mercedes benz - colour coded hubcap

Year to year, decade to decade and one stylist to another, most evolutions of any manufacturer's cars from one generation to the next carry some common components. Engines, gearboxes, instruments and controls are common. Sometimes, other secondary mechanical parts find their way from one model to its successor. Find an Italian car of almost any era, and then play 'spot the part sharing' amongst cars its junior and senior and you'll undoubtedly come up trumps on indicator lamp lenses, light control stalks or horns that are all, inevitably hidden or utilised in a fashion that conceals their true origin, or indeed the fact that the very part in question has been in production for decades, often on a far lesser model.

The key, is that when parts are shared they are shared discretely to avoid the common consumer from drawing often pointless comparisons from one car to another.

One design element that has always perplexed me in the sheer length of time that it saw production is the classic, pressed tin and colour-coded Mercedes Benz hub cap. I think the design first saw the light of day in the fourties on the curvy, separate-chassied 300s. Then, on the car considered by most to be the first 'modern-era' Mercedes; the W120 'Ponton', which was released in the early 1950's. Into the 60's, it adorned the wheels of the subsequent W111 'heckeflosse', or 'Fintail', the W108 S class of the late 60's and early 70's and its W113 SL contemporary. When Bruno Sacco replaced Paul Bracq at the helm of the styling department and brought forth the new generation cars such as the W116 S-class and the R107 SL, that famous hubcap remained, as it had upon the steel wheels of the compact W114 & 115 cars that saw the end of Bracq's Stuttgart styling days. The W123 compacts that saw Mercedes cars enter the late 70's and early 80's mainstream? Yes, they also had that ubiquitous, colour-coded design conceal the car's hubs and lug-nuts. In fact, the classic metal hubcap nearly made into the nineties, only Sacco's W124 and W126 medium and large sector models respectively, with the newly unadorned, plastic-clad styles giving way to a plastic hub cap with a chrome-plated three-pointed star doing service to designate the car's origins to the profile observer.

A lot of words for a mere car part. But think, what other external, decorative adornment has done time for three decades very nearly unaltered? Bar the generic badge on most cars, 

Not one.

citroen mehari

Driving about in any modern car, it is hard to imagine a time and a place where people would have considered using something so spartan as a Mehari as daily transport. In warmer parts of Europe, North Africa and in the Mediterranean, Meharis were popular choices for transport for their virtues as a light and robust, frugal and fun mode of transport. Admittedly, a car as breezy as Citroen's plastic jeep isn't going to find a loving home in colder climes, but those that had scant regard for a roof or little more protection against the elements than a pair of vinyl side-screens and scrap of plastic for a 'roof', loved the quirky machine.

144 000 Meharis were built between 1968 and 1988. In mass productions terms that's not a lot of cars, but the survival rate is quite high. The sheer simplicity of the car, a unitary construction of moulded ABS plastic with drive train from the 2CV6 and suspension assemblies from the more civilised Dyane lent it simplicity of manufacture, assembly, maintenance and use. Although a 4X4 version was built, light weight gave even the basic front-drive version relatively able off-road performance, the flat twin enabling a low centre of gravity when fitted in the plastic tub.

Whatever the specification or the car's abilities as a utility, its personality as a cheeky, paired-down working vehicle, its identity as a Citroen has given it chic, which allowed it to age gracefully. It takes its place along side DS, SM, 2CV and the Ami as one of the all time Citroen classic designs.

the george hotel - harry b gibbs

The George Hotel. St Kilda Victoria, Australia.

Here, I discuss specifically the four-story corner structure, a landmark of the suburb of St. Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria. 

Hotels, often the domain of designers and architects that have been given a certain element of 'free reign' or, perhaps a little more artistic license than can often be witnessed in the finished products that are the more mundane commercial structures such as office blocks and other administrative structures. Hotels are, and always have been places for people to unwind, relax, indulge in gastronomic delights, escape the reality of their own day-to-day. Hotels are buildings that need to be designed in an alluring manner, to be as much of a draw card in many instances, as the food and fare that are sold inside the buildings. In today's diverse society we are used to our food and beverage needs and wants being served from many and varied types of operations from as varied a range of buildings. However, in the 1800's the 'hotel' was the cornerstone of the social-lives of all those affluent enough to enjoy them. Most hotels provided all the social, entertainment, refreshing beverage and accommodation needs to a population local to that particular institution, and it is by this rational and by this design that the legendary George Hotel came to be.

