Audi A4 Silver

Audi A4 Silver

Despite all Audi models have a certain standard set by Audi itself as a benchmark, the Audi A4 seems to exceed that standard. Each generation saw the new and improved version of the Audi A4 start of conversion for the sedan and wagon body styles. Regardless of the specific model you choose you can be sure that the car will give you an athletic performance along with an attractive and comfortable interior.

Nothing like the Audi A4 Audi that's for sure. Even Audi's executive unanimously agreed to crown as king of the Audi A4. For about two years Audi a spiral journey of sales in the world automobile market. With the release of the mod 90 Audi A4 Audi managed to get out of the quicksand as the car was an instant success in the luxury car market. This car is beautifully designed with a good finish and handsome with a four-wheeled. Made of high quality building materials and provides a comfortable interior for a car is a smooth and safe choice for a big road trip.

Audi A4 Silver LED view

Ferrari Purosangue Sedan

The 2023 Purosangue 4-door sedan is the first Ferrari of that body type (Wikipedia entry here).  Apparently the name is that of the Purosangue Orientale, an Italian horse breed, a kind of gesture to Ferrari's prancing horse symbolism..  The term "purosangue" can be translated as "pure blood" or even "purebred."   Not to mention the ancient Bugatti marketing slogan Le pur-sang des automobiles and the recent use of Pur Sang as the name of a Bugatti Veyron model.

I see from the link that it was styled in-house under the direction of Flavio Manzoni, a man of considerable experience.  And I controversially assert that this design from the Centro Stile Ferrari is better than much of the Ferrari work by Pininfarina, formerly its major design source.

Below are some publicity photos of the Purosangue.

Gallery

The face is fairly clean by today's Rococo standards.  However, the curve linking the headlight housings falls into cliché territory.

The car has an aggressive stance, but that is reasonable, considering its motor cranks out 715 horsepower.  Note the continuation of the above-the-grille sweep onto the body side -- justification for the cliché.

The hot-air outlets by the after edges of the hood are functional, without ornamentation, and blend with body sculpting.  The bold rear fender bulge implies the power focused there.  Rear end shaping is suggestive of SUVs by Maserati, Jaguar, and Alfa Romeo, though the Purosangue is essentially a sedan.

Note the hood, long by today's standards.  I like long hoods, and this one is justified because the motor is a V-12.

An interesting feature is the door hinging, the after door attached to the C-pillar.  That arrangement was common in America for many years, but phased out at the end of the 1940s.  Given the "suicide door" label applied to aft-hinged car doors, I wonder if there was a strong engineering reason for that feature here.

There is one late American example of such door hinging -- on the classic 1961 Lincoln Continental.  It probably didn't diminish it sales potential much, given how attractive the design was.

Buick Roadmaster Fastback 1942

The 1942 model year was a low-production affair in the United States because the government ordered building of automobiles to halt early in 1942 following the country's entry into World War 2 in December 1941.  Therefore, there aren't very many 1942 American cars around today.

Fortunately, one survivor of an especially interesting type was auctioned by Mecum in 2019, and there are many photos of it available.  It is a Buick Roadmaster Sedanet 2-door fastback.  Only 2,475 1942 Roadmaster C-body Sedanets were made, plus 3,000 Roadmaster and Super Convertible Coupes with the same exclusive fenderline.

Those senior-level Buicks were built on General Motors' new for 1942 C-body that I wrote about here.

Fastback designs were becoming popular in those days because they gave cars a streamlined appearance, and streamlining was expected to be the future of automobile styling.  As it happened, car body shapes became dictated by wind tunnel testing more than 30 years later after the US government imposed fuel economy restrictions.  Classical 1940s fastback styling faded by the early 1950s due to lack of luggage space compared to cars with bustleback trunks.

As hinted above, an interesting styling feature of the Roadmaster Sedanets and Convertible Coupes was the fenderline.  The front fender extended aft until it touched the rear fender.  This was a forecast of near-future fender design by most American carmakers.  All other 1942 Buicks had front fenders that extended only partway across front doors like other GM cars.  Front fenders from most other American carmakers did not extend beyond the front door's forward cutline.  Therefore, this post's subject car was indeed futuristic in its day.

Gallery

The frontal design doesn't seem to match the more dramatic rest of the car.

The roof curve is not as sleek as found in Buick's 1949 fastback redesign, but the trunk carrying capacity here might have been a bit greater.

The rear seems rather heavy from this perspective.

There is a semi- boat-tail shape to the trunk lid area.  The taillight assemblies might have looked better had the round elements been placed towards the body edges.  The setup here has a cross-eyed look.

