FinalGear's Most Beautiful Cars Results! pt1

Once we get down to say 10, are you going to start saying for example: "At number 10 with 30 points is blah blah"? So we can kind of get a feel as to where we are on the list.

Yeah, I will definitely make it very clear when we hit 10th most popular and count down from there. We're still a fair bit off from that, though. (I know the thread title says 'Part 1' but I may just keep it all in this thread).

Think we'll just maybe get an update today...just maybe??? :stig:

Believe it or not, I typed up an entire update, prepared it all and (I thought) I posted it. Indeed, I was so confident taht it was posted that I went out to the pub. I come back now and realise it's not worked (I probably clicked 'preview post' instead of 'post new post' by accident) and I am very very annoyed. Don't worry, there will be an update tomorrow to make up. Again, I'm sorry, I thought I'd updated tonight. Whoops. :/
 
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Yeah, I will definitely make it very clear when we hit 10th most popular and count down from there. We're still a fair bit off from that, though. (I know the thread title says 'Part 1' but I may just keep it all in this thread).



Believe it or not, I typed up an entire update, prepared it all and (I thought) I posted it. Indeed, I was so confident taht it was posted that I went out to the pub. I come back now and realise it's not worked (I probably clicked 'preview post' instead of 'post new post' by accident) and I am very very annoyed. Don't worry, there will be either a double or triple update tomorrow to make up. Again, I'm sorry, I thought I'd updated tonight. Whoops. :/


Oh its cool man, we all appreciate you doing this so don't kill yourself trying to make updates! :D
 
The update that was meant to happen yesterday!

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Today's Trivia : The two top manufacturers in terms of number of cars featured are, in no order, American and European.[/B]

14 point cars

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Chevrolet Corvette (gen 1) - Harley Earl was GM's first president of car design from 1927 to 1959. Most of GM's flamboyant "dream car" designs of the 1950s are directly attributable to him. Earl loved sports cars, and GIs returning after World War II were bringing home MGs, Jaguars, Alfa Romeos, and the like. Earl convinced GM that they also needed to build a two-seat sports car, so Earl and his Special Projects crew began working on the new car later that year. The result was the 1953 Corvette, unveiled to the public at that year's Motorama car show.

The body was made from a new material called "fibreglass", and underneath was a variety of parts from the GM stock bin, including a 6-cylinder truck engine and drum brakes from standard Chevvies. Compared to British and Italian rivals, the car was slow, and took a long distance to stop. A supercharger helped the performance, but sales continued to decline.

GM was considering killing off the Corvette, but two thigns stopped them. One was the introduction in 1955 of Chevrolet's first V8 engine since 1919, and the second was a Soviet expat, Zora Arkus-Duntov. Arkus-Duntov simply took the new V8 and backed it with a three-speed manual transmission. That modification helped turn the Corvette from a two-seat curiosity into a genuine performer.

The Corvette today is now in its 6th generation and has 55 years of production and history.


De Tomaso Pantera - The Pantera was desgiend by Tom Tjaarda, also responsible for the Fiat 124 Spider. Production started in 1971 and lasted until 1996, and it was a monocoque design. The first Panteras had a 5.8 litre Ford V8 for power, good for 330 bhp. It shared its transaxle with the Mangusta and Ford GT40. 0-60 came in 5.5 seconds.

Late in 1971, Ford began importing Panteras to America, and these were sold through its Lincoln / Mercury dealers. The first 75 cars were simply European imports. A total of 1,007 Panteras reached the United States in the first sales year. Unfortunately, these cars were poorly built, and several Panteras even broke down during testing on Ford's own test track. Rust-proofing wasn't really existent in the early 70s, and also the quality of fit and finish left much to be desired, with large amounts of bondo being used to cover body panel flaws.

Ford stopped importing in 1975, having sold 5,500. 7,200 were sold in the end. Celebrity owners include Vince Neil, lead singer of M?tley Cr?e, and Elvis Presley, who once fired a gun at his Pantera after it wouldn't start.


Shelby Mustang GT500 - The Shelby Mustangs were, as the name sugests, Ford Mustangs which were modified by Carroll Shelby's company. The Shelby program was sponsored and approved by Ford, and manufacturing was eventually taken in-house at Ford.

The GT500 began production in 1967, with a 7 litre big block V8 - 2,048 were produced. It was, vaguely interestingly, the first American car to have a factory-fitted rollbar. The design, too, has lasted - one person in their comments to me said it "Never seems to grow old". The car later became a star of the 2000 film remake "Gone in 60 Seconds", with the model featured called "Eleanor" and being driven by Nicholas Cage.

Indeed, thanks to the film, a company called Unique Performance started making GT500 replicas modelled on Eleanor in 2002. Unfortunately, though, Shelby's licensing branch stopped contact with Unique Performance after complaints and lawsuits involving not getting cars delivered. The company was raided by police in November 2007 and was declared bankrupt a little later.


