BBC2 TV programme "Top Gear", broadcast in the UK, is running a poll to choose the Greatest Car of all Time.
This week's candidate is the Citroen DS (which gets my vote!). The presenter, James May, described it as "the greatest car since, well, the car"!
Competition so far are McLaren F1, Ford Mustang, "Black Cab" (London taxi), Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, Jaguar E-type, Land Rover, Audi Quattro, and Fiat
500. The result will be announced on air on 20th July.
I dislike the beetle, it's noisy uncomfortable and not all that practical - but it did sell a /lot/ of cars, and was a good early try at 'monocoque' chassis-less construction.
Instead of the London Taxi, could I say equal honours to Nicholas Cugnot's Steam Carriage of 1769 (the first ever self-propelled vehicle) and Richard Trevithick's much more succesful one of 1801?
They have always been rare in the UK too - and they still turn heads ("is that a new design?"). I think it's the car I've always lusted after. It gave the lie to most of the British car-makers at the time, who refused to be 'too inovative' because people 'weren't ready'; the crowds flocked to the Citroen stands at motor-shows and queued up to place orders.
Morris missed a great chance - the Morris Minor should have had unique torsion-bar independant suspension on all four wheels, and a brand new 'flat four' engine, but Issigonis was told that the strange new-style bodywork would be hard to sell; if the mechanical parts were all new as well no-one would want it. (So it got the same engine and transmission as the pre-war Morris 8, including a live back axle with leaf springs - and never got the power it deserved).
Another Issigonis design; sadly, by then Morris had been bought out by Austin to become part of "BMC". At least the new management had more faith in their design genius.
The Jowett Javelin is another great car that never got the development it deserved. .
But the Citroens of that era definitely had more style and character - click on 'more Citroen cars' just above the picture, and there's a nice little gallery of Citroen models, starting with a weird Citroen C4 Autochenille (1931).
I couldn't find it either - I voted by phone anyway. I still can't see how to get to the voting page from he article about the poll. Perhaps the beeb want the money from the phone-poll!
The C4 does look like a car made for hard use. It was also quite unusual to import foreign cars into the UK before the 60s, so I may have a very parochial view of what was available on a world-wide scale.
Well, I don't like getting caught speeding, but I'd rather have an accurate record than a policeman's assertion if I do get 'done' ;)) In the UK we now use cameras and electronics to automate speed-traps, and the cameras are meant to be very visible, painted black and yellow, to give warning to drivers. It's quite amusing to see everyone's brake-lights come on as soon as they see a speed-camera :))
I don't really agree with blanket speed-limits in every case; on the UK motorways for example 70mph is well inside the speed that would be 'safe' in good weather in daylight for a modern car, and many people do drive at
90 or 100mph - but when they come up behind someone doing 70mph in the 'overtaking' lane, is when things get dangerous, as the impatient drivers 'bunch up' or try to overtake on the wrong side.
I'm old enough to have been driving before we had a blanket speed-limit outside towns, and I can remember how ... er ... interesting it could get, going at 90 or 100mph with 'cart' springs, drum brakes, and cross-ply tyres, and no 'power assistance'! (We didn't have motorways then, either, apart from the M1 which was a long way away from where I lived.) Luckily, I've only had 'accidents' at lower speeds.
The 'official' site of Gatso is quite cleverly designed, but a bit too clever for a slow dial-up .
Not much need for a car in the Isles of Scilly (and no car ferry either), so that must leave the big smudge. Where it is far too hot, and raining, at the moment. I hope hings are cooler for your visit :))
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