Those bold, horizontal stripes were eliminated for the next model year: 1946.

Use of rear wheel opening spats was necessary, creating continuation sculpting on the rear fender.

Only a kid in a gas station performing a lubrication job would see this car in something like this way.

Model year 1942 was the first for many years that Buick grilles featured vertical bars.  Buick added vertical bars in the grille for 1939, but that was abandoned for 1940 and 1941 and then brought back for 1942.  The flat bar surfaces create a somewhat weak appearance. Headlight placement at the fender edges rather than closer to the center was GM playing catchup with competitors' designs.

Bristol 401 Origin and Walkaround

This post contains speculations regarding the design of the Bristol 401 coupé.  Bristol automobile history mavens are encouraged to correct me in comments if I got things wrong.

In 2013 I briefly wrote about Bristol's sporty 401-403 models.  Since then, more information and photos have appeared on the Internet, so I figure it's time for an update.

The Wikipedia entry for the 401 is here.  Christie's auctioneers had a protoype 401 by Touring Superleggera up for bid and wrote:

"It is a result of the collaboration between the Bristol Aeroplane Co. and Carrozzeria Touring of Milan.  Constructed and designed in Italy, the bodies benefitted from the considerable experience for which the Italian coach building company was renowned.  The engine was built by Bristol to an original BMW design, the licence for this having been obtained in the form of compensation for war damage.  This particular car was built by Touring for the Bristol factory as a prototype and was expected to compete in the 1948 Mille Miglia but was unfortunately not finished in time.  The car was however displayed on the Touring stand at the Geneva Motorshow of 1949.  Bristol had invested a great deal of time and money in this project, matching Touring's light weight "Superleggera" concept with Bristol's own experience in aerodynamics.  Unfortunately the original idea of commissioning Touring to build 200 cars fell through in the end."

It seems that a badly deteriorated Touring 401 was found on a French farm, and its body was recreated by Touring, as mentioned here.

From this point, it seems best to move to the Gallery and discuss images, rather than rely purely on wordage.  Walkaround views are via Gallery Aaldering, a Dutch firm, the subject 1951 Bristol 401 having left-side steering.

Gallery

According to a long-lost Web source, this was supposed to be a 1938 Lancia Aprilia by Touring.  Actually, it was displayed at the 1947 Paris auto show and appears to be the original version of the Bristol 401 body design.

This is the 1947 Touring prototype of the Bristol 401.  It is almost the same as the Lancia in the previous image.  Its grille is the two-nostril BMW style used by Bristol.  The beltline drops closer to the top of the rear fender than on the Lancia and closer than other 401s.  Note the smooth sides of the fenders, something different from other Touring Bristol prototypes.  The front fenderline is more curved than production versions.

Front view of the 1947 prototype, posed with Touring's boss Felice Bianchi Anderloni.  Note the BMW-like grille even at this early stage.

I don't have a source for this photo.  The car's body is by Touring, so it's probably a prototype or possibly an early custom 401.

This is the 401 with the recreated body Touring built.  These cars featured sculpted ridges aft of the wheel openings.

Now for walkaround views of a 1951 production Bristol 401.

The front fenderline is straighter than on the cars in the previous images.

Vision to the rear was limited.

Trunk space was also restricted thanks to the tapered passenger compartment greenhouse.

The greenhouse is tall and the windows are large, a fashion more of the 1960s and 70s than the early 1950s.

Most of the busy detailing is at the front, making a nice contrast with the rest of the car.  All told, a pleasing design.

BMW Future Cars

BMW future cars

BMW Vision EfficientDynamics hybrid concept revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show. BMW has officially announced the mass-market version of this car is currently in the development of the company.



Specification of this car still has not been published by the BMW car to wait for completion of production, while the record is similar to a rear-mounted, 1.5-liter, three-cylinder turbo diesel engine with two electric motors - one sandwiched between the engine and six-speed double-clutch gearbox , and another in the car's nose, which drives the front wheels. The whole system is reportedly capable of producing 300 horsepower - but BMW wants mengingkatkan to 328 horsepower for the production design of this car.

BMW

BMW future cars

Ford-Mercury 1939 Comparisons

A while ago I compared 1939 Mercury and Ford styling.  For model years 1939 and 1940, the new Mercury Eight brand had a unique body set.  Thereafter, Mercurys shared bodies with Fords and Lincolns (though not both for the same year).

Given that history of Ford Motor Company brands sharing bodies, along with the similarity of '39 Mercury and Ford sedans, it is easy to casually assume that 1939 models of both brands also shared bodies.  A number of similarities and differences were treated in the post linked above.  The present post features side views of sedans and coupes to further compare their styling.

