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The millennium's automotive top-ten – By Malcolm
Gunn, Spectator Wire Services
First, read the following "10-best" automotive feats, events,
developments and disappointments of the past century. Next,
feel your anger begin to swell inside you as you realize we've
omitted your personal favorites. Instead of losing your temper,
try something therapeutic like composing your own top-10 rebuttal
list. One note of caution: Be prepared to verbally duke it
out with your friends, colleagues or perhaps your spouse.
Ready? Put your thinking caps in gear, drop the clutch and
read on.
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| 10. 1974 HONDA CIVIC CVCC:
Because it was fashionable or mandated by law, Honda led the
way to significantly lower emissions with its first generation
Civic hatchback. This car scored big points with legislators
and various government agencies, who demanded equal performance
from other manufacturers. The first Civic put Honda on the map
in North America with its combination of performance, comfort
and league-leading fuel economy. Honda has been successfully
trading on this image ever since. |
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9. 1949 Ford:
This is the car that led us into the post-Second World War era
of wealth and abundance. After years of automotive draught –
car plants had been turned into plane and tank factories –
Ford's stylists were let loose to create new designs. The result?
One of the best looking designs to ever come out of Detroit.
The '49 Ford had a clean, streamlined look that made Chevys
and Plymouths look like bricks by comparison. |
| 8. Studebaker Avanti:
Design guru Raymond Loewy's fiberglass masterpiece belongs in
a museum. It's almost impossible to imagine this car was created
nearly (more than) 40 years ago. In an age of mega-chromed,
oversized monsters spouting gaping grilles, the avante-garde
Avanti looked positively naked. The car managed to live on for
many years, after Studebaker's demise, produced in the original
South Bend, Ind. plant by various entrepreneur types. |
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7. MG TC:
This great grandfather of the modern sports car made its way
to our shores shortly after the Second World War. The TC, as
well as MGs to follow, changed the public's perception of automobiles
as personal transportation devices. Now, they were also being
perceived as athletic cars to be driven for the sheer fun of
driving. What followed was a cult of sports car-loving fanatics
who, during the 50s and 60s, formed car clubs, raced each other
on and off the track and were the envy of sedan-driving 'squares'
everywhere. Next time you look lustfully at a Chevrolet Corvette,
Mazda Miata or Porsche Boxster, think of the car that started
it all. |
| 6. Ferrari Berlinetta Lusso:
No top 10 list of great cars would be complete without including
a Ferrari. The Lusso was based on the Type 250GT, and was produced
in very limited quantities from 1962-64. Without question, the
Lusso is considered by most aficionados as the best-looking
Ferrari ever constructed. You may never see one in the flesh,
but, like a Rodin sculpture or Rembrant painting, be grateful
it was created in the first place. Every car designer today
should spend a week locked in a room with this masterpiece before
setting out to create the next blahmobile. |
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5. Willys Jeep: The Jeep was
the Hummer of its day. A war-effort creation, the Jeep (for
GP, or general purpose vehicle) proved to be tough, reliable
and versatile. No, it was not very fast and consumed inordinate
amounts of fuel. But when the times demanded, the original sport-utility
vehicle answered the call of duty, transporting troops, supplies
and ordinance into the thick of the action. A half-a-century
later, its progeny are still with us, a true testament to the
Jeep's heroic beginnings. |
| 4. Ford Mustang: It took the
marketing genius of Lee Iacocca to create a revolution with
the car-buying public. The Mustang made sporty cars a respectable
commodity with people of all ages and all walks of life. Your
high school principal drove one. So did the university student
next door and the plumber on the other side of town. In fact,
anyone who was young, or longed for the trappings of youth could
afford the Mustang. More than a million of the first-generation
Mustangs were sold, spawning copy cats like the Chevy Camaro,
Plymouth Barracude, AMC Javelin and Mercury Cougar. Spotting
an original example on the road today still brings a smile to
most faces. |
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3. 1936/37 Cord 810/812: Light
years ahead of its time, the coffin-nose Cord is, in the opinion
of most car connoisseurs, the most beautiful car ever made.
It was also a technological marvel that featured front-wheel
drive, a supercharged V8 engine, four-speed electric pre-selector
transmission and first-time-ever concealed headlights. Not too
bad for a car now nearing its 65th birthday. Available in sedan,
cabriolet and phaeton models, the 810/812 Cord cost less than
$2,200 new. Today some fetch in the $100,000-plus range at auction. |
| 2. Volkswagon Beetle: This
car started so many trends that it's impossible to list them
all here. The public's appetite for inexpensive, reliable imports
really took root with the Beetle. No one gave this car a hope
in Hades when it first debuted on this continent in the late
1940s. But a unique, so-ugly-its-cute design, dirt-cheap price
and clever advertising (remember the "Think Small" newspaper
and magazine ads) turned the Volks into a cult classic. The
Beetle made buying cheap transportation not only socially acceptable,
but darn near desirable. The retro-oriented New Beetle has rekindled
our affection for the original, and has inflated the value of
early examples to levels far beyond their original sticker values.
Originally created by Dr. Ferdinand Poesche, the Volkswagon
also begat the sports car that bears his name. |
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1. Model T Ford: More than
simply a car, this product of the industrial revolution helped
transform the nation from a predominately close-knit rural society,
into an urban mosaic. Before the model T, cars were the play
toys of the rich. They were also largely uncomfortable, unreliable
fair-weather contraptions built by former horse and buggy blacksmiths,
bicycle makers and assorted dreamers with an interest in things
mechanical. Henry Ford applied his self-taught knowledge of
the internal-combustion engine with the the-revolutionary concepts
of mass production to create the Model T, an affordable, well-made
transportation miracle for the masses. Ford sold millions of
"Ts" over the car's 20-year life span, and made hundreds of
millions of dollars for himself in the process. |
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