Willy Eckerslyke
Well-Known Member
The original Interceptor:
Yay or Nay?
- Thread starter GrimV8
- Start date
No I didn't mean the "original" Interceptor. Jensens' cars before the "later " Interceptor , were pretty ugly . That all changed when the Italians, Vignale and Touring got involved. That super back window ! What a signature! Pure 1960's/70's hedonism.
In the early 1970's I remember my father pulling into Roseacres Garden Centre in Hagley, in our grey Minor traveller, his first car. This Breinz Blue Jensen parked next to us. In true Moggy Traveller "sliding window " fashion, the windows were getting steamed up in the rain, but I wiped them with my hands, to get a better view.
Oh, I so envied that driver!! Not only for his fabulous car , but also his bottle blond girlfriend with her curvy figure in the front passenger seat! I had "the hots" for them both, I can't have more than 10 years old. It's been cars and women ever since.....
In the early 1970's I remember my father pulling into Roseacres Garden Centre in Hagley, in our grey Minor traveller, his first car. This Breinz Blue Jensen parked next to us. In true Moggy Traveller "sliding window " fashion, the windows were getting steamed up in the rain, but I wiped them with my hands, to get a better view.
Oh, I so envied that driver!! Not only for his fabulous car , but also his bottle blond girlfriend with her curvy figure in the front passenger seat! I had "the hots" for them both, I can't have more than 10 years old. It's been cars and women ever since.....
IAmTheResurrection
New Member
I have to say that I find the 70s Interceptor pig ugly from all angles. Add into that its incredible thirst, lacklustre performance, very poor build quality and reliability... why would anyone want one? Or to revive the brand?
IAmTheResurrection said:
Perhaps a bit harsh, but I think personal tastes are a good thing. Otherwise we'd all be driving around in Beetles, a car for the people :twisted: But why do the car manufacturers keep going for the retro look :?: Is it because they've run out of ideas/talent, or that the original design and styling was great :?: I think a bit of both.
redrover
Well-Known Member
LeeEFi said:
I think a bit of both.
'Retro' was massively en vogue at the 'turn of the century' (how weird does that sound?!!) and was applied to everything (fashion, interior design, cars, etc). At the time, it was in direct competition with 'minimalism' for supremacy, but it soon lost the battle. I think the launch of the ipod etc, in 2003 helped us to cut the apron strings of the 20th century and herald the beginning of a new era of design - one focused firmly on the future, rather than celebrating the past.
I suppose the whole retro movement was very appropriate 10 years ago - what better way to round off the greatest century of engineering and design progress than to honour its greats? It suppose it felt like we were in touch with the past - an era of perceived quality and 'workmanship', etc. But for me, the limiting factor was that a 'modern' design in 2000 was still the product of a 1960s mindset - very fussy, with flashing lights and sounds, and all of the technology 'on show' (camera phones, slim-line laptops, 'ABS' badges on cars, etc). Now though, I think we are much more comfortable with the technological age we live in, and the way we interact with products has changed as a result. The launch of smart phones etc, has allowed some of the most sophisticated technologies to become an accepted and indeed ordinary part of our daily lives - and I think the success of such products is partly down to the fact that the consumer is almost under-whelmed by a device's cleverness. We are content for this incredibly advanced technology to sit in the background and be ignored- nobody cares that we can voice-conference (remember 2001: A Space Odyssey?), or instantly summon any conceivable piece of information, audio or visual file, from anywhere on the globe direct to a touchable glass slab on a pub table.
The focus of design now seems to be on user experience, environment, the purity of a product's form- as an expressive accessory. I think that this is the direction for the future of automotive design. As monocoque construction freed design constraints in the 50s, the ever-increasing prominence of user assistance technologies, such as radar-guided cruise control and automatic parking functions (not to mention a fuel solution...), will fundamentally change the way we interact and perceive a personal vehicle, with undoubted implications for styling (which predominantly seems always to have evoked an expression of speed).
The transition will be long, but I think we can safely say the motoring landscape will look very different on the other side. Put it this way, we do not look to a smartphone with the same eyes - or awe - that our predecessors looked to a GPO 332 with internal bellset.....
That said, Bertone's fabulous take on the new XJ proves that there is still considerable mileage in an updated approach to retro styling, so maybe we're not yet as modern as we think....
Come back to this post on 8th November 2021 and let me know!
webmaster
New Member
Well I have to say, some of the ugliest cars ever made have appeared over the past 10 years, obviously that's my opinion, I also think they're trying out what I consider to be ugly designs just to appear different, some will work, some won't.
New Mini is the prime example, they just keep making it worse and worse, just to give punters something new to buy.
New Mini is the prime example, they just keep making it worse and worse, just to give punters something new to buy.
Kman1600
Member
colnerov said:
Hi,
I have to agree, SatNav is a prime example. Blindly following the SatNav, which I’m often guilty of, has you in the constant state of “lost” as you don’t really know where you are, you just know the next turn. It’s certainly happened to me more than once (you’d think I’d learn) that the wee voice says you’ve arrived at your destination and where you hoped to be is no where in sight :roll: That said 99% of the time it’s a blessing
Tim
webmaster
New Member
Tell me about it, I spend most of my time writing software to streamline processes at work, best example was our warehouse despatching system, we have it integrated into our ordering system, and directly throught to the courier etc, warehouse guys just push a button and labels pop out for the boxes.
