Automobiliac Video of the week: How to properly drive a Multi-million-dollar racing car.

From the depths of youtube's diamond mine, I have unearthed this awesome clip of a very skilled driver lapping Silverstone in Nick Mason's fantastic Ferrari 250 GTO.  If the phrase "aggressive smoothness" seems like an oxymoron, just watch.  The driver pushes the car hard on what seems like it may have been a slightly damp track, but he executes every move and every downshift deftly and with precision. 

What happened to Crinkle Finish?

I am a young whipper snapper, I'll admit.  I wasn't even alive back when "cars were really cars," but one thing I would really like to see come back into fashion is "crinkle finish" on metal parts, like the cam covers on the Maserati below.  Considering that today's entire engine bays are concealed behind hideous plastic shrouds, perhaps I am focusing on the trees rather than the forest here.  But there is just something really compelling about the play of various textures in a classic engine compartment, and the crinkle finish is a detail that sets it off just right.  Without crinkle finish, there would be no Testarossa, afterall. 

But crinkle finish wasn't just for engines and valve covers back in the old days.  No sir.  Even dashboards and instrument panels would be painted with it in cars like the Ferrari GTO.  In these days of plasticized wood, plated satin silver parts and faux carbon fiber trim, it would be a refreshing change to see some actual texture from time to time.  If that's crazy, I don't want to be sane...

Click on the photo for a few more examples.

Automobiliac Archive: Speed, Style and Beauty Exhibition

Back in 2005, Ralph Lauren displayed his truly world class car collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition was entitled "Speed, Style, and Beauty." The show was well worth the trip to go and see it. Here from deep within my hard drive are photos I took at that show. Some are a tad blurry because the light was low and I did not have a tripod. Click on the pic below to see the rest. If you want to see truly phenominal photos of these cars, I'd recommend you pick up the official book of the exhibition shot by celebrated photographer Michael Furman.

The Automobiliac Proposes: Vol. #1

I am a frustrated car designer.  I will admit it right now.  When I started my design education, I had dreams of Pininfarina or Bertone spinning in my head.  But over time, I realized I wasn't cut out for that and that my strengths lay in other aspects of the design profession.  I have no regrets about my choices, but once in a while I get the urge to play armchair car designer when I see a detail that really bugs the hell out of me.  In an onging series called "The Automobiliac Proposes" I will put my money where my mouth is and try to show how I might have done it differently.  Feel free to hate on me, but sometimes I just gotta try...

For our first edition we have the spectacular new Ferrari 458 Italia.  It has garnered a mixed reception for its unusual headlight clusters.  I find them quite striking and in fact I think the front end is really well executed.  The car has lithe, pleasing lines and athletic proportions.  The detail that's an unmitigated disaster in my opinion is actually the tail light clusters.  They look so stuck on and cartoonish.  They look as if the real designer of the car at Pininfarina put his pen down, and a manager at Ferrari took out his Montblanc and said "don''t forget...at Ferrari we have round tail lights," and promptly drew them on.  This sad treatment is also echoed on the California, which means it is someone''s idea of a "family look" for the Prancing Horse.  I'll leave the California for another day when I am feeling ambitious because there is so much wrong with that car it looks like a GM concept car from the early 90s.

The 458 Italia on the other hand is near perfect, except for those round tail lights.  For my proposal, I merely reconnected the taut lines the designer already created, which were previously interrupted by the round lights.  Inside the rear vents, I have placed some slim LED tail lamps.  I didn't go crazy detailing them to look real, but I think you get the idea.