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australian grand prix '13 - pit lane
australian grand prix '13 - classics
Modern cars, one can usually tell, look like what they're designed to do; by genius of design, they evoke the intended feeling. Look at a new Lamborghini Aventador, and even when it's sitting still, it looks as if it's going a million miles an hour - all those fierce angles, all that terror. How about a Land Rover Defender? Utilitarian, bolts and mechanical underpinnings exposed; rugged, ready, and utterly capable. Any current Rolls Royce? Money. Power. Ostentation.
So is that the difference between the old school of design and the new? The modern automobile needs to look fast, to look rugged, to look (if we may include the masses here) family-friendly. The image above captures the lines on the bonnet of a 1955 Jaguar XK140. Sure, it doesn't look slow, but otherwise, isn't it simply beautiful? How many modern cars can you say that about?
If you study the last 50 years or so of Ferrari's production cars, you'll start to get a sense of what we're talking about. Slowly, gradually, lines turn more aggressive. Designs become more telling of a car's intent: intakes, wings, shoulder-lines, stances - all those other animalistic attributes we give cars - become so much more obvious. The mystery starts to get etched away and replaced with a far clearer intent. There's a great quote about art reflecting what one sees in oneself, and that can't be said for modern machines; their designs pronounce their intention. Classics are different; at A Gentleman's Pursuit, we look at these old cars and, blinded by the romance of it all, see what we want to see.
As the years roll on, surely this is part of the reason that top-tier classics will continue to be a better investment than gold; they serve to remind us of an age in which cars were designed not for a mass market, but to simply be magnificent.
So that may be why, if you've ever been a pilot or a passenger in a classic car, you'll notice the wry smiles on many of those you pass. This could be why people still come from miles around to see vintage, classic, and veteran cars. Perhaps it's why we'll collectively waste countless hours and millions of dollars on the pursuit. Because classics aren't obvious - they don't scream this is the purpose for which I'm built at you - they are mysterious. Quietly beautiful. Sometimes even verging on mythological.
In the end, we don't fully know why, but that's what makes the pursuit rewarding.
The mystery makes us happy.
Tags: collectors, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, design, Land Rover
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