The 1890 construction on the corner of Fitzroy and Gray streets in St Kilda is a facade known not just to today's St Kilda locals, but to a whole generation and more, of people who have been seduced by the new wave of culinary pursuits pedaled by the commercial inhabitants of this building. The flaking white paint, circular turret sporting a single flagpole and the corner entry to what is known today as the Melbourne Wine Room have become not just a significant landmark of a significant Melbourne precinct, but an icon of good times, refinement of design and of an individual who is in many ways responsible for the dining habits of an entire city; Melbourne.

The Harry B Gibbs designed building was completed in 1890, and adjoined the earlier five-story building on Fitzroy street to become what we accept today as the George. Gloriously detailed in a fashion now completely absent from almost all adjoining commercial architecture in the area, the George serves as a time-marker for every significant era in the area's past. In the days when St Kilda was a fashionable sea-side resort town for Melbourne's well-heeled who would arrive by train across the street at the 1857-completed St Kilda Train Station, to the seventies and early eighties before the great hotel was abandoned when it was the host of the 'Crystal Ballroom', the venue for visiting punk rock outfits such as the Sex Pistols. The George has seen many turbulent times as a seedy and often undesirable hang-out for drug-dealers, bikies and other low-life that prompted the cancellation of the hotel's liquor license by Victorian Liquor and Gaming. A sad end to a long life that started as one of the most glamerous and well-appointed hotels in the entire state.

Few buildings, even of the same era in Victoria have the same level of detailing. A detailing that lent elegance and prestige now in its purposefully disheveled state, as it did in the late 1800's when it was brand new. As a design, the lure for me is the detailing. It is a quality that is largely absent from building exteriors today. It is a quality that lends distinction, and cachet like chrome detailing on a car. And having lived in an apartment behind this glorious building, and walked past it nearly every day, visiting often to drink and dine like many others who lived in the area I developed an great appreciation and fascination with it that makes it specially significant to me.

In summary I will add, there were periods in the Hotel's turbulent history when it came close to being knocked down and re-developed. These were the seventies, and the proposed re-design would have dated within 20 years. The George has stood the test of time, consulting architects in the early nineties were wise in retaining the buildings flaking facade, worn like a nod to all the decades of glory and neglect that it had seen like the wrinkles on an old lady's face.

We can thank the late Don Levy Fitzpatrick, a pioneer of hospitality for having the vision to purchase the building in the late eighties, sympathetically renovate it, and establish some of Australia's simplest and best food and beverage concepts within its many cavities, for this great design's life lasting into the new century.

Many designs are altered for the eyes of generation's appreciation, but some designs are so correct that they need not be toyed with. The George Hotel is one of those.

cameron offices - john andrews.

Cameron Offices, Belconnen Town Centre. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

In the volumes of varied disciplines in the school of architecture, one common thread must surely be consistent - the pleasure of inhabiting the structure. Whether it be as a residence, or as a building used for shorter stays, any building must surely have to conform to various measures for pleasurable human occupation for it to then be considered a successful design.

 

In the short life of the Brutalist movement, it seems as though that fundamental was in some ways bypassed, as so many of the Brutalist structures designed and built in the seventies and eighties have since been de-commissioned, their intended purpose having been unachievable or simply, they were unpleasant buildings to inhabit.

 

Not all, but almost any true Brutalist building is a working design, a commercial structure housing, more often than not, administrative businesses or car parks, or buildings that have no reason for soft aesthetics to play any part in their success as a matter of commercial longevity for either their creators, or their eventual owners. The Cameron Offices in Belconnen, a satellite of Canberra, Australia's national capital are a perfect example of a superstructure designed along a set of principals, to satisfy a need. Sadly, not by any shortcoming of their brilliant creator John Andrews, their purpose was contrived and the vast, dominating structure lasted barely 20 years before being almost completely demolished in 2007.