Besides different bodies, Fords and Mercury had different wheelbases.  The Mercury wheelbase was 116 inches (2946 mm) and Fords were 112 inches (2845 mm).  Both brands looked stubby compared to competing General Motors cars.

Gallery

1939 Ford DeLuxe Fordor Sedan - for sale
Ford sedans were redesigned for the 1938 model year and facelifted for 1939 and 1940.

1939 Mercury Eight Town Sedan - Mecum auction photo
Mercury side windows had slightly more rounded profiles than Ford's.  The roofline is a bit more curved at the rear.  Its A-pillar is more slanted.  The rear fender has a higher profile and therefore looks more full.  Its front fender is more in the boxy, "suitcase" mode than the Ford's.  Hood profiles seem quite similar.

1939 Ford DeLuxe Coupe - Mecum
Ford's '39 coupe seems partly based on the 1937 body.

1939 Mercury Eight Sedan Coupe - Mecum
Mercury's coupe is more modern, the window framing being similar in spirit to Hayes Coupes on 1939 Chrysler Corporation brands.

Alfa Romeo 2000 Sprint Walkaround 1961

The 1961 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sprint by Bertone pictured in the publicity photo above is of interest because it is one of the first of Georgetto Giugiaro's designs.  It laid the groundwork for his classic Giulia GT.

It needs to be added that both designs' character was inherited from Franco Scaglione's 1954 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint bodied by Bertone.

Photos below of a 1962 2000 Sprint are from Gallery Aaldering, a Dutch seller of classic cars.

Gallery

The overall design is in the spirit of early 1950s Golden Age (to my way of thinking) Italian coachwork.

The car was small enough that a simple fenderline supported by large wheel openings could be used without fear of visual bulk (as found on the 1949 Packard line, for example).

Plenty of glass in the passenger compartment greenhouse due to its height compared to the lower body.

A simple rear end design with the trunk lid lip gently curved so as to avoid a monotonous horizontal effect.

The horizontal upper edge of the rear wheel opening and the sculpting that trails from it are unnecessary: Giugiaro eliminated these on the Giulia GT.  I suspect that little reflector (or running light?) on the front fender was not to Giugiaro's liking, as it added a tiny bit of clutter to this side view.

The front of the car seems a bit heavy looking, but that was largely unavoidable for engineering/functionality reasons.

Quad headlights were expected in those days.  This treatment uses different-diameter lights, adding interest and eliminating the boredom of having four identical large round objects in view.  The chrome strip along the center of the hood seems unnecessary.

Buick 4-Door Hardtop 1967

Sometimes it takes a large canvas to do a subject justice.  Putting it another way, an automobile styling axiom is that it's easier to produce a good design on a large car than on a small one.

Today's example is the 1967 full-size Buick four door hardtop sedan with a 123.0-inch  (3124 mm) wheelbase.  Model names for non-compact/intermediate Buicks were LeSabre, Wildcat and Electra, the latter being the most expensive.  Some background on LeSabres is here -- scroll down to the Third Generation section.

The 1960s represented something of Silver Age (maybe even a Golden one) for General Motors styling.  That was when the peppery Bill Mitchell was Design Vice President.

One of his team's better efforts in those days was the 1967 facelift of the 1965 large-body four-door hardtop sedan.  Yes, those cars were long and large.  Yet graceful, as can be seen below.

Gallery

1968 Buick LeSabre 4-door hardtop - factory image
Nearly identical with '67 models, I include this photo because it does a good job of showing the design.  That downward curving character line echoes Buick's famous 1949-1958 chrome SweepSpear.

1965 Buick Wildcat 4-door hardtop - car listed for sale
Here is the initial design that was facelifted for the '67 model year.  The windshield and door cut lines are the same, but most of the sheetmetal cladding was changed along with the aft section of the passenger compartment top.  General Motors was prosperous then, and could afford such a drastic "freshening."

1967 Buick LeSabre 4-door hardtop - factory photo
The grille is simple, though lacks the traditional Buick vertical chrome bars (which might well have spoiled the design).

1967 Buick LeSabre 4-door hardtop - factory photo
Graceful in side-view, the rear fender area seems a bit heavy in these quarter views.

1967 Buick Electra 4-door hardtop - for sale car
Now for a mini-walkaround.

Electras were longer than LeSabres and Wildcats, having a 126.0-inch (3200 mm) wheelbase.  The passenger compartment top differs from what was shown in the previous 1967-68 photos.  And the effect of the lengthening is a degradation of the design.  The rear overhang seems too long, and the reshaped top is angular enough that the graceful feeling of the LeSabre version is lost.

A trunk made for several sets of golf clubs.