17 Mar 2016 – Driven To Write

First Of Its Kind/Last Of Its Kind: The Mercedes W126 – Part One

The car that would come to be defined as the quintessential S-class actually was a deeply conservative vanguard of modern engineering. However, its legacy was not to last.

317

A black wreckage with blown-off bonnet and deflated tyres, lying across a cordoned-off street. This is how most Germans of a certain generation remember the Mercedes W126, the S-class model of the 1980s.

In the autumn of 1989, Alfred Herrhausen, chairman of Deutsche Bank, as well as head of Daimler-Benz AG’s supervisory board, was killed on his way to work by the blast of a roadside bomb. Herrhausen had been one of the most influential economic leaders of West Germany, and certainly the most charismatic among them. A proponent of challenging concepts, he advocated the need for global corporate expansion, as well as debt relief for Third World countries. Continue reading “First Of Its Kind/Last Of Its Kind: The Mercedes W126 – Part One”

Geneva Bites – Citroën: Back in the Wacky Races

Citroën has a mountain to climb. Is quirkiness the answer?

Citroen A (2) — Less interesting than an out of town retail park Image:autovia-media

Unless you are won over by the C4 Cactus, or still dreaming the MPV dream while the world turns to SUVs, you will find the current Citroën collection dreary and dispiriting. Old cars, odd cars, Mitsubishi ‘captives’. So what’s the solution, apart from More Airbumps, as promised by CEO Linda Jackson? Continue reading “Geneva Bites – Citroën: Back in the Wacky Races”

Whatever Floats Your Boat

We discuss the problems of car styling a lot here and, maybe, we’re unreasonably unsympathetic to the designer’s lot. After all, what do you do when you have a 5 metre length of metal to deal with? It’s a daunting task.

MY Azzam + Applique Rodius to scale - original image : schiffbilder.de — MY Azzam plus, if you look very hard, SsangYong Rodius to scale – original image : schiffbilder.de

Possibly the most universally scorned piece of automotive styling of recent years is the first generation SsangYong Rodius. This car bemused many observers, and the reasoning behind it was only explained slightly by learning that the shape was intended to evoke a luxury yacht, thus insulting yacht designers the World over. So what does yacht design really look like? Continue reading “Whatever Floats Your Boat”