 

The Cameron Offices were designed with the intention of becoming the focal point of the centre of Belconnen. Their construction began in 1970 and took a whopping seven years to complete. The basis of the design is a series of pavilions, seven in total, linked by walkways. Gardens in between each pavilion were planted out with native Australian vegetation and look as though they served as gigantic atriums for office staff to spend their disposable time wandering around and conversing. One can imagine what John Andrew's period artistic renditions of these atriums might have looked like.

 

The primary material of construction is concrete, and I think that speaking for myself this is potentially why like many other examples of Brutalism, this design is so inspiring to me. Concrete, an unwieldy material - not for the amateur craftsman, not a material that someone can really imagine using unless they have the equipment and the experience necessary to manipulate it. Relatively complex in construction and heavy when complete, with a cold and unwelcoming air about it. But the Brutalist architects like Andrews did magnificent things with concrete, Cameron Offices had several outdoor sculptures such as the 'Optic Galaxy' a seven meter high assembly of curved geometric arrangements and a water fountain that offered relief from the sharp angles of the rest of the building. In engineering terms the offices were a triumph; a system of  large pretensioned beams spanned over the courtyards, creating a pergola effect over the gardens and at the same time connected to the post tensioned columns which supported the floor slabs of the wings. The floor slabs stepped back on the north elevation as the building approached ground level, creating natural overhang shading to the glazed walls. Brilliant? Possibly, but not brilliant enough.

 

The concrete finish was very porous, allowing it to become stained by moisture over the years and in Canberra's cold and often bleak winters, this cement behemoth was not a particularly comfortable place to be. It was drafty and unwelcoming and many former workers from the government offices that inhabited it dont look back with fondness.

 

Having raised these points, and noting now that the building is almost 90% gone, it might raise questions as to why this building, this mega-structure rates as one of my favourite designs. It was a prominent building, in an undeveloped area. When it was built, it was Australia's largest office complex and, it raises emotions in people: some love it, whilst others loath it. Many of the traditionally more appreciated eras of architecture dont promote such emotion, intrigue or even disgust.

 

The Cameron Offices was listed on the Australian Heritage Listing as it was a very significant design within the movement that it belonged. Strangely, and despite the heritage listing that it received, more of it was demolished than was previously understood by most architecture enthusiasts and lovers of the building were lead to beleive. It was somewhat misplaced, had a complicated and ultimately a short life - but it broke with convention, made a statement and made people take notice. Love it or hate it, all will agree that it was truly unique, it will be remembered by design junkies, architects and the Canberra inhabitants for years to come. 

entwicklung 34 - claus luthe

If an article of any description feels good to use, it must be designed properly or, at least have design merit.

BMW cars have long had a reputation for being well built, and well designed. In some instances it arguably undeserved for in later years they have been known to put an emphasis on a car's equipment and features before absolute quality. None the less, there have been some models which were renowned for their beauty, some for their performance and some for the sheer fact that they re-wrote the genre or the class in which they belonged. The E34 5-series is probably not a model remembered for any one particular quality, but step into any of the myriad of available iterations of the 1988 - 1997 '5ers', and you will find possibly one of, if not the most solidly honed automobiles to ever leave the production line at Munich.

In late 1987, the E34 became the third generation of 5 series BMW, replacing the aging E28.

Wearing the glasses of the late eighties observer, the then new E34 must have looked revolutionary, like a car so modern and tradition-breaking that cars that came before it looked archaic by comparison. It was a creation of Claus Luthe, the man who had been charged with the task of evolving Paul Bracq's E12 into the E28 and then having worn the criticism that it was 'too little, too late'.

