Non-Volvo car chat megathread

[matthew1]

Your 325 is outstanding. Always thought that. One of my 1980s teen favorites. I had band posters not car posters, but if I'd have had car posters a 3- or 5-series probably would have been among them.

That Dino... is that a US market front bumper? I was never sensitized to these things until several years ago when I started noticing how awful some of the US DOT bumpers can be, like the Countach's bumper. Ignorance was bliss I guess.

[BlackBart]

I had to look that up - the Dino was built until mid-1974, but did not get the US 5 mph bumpers. The wide angle phone pic might make them look like they're sticking out..??

I don't know if it was cancelled because of those regulations, which would ruin it, or economics, or they had something new in the pipeline to replace it.

That car has perfect proportions.

[BlackBart]

OK, I read up on that.

The Dino was very popular and selling well, but Ferrari thought the curvy 60's look was aging and they had something modern on the way - the Dino 308GT4. Designed by Bertone, 70's wedgy, with an aluminum block flat-plane crank V8. The first non-Pininfarina car they built for many years. It replaced the 246 Dino that year.

There was a 208 as well, for home market tax reasons with a 2-liter V8.

Radically different, but I really like these. And that little V8 just screams. Note this one has nice little Euro bumpers, the US ones were not near as nice.

308 GT4 blue.jpg (59.75 KiB) Viewed 1447 times

[matthew1]

I think the 308 was the pinnacle of Ferrari. Maybe the F40, maybe. But they're very close in era when you zoom out anyway. They're only 10 years apart. To be broad, that era is my favorite Ferrari era.

If you want to be nauseous, read up on the DOT Countach bumper.

[BlackBart]

Yeah, I was never much of a scissor-door car fan, but the original Countach prototype was both bizarre and brilliant. Then not long after, all the plastic sh!t and US bumpers and wings glued to it just ruined the original idea.

From a technical standpoint it was also very clever - a longitudinal V12, a transmission, fuel tanks, and the radiators, all fit within the wheelbase of a fairly small car. The transmission is in the tunnel in front of the engine. The heaviest part, the flywheel, is right at the center of gravity. Then, somehow, the output shaft has to go back though the oil pan to the diff at the rear axles.

Countach section.jpg (56.98 KiB) Viewed 1433 times

Just a Lamborghini.jpg (89.28 KiB) Viewed 1433 times

I read all his contemporary designers, when they saw that rear wheel arch, said AH!, that's Gandini.
Look at how clean and tight this thing was.

Countach-LP500.jpeg (88.06 KiB) Viewed 1433 times

Look at that curving row of vents behind the door window.



I just found this bit in an article -

"Marcello Gandini was – and remains – a colossus of car design. Famously reticent about discussing his career, he nevertheless has great affection for the Countach.

“It was done in very little time,” he recalls. “Ferruccio Lamborghini wanted to create something to replace the Miura. It had to be something advanced and revolutionary to show how Automobili Lamborghini was orientated towards the future.

“We, at Bertone, were ready to fulfil his request, the new styling trend that comprised squarer lines and surfaces being something we were familiar with.”

“The main difference, though, and full credit has to go to Lamborghini, is that the Countach entered production while other concept cars did not,” he continues.

“It represented about eight months’ work prior to the LP500 being shown in Geneva [in March 1971]. We were up against the clock the whole time, but that was perfectly normal.

“With the exception of the technical layout, and Ferruccio’s wish for something innovative, I was given completely free rein. The original prototype [above] was the most beautiful Countach, but it needed some modification to become a real road car. The changes weren’t too invasive.”

As for the origins of the Countach name, Gandini says: “That word, with the emphasis on the last two letters, is an exclamation in Piedmontese dialect.

“It literally means ‘contagious’, but it is used to express positive surprise. It was often uttered by a guy at Bertone who worked on ‘profiling’ the LP500 prototype. It was “Countach” this, “Countach” that.

“I started to joke that we should simply call the car ‘Countach’. [Legendary test driver] Bob Wallace was there, and we checked the pronunciation in English.

“However, what began as a joke became something more serious. I realised that it suited the car perfectly. I persuaded Nuccio Bertone, then Paolo Stanzani and ultimately Ferruccio Lamborghini to use it.” "

[matthew1]

Those tail lights should be in the Louvre.

Bertone was a utopia of design for a while, a Class A paradigm, a genius of the pen. Countach and Volvo 780? Hello range.

Instead of posting a photo of the Countach bumper added to satisfy the soulless goblins at the Department of Transportation, here's a link in case you've just eaten dinner. https://www.jalopnik.com/ugly-u-s-spec- ... 851613560/

[BlackBart]

My eyes!!

That looks like some kid put a cheap plastic body kit on it.

[Sveedy]

^ Yeah, on backwards !

[abscate]

That rear wheel Arch belongs with its cousin Stanton…. And thst model needs at least two Double whoppers with cheese

The 70s, when skeletal body shapes were worshipped

[DennisCA]

Stopped to pick up a pizza, here I am walking to my car, which is the one with louvres



Just a regular parking lot.