This week, Steve airs his mixed views about the current fad - if fad's the right word - for continuation cars. Then, a well-worn Audi TT quattro catches his eye over a coffee with the Steering Committee and Gordon Murray has something very special in the works...
Monday
When Enzo Ferrari launched the 250 Short Wheelbase in 1959, he can’t have known what legendary status it would have achieved 62 years later. Nowadays, apart from the originals worth £8 million, there are three other cars inspired by the 250 SWB, all made in this country. Berkshire-based GTO Engineering does two, the 250 SWB Revival, which has a lesser 250 model underneath, and the all-new Squalo that uses GTO’s own bits, albeit Ferrari inspired.
Now Northants engineering consultancy RML has moved into the 250 SWB arena, too, planning 30 lookalikes based on the 550 Maranello at £1 million-plus each. These and the profusion of ‘continuation’ or ‘nut and bolt’ models that currently reprise icons from Alvis, Aston Martin, AC, Healey, Porsche and Jaguar suddenly look to me like a desperate reaction to the onrush of electrification. I was thinking the other day that they must also cause distress to modern car designers, for whom the task of doing something to match the magnificently unconstrained icons of yesteryear must be tough.
Tuesday
It’s so fascinating, watching cars age. There’s a village near us where the Steering Committee and I go for a coffee, and we often walk past a neat 04-plate 3.2 Audi TT quattro. No idea of the mileage, but it looks healthy and modern, on new wheels. Point is, I find it far more desirable now than I did back in the day and don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because this model was more different from its peers than versions that came later. The online classifieds have four like it as I write: three at £4000 with 100,000 miles; one with half the miles at twice the price. The sight of this car makes me think (for a minute) that I should park my ever-present desire for new cars and fish in this enticing pool.
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Car design is not in a good palce at the moment.
A combination of requirements; regulatory, safety, practicality, packaging and aerodynamic for the most part, are killing car design and leaving only 'same as the last one but more rounded' or generic 'russian doll' designs that are only differentiated by a few external creases, window shape, grilles, lamps and other minor details.
The result is a mish mash of similar looking, mostly fairly ugly, designs that do nothing to differentiate themselves on the road or in the showroom and a few individual retro designs e.g. Mini, Fiat 500, etc, together with a few remaining sports cars which have a less restrictive brief.
This hasn't been helped by eastern manufacturers who have copied and pasted mainly German car designs in a bid for acceptance and a perception of quality, when at one time they produced unique cars with an individual flavour. at least the latest Toyota and Hyundai designs are starting to move away from this.
Once electric drivetrains become the norm another brand differentiator will be removed (engine and drivetrain) and it will make little difference what brand you buy, just like kitchen appliances.
I have been eyeing up TTs as well. Future classic for sure!
I imagine there must be a lot of very rough abused ones out there though, prices have been low for a long time, I guess they appeal to a certain kind of beer-budget status-seeker, street-parked and driven without sympathy twixt home, gym and work on linglong ditchfinders.