Critics can label this man's designs as sober, and sometimes as austere, but the beautifully chiseled E34, whilst neither a product of the avant garde, nor as daring as the later offerings of BMW style chief Chris Bangle, was the beginning of the future for BMW. It managed to look perfectly fresh, yet without doubt a BMW. After the early-eighties launch of the Mercedes Benz W124, the ideals of proportion had changed. Like that car, a Sacco design, the E34 was wider in relation to its length than the E28 that preceeded it. Unlike its Mercedes equivalent, it still demonstrated that a large to medium sized saloon could have a sporting appeal. The E34 was a bolder and heavier looking car than the car it superseded from all angles, and it offered a bold vision of what was to come in the 90's, not just from BMW but from other car builders around the world.

Spindly and fussy chrome detail was all but gone, replaced by folds and swages. At last, the forward slanting attitude of the traditional BMW grille was gone. In profile, the trademark kidneys were exactly vertical and were housed tidily between black plastic grilles and the familiar four-headlamp arrangement that had begun in the early seventies on the E12. That grille was also much lower in profile within the relationship of the bumper thickness, giving a lower and more aggressive look from the front. The days of chrome bumpers were waved goodbye with a nod to tight-fitting colour coded units front and rear.

Flush glass all round and a bonnet with a neat trailing edge that almost hid the wipers when parked made the E34 look from the outside, as though its interior would be a terrific place to be. And to that interior, no radical departure from earlier examples of 5er but a practical and comfortable place to guide the well balanced and relatively powerful saloon from. Dials all housed within a binnacle ahead of the driver, and the centre portion of the dash angled toward the driver made the use of its secondary controls easy and guess-free. Operate any of an E34's controls; pull the door handles, twist the ignition key, open the bonnet on its hydraulic struts or watch an electric window close perfectly on its electric lift and you'll get the feeling that these fundamental qualities have improved little in the 20 years since the car's launch, and that today's models will be lucky to operate with the same precision when they are 20 years old!

In my opinion, the single most important significance of the E34 was the introduction in 1992, of the touring model. The first 5 series estate, its styling was a totally successful adaptation of the saloons tidy lines and many observers today will probably agree that while time might not have been perfectly kind to the standard saloon, the touring is a thing of beauty. Beauty in functionality; a mid-sized car that offered a cosseting place for four to five occupants and a choice of flexible engines for a sporting drive, with enough space for all the required luggage and equipment. The tailgate has separately opening glass to avoid having to lift the whole hulk of a rear door when placing small items in the loading area. Eyelets in the floor offer the opportunity to lash down loads and a cargo barrier built into the rear seats to prevent articles entering the passenger compartment under heavy braking or in accident.

Every new model from BMW makes the previous seem obsolete. This is a marketing tool from the company that places consumers in a compromising position; "I love my BMW because it is great, so the new one must be even better"...

It serves to make the products that they worked so very hard on a generation previously seem immediately inadequate. This is a sad state of affairs, as the E34's successor the E39, left many people wanting when it came to owning a car of its generous size and weight (and price) that could handle with such verve, and feel as though it was built to last for life. The E34 is regarded by many as perhaps the best built of all BMW's back catalogue. Parts of its DNA are present in newer and current models but sadly, not the qualities that made the E34 feel like a BMW for life.

Lancia Megagamma - ITALDESIGN

Perhaps not amongst the other items on this site for its purity of form, or its timeless style, or even for its engineering, the Megagamma was for Lancia, perhaps one of its biggest missed opportunities. It isn't a beautiful car, nor did it evolve into one in any other guise, but had Lancia, or rather the parent FIAT, taken the risk of producing this car the history of MPVs would have forever been accredited to the Italians instead of the French with the Matra-built ESPACE.

It isn't a design without merit, and as a devotee of the work of Giugiaro and ITALDESIGN I am perhaps a little bit jaded, but it is hard to ignore the car's purposefulness. Single wiper sprouting from the valance ahead of the windscreen, trailing edge of the roof turned up as a nod toward aerodynamic efficiency, or perhaps a little wink that it really was a Lancia under its ungainly and unusual skin (in the context of 1978). The Megagamma had more of a bonnet than MPVs that followed it, and under that bonnet lay Lancia's 2.5 liter SOHC boxer '4'; another article for this site but an engine of design kudos in its own right.

