required to develop the new Ford GT. And although underneath the two cars are quite different, to the uneducated eye the two cars are almost identical in shape and form (although the new car is slightly larger to suit modern tastes and comply with current safety standards). Therefore the new GT can wallow in the glory from the victory at Le Mans without having contributed to the result in any way whatsoever. And because Fords real bread and butter are family cars and pickups, creating supercars are not their forte, they need all the help they can get. So in the case of the GT, it is excusable.  The Lancia Stratos from 1973 was a race ready rally machine which dominated during 1973 - 1975. When production of the radical, and completely impractical Ferrari powered Stratos ceased in 1975 with just 500 units built, few people would have thought it would be revived for public use 30 years later. In 2005 Fenomenon, a British design company created the Fenomenon Stratos coupe concept, and a year later they unveiled a Stratos roadster concept. Lancia have no part in the new Stratos' development, Fenomenon bought the Stratos name once it had expired. As many small companies have found, it is exceedingly difficult to break into the supercar market, and succeed. Often this is down to quite simply, the name. By acquiring the Stratos name Fenomenon have bypassed some of the stigma often associated with newcomers, while also getting some free exposure from the interest raised by the 'new Stratos'. Although the Fenomenon Stratos has not yet been put into full scale production, if it does, then the use of the Stratos name, and a similar design, can only be of benefit to the company.  The original Lamborghini Miura was a car born out of passion. Designed by Marcello Gandini, who was only 24 at the time, and developed by a team of young engineers, the first cars, built in 1966, were beautiful, but flawed. Front end lift at high speed (in part due to a front mounted fuel tank), spontaneous engine fires, and unpredictable handling, to name but few. However, as the car matured these problems were rectified one by one, culminating in the far superior Lamborghini Miura P400 SV (1971 - 1973). The replacement model for the Miura was perhaps the most extroverted car of all time, the Lamborghini Countach, after that came the Diablo, followed by the Murcielago, and then the Gallardo. All cars which spawned, copies, imitations, styling trends and bedroom posters. And then there was the 2006 Lamborghini Miura concept. Undoubtedly beautiful, but also entirely un-Lamborghini. Lamborghini are trend setters, that's what they do. They have the name, they have the technology, and they have the heritage to create automotive icons which everyone else admires. For Lamborghini to design a car which looks to the past for inspiration is like Ferrari's F1 team asking Yugo for performance advice. Related articles: What makes a great car Where do ugly cars come from? 21st Century muscle car race Green car production facilities Ascari Race Resort Artificial intelligence Related sections of the site: Sports cars Strange vehicles Concept cars Home page |