A couple of years back our courier at the time went bust with no notice, whilst I was on holiday, this meant they had to get another courier in at very short notice, and more importantly they had to handle the shipments manually writing out slips and entering details onto the new couriers website. The resulting increase in workload meant that every member of the sales and purchasing departments were called in to help get parcels out of the warehouse at day end, and they were still several hours late.
They had a new level of appreciation for the systems after that, certainly cheered me up no end
What strikes me about all this assistance in cars, along with driver-by-wire systems, is that cars like the Elise, Caterham, Atom will be so far removed from the day to day vehicle, it will be a real experience to drive one. I already notice the gulf between the closeted and fairly detached 75, and the wifes 216 which is like a gokart in comparison.
A couple of years back our courier at the time went bust with no notice, whilst I was on holiday, this meant they had to get another courier in at very short notice, and more importantly they had to handle the shipments manually writing out slips and entering details onto the new couriers website. The resulting increase in workload meant that every member of the sales and purchasing departments were called in to help get parcels out of the warehouse at day end, and they were still several hours late.
They had a new level of appreciation for the systems after that, certainly cheered me up no end
What strikes me about all this assistance in cars, along with driver-by-wire systems, is that cars like the Elise, Caterham, Atom will be so far removed from the day to day vehicle, it will be a real experience to drive one. I already notice the gulf between the closeted and fairly detached 75, and the wifes 216 which is like a gokart in comparison.
IAmTheResurrection
New Member
redrover said:
Really? I think it looks very dated. Jaguar abandoned exactly that design language because they couldn't sell the cars. The X350/X358-generation XJ was, in all respects other than its tacky Ford switchgear, a greatly superior car to its rivals, particularly because it was something like 300kg lighter than all of them (thanks to its all-aluminium construction). However, people still went for the default S-class, 7-series, A8 and Lexus LS and the Jag just didn't sell, simply because it didn't look a whole lot different from a 40-year-old one - but now they've made the XJ a bit bigger, given it a new interior, a chassis workover, some new engines and a complete external restyle and they can't build the damn things fast enough. Yes, they're radical, I dare say you don't like them - but they're undoubtedly modern (and what was the original XJ if not a ground-breaking, bang-up-to-date car?) and they have real presence. A nice set of big five-spoke alloys (painted metallic dark grey) under a metallic dark red body, with the 503bhp supercharged V8 under the bonnet... yes please. A real Q-car - all the go and handling of a Maserati Quattroporte with the space and comfort of an S-class. The only clanger, for me, is the treatment of the blacked-out D-pillar. I bet that will disappear at the mid-life facelift. If Jaguar go back to the design language suggested by Bertone, nobody will buy the cars and Jaguar will be finished.
I do think that perhaps Ian Callum is past his best, maybe it's time to hand over Jaguar to a new designer - but to go back to producing 60s pastiches is NOT the thing.
Webmaster is, however, definitely right about some of the ugliest cars ever having been produced in the last 10 years. Anything by SsangYong... most recent Peugeots... the new Bentley Mulsanne (a real pity as I adore its Arnage predecessor), its Continental sisters, all the current Rolls-Royces... and dead right about the spoiling of the BMW Mini.
Digressing a little, by all accounts, if you want an ordinary car that's a joy to drive, the best is the Suzuki Swift, especially in mildly hot Sport form (about 130hp, kerb weight about 1000kg). People also rave about the balance, flow and steering feel of the Ford Mondeo and its S-Max people carrier sister (which uses the same platform). I recall seeing the S-Max reviewed on Top Gear by Hammond and May, who spent all day thrashing it round B-roads right near here (I recognised the Box Hill Zig-Zag, among others) and, at the end of the day, said they still hadn't got bored yet. The 2.5 litre five-cylinder turbo petrol engine that some of them have is very characterful and highly tunable...
However, despite what the company's marketing men would have you believe, Joy is definitely NOT a new BMW 5-series! A vastly inferior car to the 5-series of ten years ago... numb steering, crap handling, crap ride (blame the runflats and cheap suspension components, and probably insufficient travel)...
GrimV8
Active Member
Here's an interesting article for those that aren't that familiar with Jensens story and involvement with other marques
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/classic-jensen-pt1.htm
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/classic-jensen-pt2.htm
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/classic-jensen-pt1.htm
http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/classic-jensen-pt2.htm
colnerov said:
Oh yes, I saw the new advert for the Fraud Focus yesterday. It reads road signs, stops itself (under 19mph) and parks itself!!
Or rather, it allows people to take their minds off of the road ahead even more while still feeling safe, until someone steps out in front of them at 20mph, or they drive another car not thinking :shock: then someone dies and no-one ever says,'It's the fault of too much technology.'
Richard
The Rovering Member
Well-Known Member
redrover said:
Such as the first incarnation of the P6 interior.
redrover
Well-Known Member
The Rovering Member said:
Yes, exactly! That is why I was attracted to the P6 in the first place. I just really liked the idea of owning something that, in whatever small way, was a bit of turning point - something that introduced a concept or approach to something that subtly altered the form of everything that came after it.