For purity of purpose the Megagamma scores highly, it could have been a formidable tool in fighting Lancia's ultimate demise. Oh for the lack of foresight from FIAT and what might have been...

rolex oyster perpetual sea-dweller

There is something that really bothers me about the term 'luxury watch', to some measures it undermines the designs that have become legendary and desirable by associating them with something unnecessary. 'Luxury' is something that most mortals can presumably go without, and yes, most people could go without telling the time on an expensive watch however, to take away from the purpose of a legitimate instrument is unjust, not only to the designer but to the reputation of a legendary icon of high-end instrumentation such as the Rolex Sea Dweller.

The Sea Dweller is guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 4000 ft, that's a 1000 ft on top of its brother, the Submariner. The Sea Dweller was never intended to have become a fashion accessory, unlike the Submariner which has been offered by Rolex in a number of case-materials with a further variation of dial finishes and other embellishments. The Sea Dweller is a watch with a pure purpose, the purpose of deep-sea diving. Its case and crystal have been engineered for that purpose and its dial and bezel for the utmost ease of reading in conditions other than telling the time in clear day light!

Whilst it is described as 'austere' by many, it has a handsome appearance that has been mimicked by many other watchmakers both from the mother country of Switzerland and in the new-wave by watch makers like Citizen and Seiko. The unidirectional bezel and the dial style are perhaps the most recogniseable of any watch design and it goes without saying that in stainless steel, on an accompanying bracelet there is no timepiece more purposeful that is also so charming and timeless. Perhaps the Porsche 911 of timepieces?

Like all the greatest designs then, it is an object that has come to being as a solution to a long list of requirements by a small group of people. Never designed to cater to the masses, but pursued by many it is surely one of the all time design classics.

renault sixteen - philippe charbonneaux

March 1965. You're a middle class european gentleman charged with the task of finding a middle sized car, large enough for your small family. Alfa Romeo, Fiat? A new BMW 1500 would be too expensive and the same to the Citroen ID. A Mini or a Volkswagen far too small and not powerful enough to traverse the ever expanding network of new roadways on the continent.

Whilst affordable, Peugeot 404s were a bit archaic even in 1965, but Renault was right on the money; a new 1500cc engine, and front-wheel drive. A four speed transmission and what would be the world's first full five-door hatch back style arrangement, with an interior that could be re-arranged in 7 different ways! The only answer: Renault 16!

Even without quirky mechanicals and terrific driving dynamics the sixteen was destined to be a design classic from the get go. Renault's current chief of styling Patrick le Quement has made no secret for his affections for this car, sighting it as the inspiration for many of the cars that he has created for the famous marque from Le Havre.

Stand behind a sixteen and observe the recessed rear window and the way that the contours blend into the roof line, or the grille and the channel that runs from it, up the centre of the bonnet and the gentle swage that runs almost the length of the car, emphasising the wheelbase.

Another contour can be observed running backward from the window line, down toward the back corner of the profile and then quickly forward and forming the door's top crease, facilitating a 'shelf' and a neat resolution to a simple (and probably cheap) outer door release.

Wherever you choose to examine a Renualt sixteen you'll find a curious detail. A late model TX variant with Gordini wheels, yellow headlamps and a truly seventies european hue on the panelwork will make for a terrifically unique ride nowadays. No longer the fodder of the out of work bohemian arts student, this magnificent Renault is one of the tastiest treats of Philippe Charbonneaux, a veritable feast of design. Under-rated by comparison to its contemporary Citroens, the sixteen was as much a driving masterpiece as it was a visual puzzle. Unlike its Italian competition on the sales charts the Renault wasn't an outwardly sporting design, and that has meant that the length of time taken for the creature to appear to an interested audience has been far longer, but surely the remaining few will be treasured.

There couldn't have been many cars better to own in the sixties and seventies than a Renault sixteen, a picture of practicality that had a unique look and a relaxed attitude it was as at home hauling baguettes from the boulangerie  or towing a caravan at 100mph. 

mercedes benz W108 - paul bracq

Every time a new S-class Mercedes is released it re-writes the standards of the highest echelons of luxury car engineering and equipment. Since the W111 was released in 1959, the s-class Mercedes has been regarded as the standard-setter in hi-end automobiles.

