From 1999 to 2004 Buick sold a version of the Regal with a trim pack supposedly designed in co-operation with the designer Joseph Abboud.
I’d have thought that designer editions would use a designer people had heard of. I am not the only one who hasn’t heard of Mr Abboud until Buick put his name all over some of their Regals. Abboud is “the first designer to win the Council of Fashion designers of America (CFDA) award as Best Menswear Designer two years in a row in 1989 and 1990” according to Hooniverse.
What you got for your money was an interior finished in two-tone brown leather, a leather-covered steering wheel and Abboud’s name everywhere: on the carpet protectors, the dashboard, the headrest and lamps. The Buick emblem on the grille and the wheels seems to have been given Abboud colours too. Apart from that it seems to have been a pretty standard Regal. And it can’t have been a sales disaster as the series ran for five years. I wonder who did the best out of it? Buick or Abboud. Abboud’s day job was to design an in-house line of clothes for Lord & Taylor, a ritzy department store.
Possibly Mr Abboud’s name had more clout in the US, but this is the first time I’ve noticed it. I’m wondering if Linda Jackson would be interested in sanctioining a Limited Edition Citroen C4 DTW?
Well, said Joseph Abboud was a poor man’s (figuratively speaking) Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger according to the NY Times, and when “(he) was chief designer, he offered clothes that were known for their browns and olives.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/business/business-a-fashion-designer-at-odds-with-his-label.html?pagewanted=all
What colours could DTW be known for? Brown and dark sherry?
Simon tells me that there are 127 colours on the Sherry Spectrum.
Brilliant. With two-tone bodywork and trim the configurator should be a hoot.
Now the only question is whether Citroen would be prepared to rise to the challenge and offer any combination possible. I find that too often manufacturers don’t deliver on the (false) promise of individuality through customisation.
Possibly Citroen might offer the C4 in primer, with a full range of primary coloured finger paints in the boot so that you can truly personalise. Wouldn’t that be FUN?
With 127 possible colours, I think the greatest FUN would be to set up the configurator in a way that makes it as hard as possible to find all valid combinations and to exclude all harmonic or fancy options. They have people at Citroën who really master that métier. I’m still waiting for my blue lagoon Cactus with brown airbumps and a coloured interior.
Does the C4 have cupholders that are suitable for sherry glasses?
I’m not sure. Possibly bar optics might be an option. Though Mr Editor Simon has never quite got to terms with hands free.