Feb 2014 – Driven To Write

The Long Shadows of the Past

The Ascona C (1980-1988) has cast a long shadow over Opel. Is this the car that created the persistent impression of dullness that tarnishes the Opel badge?

Today’s inspiration is an Opel Ascona 2-door saloon, spotted in the north of Aarhus. The recent resurgence (maybe that’s only in my own mind) of Opel has made me reconsider where, precisely, it all went wrong for Adam Opel AG. Lying on my psychiatrist’s couch I turned over my impressions and images of Opel. Continue reading “The Long Shadows of the Past”

Something Rotten in Denmark : Datsun 100A

It might not look dangerous but this car wiped out the dinosaurs.

What is significant about this car is not merely that it exists at all but that it inspired an unheard-of level of loyalty with its customers. Just as it was becoming apparent that buying European was not a guarantee of quality, the Japanese makers were beginning their exploration of exportation.

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Beyond the Motoring Mainstream

Some recent developments in the Chinese light-vehicle market

If you have a few extra hours to spend at Stansted because flight FU 436 has been indefinitely delayed and you find Departure Gate 199 is becoming your home from home, you might be tempted to Continue reading “Beyond the Motoring Mainstream”

The Upper-Middle Class Coupé is Almost Extinct.

Tracing a sector’s demise.

Bertone’s Volvo 780ES. Image: petrolblog

Since the 1950s, success in automotive terms had traditionally been predicated on success in America and for that, a luxury coupé was highly desirable. For European carmakers, large upper-middle class coupés only made commercial sense if they could be produced to appeal to both domestic and US audiences. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the Japanese manufacturers alone seemed to understand this, ensuring they could export their offerings to the sector’s natural habitat. Continue reading “The Upper-Middle Class Coupé is Almost Extinct.”

Internal Correspondence 2

If all goes well I´ll be inviting Piech and Marchionne to an evening dinner to take them through the main features of the blog. Can you get someone to re-write that item about Marchionne so it´s less abrasive?

Dear Simon:

Just a quick note. I am planning to attend the Geneva show. As usual I will be staying at the Hotel De Bergues (below). Daily rates are a reasonable Continue reading “Internal Correspondence 2”

Something Rotten in […] Denmark: The Baby Bentley

The quality of the interior has held up better than the quality of the concept of the Rover 827.

Given the depredations of the Danish climate and the fact this car was assembled in the UK, today’s discovery, a Rover 827 coupe, has held up rather well. Goodness, the leather interior is even developing a patina which I used think was only possible on cars made before I was born. Continue reading “Something Rotten in […] Denmark: The Baby Bentley”

Donuts – The Indigestible Indulgence

The Alternative Highway Code.

Donuts 1

For the purposes of this piece I will henceforth refer to the Doughnut as the Donut. I choose an American English spelling because I really do hope that this most futile of driving manoeuvres was not invented in the UK. I don’t relish the shame of inventing the Donut being shouldered by America, I just don’t want it to be shouldered by my country. Historically it seems unlikely, since it is not easy to perform in a Ford Anglia, but much easier in a Chevrolet that your Dad has ticked the big V8 option on. The name, of course, is imprecise. An Edible Donut is a Torus, a three dimensional shape. The shape defined by the Driving Donut occupies only two dimensions and is, more or less, circular – just a big zero.

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Ripping Yarns

How is FCA’s bejumpered boss managing?

I don’t think I’m necessarily alone in finding Sergio Marchionne’s penchant for jumpers a little unsettling. Yes I concede it is lazy of me to expect an Italian captain of industry to cleave to national sartorial stereotype; why shouldn’t he buck the norm, even if the result is somewhat unedifying.

Fine tailoring might be what we expect, but in Marchionne’s case the knitwear appears a little too studied, just a tiny bit artful. The cosy jumpers appear to Continue reading “Ripping Yarns”

大きな開口部だから、横も後ろも積み降ろしラクラク

Honda have a secret life as a maker of a wide variety of vehicles. They are indeed big in Japan.

Honda are more than a manufacturer of Civics and lawnmowers. In Japan, their range shows clear signs of Galapagos syndrome. It is flourishing. Whereas the difficult European environment has forced Honda to sell a comparatively small range of cars, in Japan the range extends to what looks like enough models to fill the carpark of a moderately sized country hotel.

I turned to this website driven by the parochial nature of both British and American websites.There is a lot we hear little about.

Continue reading “大きな開口部だから、横も後ろも積み降ろしラクラク”

Theme : Headlamps – See the Light?

Electricity is magic so I won’t explain the energy that brings the light but headlamps are a rather complex arrangement of lens and reflector. Until the advancement of computer modelling enabled engineers to design differing types of reflectors most headlamps before the 1970’s were fairly similar and simple. In essence they have a bulb which shines light onto a parabolic reflector and then through the lens into the area in front of the car. The parabolic reflector takes the light from the bulb and directs it parallel to the bulb’s axis in straight lines which means that the light is therefore organised (like a torch) and more useful than the scattered light of say a candle flame. The filament of the bulb will be positioned at the focus of the parabola making full use of the reflector to give the greatest light quantity. The parabola has makes all the light waves nice and straight and organised and the lens can do its work to direct the light. The reason why these early cars had round headlamps was that it is the resulting shape for a parabolic reflector. The ribs on these headlamps’ lens’ aren’t for your pleasure they are called flutes, and it is their job to direct the light into the required direction. Nominally downward away from an oncoming driver’s eyes and to the off driver’s side direction.

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Director! Memories of a Different Industry

Jensen Cars in the late 1960s

Town Without Pity 2

The only new car launch I have attended was in 1969. It took place in Harrods, and all I knew was that it was to be a Jensen. Jensen had introduced their Interceptor and FF three years previously, so I wondered what this could be. A four door version? A mid-engined sportster? A convertible? I was intrigued.

In the event, my anticipation was ill-placed. The launch was for the Jensen Director. This was an Interceptor, finished in a fetching blue, with an interior created under the direction of top yacht designer, Jon Bannenberg. A car whose emphasis is on catering to business people might seem a bit odd today, since practically anything on wheels seems to try to give the idea that the driver has a rich and varied leisure life, to which their work is inevitably secondary. You might drive 1,000 km to that meeting in Munich, but only so that you can drop in to the ‘Ring on the way back. Back then business was more exotic. The Bristol was ‘The Businessman’s Express’. Top Fords were ‘Executive’. The idea of pounding along the M1, dictating letters, was sexy – you were building tomorrow. Continue reading “Director! Memories of a Different Industry”