In 1965, the W111, or 'heckflosse' was replaced with the new W108 s-class. Immediately obvious was that it was a bigger car - a full five meters long from bumper tip to bumper tip. Paul Bracq, the then-head of MB design began by lopping off the fins of the previous model - a controversial addition, sometimes suggested to have been added to make the car more popular in the U.S. A gloriously large glasshouse dominates the car's profile, also making its interior a very pleasant place to be. Proportionately broad, the 108's focal point is the trademark grille and three-pointed star. A black-on-chrome belt line encircles the whole car, save for the nose where the leading edges of the bonnet terminate at the half height of the grille's body. 'Tombstone' headlamps lend an upright look to the front fenders, in the same way that the same items did on the six-cylinder W111's.

As always, chrome featured like loosely worn jewellery. Not an ostentatious car by any stretch, the grille, belt-line and glass house trim share paint-work space with only the door handles, the headlamp surrounds, boot handle and badging, and those dominant double-decker bumpers.

Inside, the Bakelite wheel dominates a wood-faced dash. Vinyl capped dash covers all the stainless-surrounded HVAC controls and often, a then state of the art Becker Mexico Autoradio. On original cars, one can still find a solitary speaker under a perforated grille in the dash's centre. A pair of easy-to-read VDO dials share space in a binnacle and provide all the data that the sixties motorist could wish for; road speed, coolant temperature, oil pressure & tank level.

Inside and out, the W108 saloons were svelte and minimalist. Only where necessary did the design offer 'thickness', such as the width of the c-pillar. Small tail-lamps like an afterthought worked perfectly and, as the second instalment in a long line of models, the classic Mercedes colour-coded, relief detailed hub cap gave a heavy car a light look.

Driving one of these machines today is an experience savoured by everyone, car enthusiast or not. Power steering, four-wheel discs, and silk ZF automatic gearboxes make them as easy to drive as a modern hatch, and air conditioning, central locking, electric sunroof and powered windows on some models make them as easy to live with. The feel of every control on one of these cars is the feel of quality, from operating a door lock or twisting the key in the ignition to pulling the bonnet release and treading the brakes. Selecting drive on the column mounted selector in an early car leaves you in no doubt that when they were new, they were the best cars in the world - and many are still trying to catch up.

Paul Bracq may have well done his finest work, for MB or otherwise, on the W108 S-class. Like almost all luxury sedans they are quickly forgotten when they're superseded by a new model, but the 108 will remain amongst the finest of the company's saloons ever created.

olivetti serie lettera - Marcello Nizzoli

My mother was a writer, and even if she hadn't been I still may well have had an Olivetti Lettera Tipo 32 in the household, but there is some special significance.

I am predisposed to having an affliction to all things Italian, and there is no greater signal to an individual such as my good self, when the appeal of an article like a typewriter is strong. A type writer in my home would have absolutely no use other than as an aesthetic, and even then, there are other tenants that would possibly (probably) object. 

No matter, Marcello Nizzoli is credited with the design of the Lettera 22 & 32, the earliest incarnations of the Lettera serie. My personal favourite is the Lettera venti-cinque, a veritable feast of seventies sharp-edged design. So rapidly those styles went out of fashion, but a mere 30 years passes and all of a sudden these designs look fresh again. Testament to the world-class, brilliant and unmatchable Italians.

Like a manual SLR camera, the typewriter has faded into obscurity as an appliance. Superseded by electric typewriters first, then electronic word processors and then ofcourse the personal computer.

Cest la vie they say, but couldn't the good people at Olivetti lend their heritage to designing attractive computers?

alfa romeo flat 4 - rudolf hruska

Car engines are strange designs, different at least because they can be appreciated on many levels.