TVR Sagaris - A sagaris, in case you are wondering, is a lightweight battleaxe used by the Scythians. A TVR Sagaris, on the other hand, is a sportscar built by TVR (oddly enough) and designed by TVR Chief Designer Graham Browne and Lee Hodgetts.

The Sagaris first appeared in 2003 as a prototype, and production began in 2004. It was based on the T350, but with a more extreme design and performance - 0-60 in 3.6 seconds and an estimated 190mph top speed, thanks to the TVR Speed Six engine. Like all TVRs, the Sagaris ignores EU regulations and has no ABS and front airbags. Ex-CEO, Peter Wheeler, believes they are dangerous.

Sagaris production lasted from 2004 to 2006, when TVR went tits-up (technical business term). It did last long enough to see a 'revised' model, featuring improvements such as conventional exhausts (as opposed to the slightly absurd sideways ones on the original Sagaris) and better seats.

The prototype Sagaris featured in a Channel 4 documentary called "The Million Pound Car". The premise was that a gang of thieves, employed by C4, had to steal the car from TVR without injuring or killing anyone. Only Peter Wheeler was aware that this would happen. In case you are wondering, they fitted a GPS tracker to the show car, then made the lorry carrying the car divert and they took the driver hostage.
 
Sagaris was my number #4. Just #2 and #5 left now.

But are you sure that it has gone out of production? It's still under 'current model range' at TVR:s official site.
 
But are you sure that it has gone out of production? It's still under 'current model range' at TVR:s official site.

The TVR website that hasn't been updated since summer 07? :p



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Today's Trivia : The second-newest car on the list is the Fiat Nuova 500, featured today.

15 point cars

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Ferrari 330 P4 - The Ferrari 'P' series were prototype racing cars from the 60s and 70s. The P4 was a V12-powered endurance racer; and only 3 were built. A fourth, a P3/4, was a P3's body with a P4's engine. Today each P4 is worth more than $10 million.

1967 was the year of the P4's production. Indeed, they took part in the 67 24 Hours of Daytona, and set the racing world alight when the P3/4, a P4 and a 412P all crossed the finishing line in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively, beating the Ford GT40s. The P4 had poor aerodynamics compared to competitors.

Of the 3 P4s, one remains entirely original today, one was converted into a 350 Can am, and the third was also converted to a 350 Can am but was converted back to a P4 Spyder and currently lives in a French car museum. "Where is a smilie dribbling when you need it :p", said one vote comment.


Fiat Nuova 500 - The head designer of the Fiat Nuova 500 was Frank Stephenson, who also designed the new MINI, although Roberto Giolito (of Fiat Stile Centre) played a large part in the design. The car is less than a year old; having been launched in July 2007. For the launch, the car was displayed in the city-centre squares of 30 different Italian cities.


The 500 is Fiat's entry into the niche 'fashion car' market, competing against the Mini and New Beetle for sales. It also is another step into the 'small car' market for Fiat. The 500 has 7 airbags and a 5-star EuroNCAP rating. Indeed, Fiat claim it has been engineered to get a 6th star when EuroNCAP introduce the 6 stars rating.

Rumours have it that the 500 will make it to the US in 2010., by which point we should also have an Abarth 'sport' version, a convertible, and a possible estate. If that isn't bad enough, there are rumours of a 4x4 SUV version. Within 3 weeks of the 500's launch, though, the entire year's production had sold out. It is European Car of the Year 2007 and CAR magazine's CoTY 2007, amongst other accolades. "Best retro car yet to be made", said one commenter, and "Retro! Perfect in every way", said another.

Ford Mustang g1 - Yes, we had the Shelby Mustang yesterday, and today we have the car on which it was based - the first Ford Mustang. In the first 18 months on the market, the Mustang sold 1 million units and invented a new class of its own - the pony car. The Mustang has been in production since 1964 and has no plans to stop soon.

"An American icon, everyone knows what this car looks like." said one commenter. The design - the long hood and short deck of a sports car, combined with a compact sedan on the inside - is a classic. The Mustang was conceived by Donald N. Frey, Ford product manager. The design was decided by a design contest between Ford branches, with Lincoln-Mercury's David Ash and John Oros being the winners. They had penned a four-seater, though, so the design was adapted.

Parts for the Mustang were taken from the Ford range, to keep the price low. Indeed, the suggested retail price was $2,368, and being an affordable sports car has remained part of the Mustang ethos. The 'stang has led on to many offspring - Shelby, Roush, Saleen and Steeda have all modified the Mustang in its five generations. The Mustang's most famous silver screen appearance was with Steve McQueen at the wheel in the film Bullitt.

Lincoln Continental (1964) - The 1964 Continental has its roots in the 1961 redesign, which was penned by Elwood Engel. The design was originally designed to be the replacement to the Ford Thunderbird, but Robert McNamara, President of Ford in 1960, had it enlarged and altered and sent over to Lincoln. The Continental was two feet shorter than the previous Continental.

The Continental's most recognisable feature was 'suicide' rear doors, which was a purely practical decision as Ford engineers kept having trouble with the front seat belts when the doors were conventionally arranged. The 1964 Continental had three inches added to the wheelbase, for rear passenger legroom, and a squared-off roofline.

The most famous Continental, though, is famous for all the wrong reasons. A 1961 Continental convertible was turned into a limousine by Hess and Eisenhart, and purchased by the United States Secret Service. It was in this car that John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. This car is now on display in the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan, although a few years ago it was in France (and shown on Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure season 1).
 
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Two more of mine are down:

C1 Corvette: 7th
Shelby GT500 Mustang: 9th

I voted for the C1 'Vette because at the time I recently watched True Lies and it looked so good there. :D
 
Looks like the mustang has been up 4+ times already!! And there is at least one more model not yet mentioned. My Lincoln did better than expected, damn that is a gorgeous yank tank.
 
Looks like the mustang has been up 4+ times already!! And there is at least one more model not yet mentioned. My Lincoln did better than expected, damn that is a gorgeous yank tank.

Yep the Continental Mark II and 1960s model were beautiful cars.
 
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Looks like the mustang has been up 4+ times already!! And there is at least one more model not yet mentioned. My Lincoln did better than expected, damn that is a gorgeous yank tank.

That's the Mustang's fourth appearance - first Mustang there, Shelby GT500, BOSS 302 Mustang and the current-generation Mustang. For the record, votes for the fastback 'stang and original Bullitt 'stang were included in the original Mustang, there, on 15 points.

argatoga said:
Yep the Continental Mark II and 1960s model were beautiful cars.

Can't argue there. I'm enjoying this; I'm discovering more and more cars I didn't know much about at all. Heck, I didn't know about the Mark II Continental's existence until I did this.
 
That's the Mustang's fourth appearance - first Mustang there, Shelby GT500, BOSS 302 Mustang and the current-generation Mustang. For the record, votes for the fastback 'stang and original Bullitt 'stang were included in the original Mustang, there, on 15 points.



Can't argue there. I'm enjoying this; I'm discovering more and more cars I didn't know much about at all. Heck, I didn't know about the Mark II Continental's existence until I did this.


Don't forget about the GT350 ;) That would make 5.

My #4 the P4 is out, I thought it would have got more votes.
 
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Today's Trivia - As noted above, the first Mustang and the Shelby GT500 were separate. Even if you combined their votes, they wouldn't make the top 10.


16 point cars

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Chevrolet Camaro (2nd gen) - "Smooth sweeping body lines and racecar proportions (long hood, short trunk) make this a classic pony car, a step up from the boxy first generation". The second-gen Camaro was introduced in 1970, and was in production for 12 years. The styling was apparently influenced by Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Ferrari.

Unlike the first Camaro, the second-generation had a much longer development period, as the first generation's success had proven that the formula worked. The chassis and suspension were both improved in terms of both ride comfort and performance, and experiences and lessons learnt from racing the first-gen were applied to this newer Camaro, which aided steering, balance and brakes. GM engineers said that this made the Camaro much more of a "driver's car".

The Camaro originally came with a variety of high-performance options, but as production went on a fuel crisis and tightening emissions regulations meant the Camaro ended up less powerful. A variety of V6s and V8s were available throughout its lifespan.

Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB - "But wait, teeb! We've already seen this car!", you might be saying. And you'd be right. But I wouldn't; I was mistaken. A slip-up in the votes. So instead of this car's previous 9-point placement it has 16. Hope you'll forgive me; my handwriting is dodgy at the best of times, and there are a lot of Ferrari 250 variants.

Anyway, what about the car? Well, the SWB in the name refers to the short wheelbase, which meant better handling. 176 of these were built, with 240 to 280 bhp. In 2005, one sold for a smidge over $1,300,000. It was built in 1959, and it was the first Ferrari GT with disc brakes.

The combination of low weight, high power, and well-sorted suspension made it a competitive offering. It was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October and quickly began selling and racing. The SWB Berlinetta claimed GT class of the Constructor's Championship for Ferrari in 1961. In 2004, Sports Car International named the 250 GT SWB number seven on the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s. Motor Trend Classic named the 250 SWB as number five in their list of the ten "Greatest Ferraris of all time".
 
It's outside the top 10.
There's no reason to dance.

I don't care if people don't share the same view as me - in my opinion the SWB is the best looking car ever made. And I can't force others to share that view, nor do I want to force others to share that view.

And it being outside the top ten does not defame my taste. It just reveals that my taste is a small niche compared with the overall results in this particular survey and in this particular automotive forum.

And what I'm really happy about is that someone else shares my view and had also voted for the SWB.

Also, who wants to be boring and "follow the crowd", when you can vote for a timeless classic.

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