Firstly, there is the aesthetic; appreciating the engine visually, either in situ or out of the car and certainly in dismantled, component form. Then you can appreciate them aurally, as so much has been said and written on the sound effects produced by so many popular performance cars it would be foolish to omit this quality. And lastly, and engine can be admired for the performance that it endows the car in which it is installed in with. The on-paper specifications can be impressive, but ultimately as a design, all the dimensional representations of an engine can amount to naught if it doesn't deliver some level of exhilaration, or at the very least - some satisfaction.

So it is with that introduction that I choose to deliver one of the most pleasing engines that any common man can lay their hands on - the Alfa Romeo, horizontally opposed four cylinder. This engine was introduced in 1971 in its diminutive 1186cc form as the motive power for the then, all-new Alfasud.

The engine was as the rest of the car, a radical departure from most of what Alfa Romeo had always stood for; for starters it was a front-wheel drive car. Secondly, the engine itself had four, horizontally-opposed cylinders with overhead valve gear driven by a single overhead cam. That, for a company who's reputation hinged on their sonorous DOHC 'fours' was unusual. Stranger still, that single overhead cam was driven not by the altogether commonplace duplex chain drive, but by a pair of toothed rubber belts, and induction was courtesy not of the paired Webers that by the early seventies had become de-rigeur on Alfa Romeo engines, but by a single ventura, Dell'orto carburetor!!

The early versions delivered just 63bhp, but it is right here that you develop a fondness for this engine. Its delivery, as a free-revving, aural delight is what really satisfies. As the revs gather, the engine smoothens right up to its lofty 6750rpm red-line. Noteworthy: at the time that the Alfasud was being developed, Alfa's racing arm 'Autodelta', was winning the world sportscar championship with 12 cylinder boxer engines, and whilst it is intangible as to how much of that technology found its way into Alfa's baby, there can be no doubt that some spirit rubbed off.

The flat four grew in size, first to 1.3 litres and then on to 1.5 whilst the fuel delivery was up-specced from the original 32mm Dell'orto to a dual throat Weber, then paired Weber IDA's before the ultimate 1.7 litre versions were gifted with DOHC 4 valve heads and nearly 130bhp.

In any iteration, the engine is a delight to spin out to its rev ceiling, take in the rasping exhaust note and savouring the the power delivery through the front wheels. 

Like many boxer engines, it is a visual disappointment when fitted in the car. Early versions are dominated by the large, round tin air cleaner that later became ribbed plastic on Alfasud tis. Later still, the twin carb engines were a slightly prettier sight with a carburetor and manifold sprouting out of each head, joined by a flat, oblong filter arrangement but all the castings and exhaust manifolds remained hidden, under the engine - a legacy of the boxer engine's purposeful design that bestowed it, and the cars that it was fitted in with qualities well beyond their often mundane and utilitarian day to day commutes.

Many frailties can plague these engines, but the thrill of the start up, the enjoyment of exploring its limits and the sound of its exhaust note are worth every headache.

citroen cx - robert opron

 

I add the CX at the risk of making this list the ultimate collection of French cars! The CX however, the car that superseded the legendary and evergreen DS, was so successful and unique as a seventies saloon and so quirky in its styling that I simply cannot ignore it.

Robert Opron, the bespectacled bow-tie wearing designer who came from designing stoves and refrigerators for Arthur Martin, had the unenviable job of becoming the head of Citroen styling after the legendary Italian Flaminio Bertoni had passed on. Bertoni was the creator of the Traction Avant, the DS and the Ami, arguably Citroen's three most classic models. Bertoni was the first stylist to use clay models, and relied greatly upon them, using only minimal drawing to convey his ideas. Opron on the other hand, was a great drawer, being able to express entirely his concepts and ideas to clay stylists. 

The CX was released in 1974, and its production run lasted until 1991, one can imagine how the CX looked along side its contemporaries. It was certainly never copied. It could be nothing if not a French saloon, low and broad with Opron's signature faired-in headlamps, a nod to superior aerodynamics. The concave rear window on the fastback profile and adjustable side skirts that provided a road seal when the big Citroen was set on its lowest ride setting, helped to generate vacuum under the body.

The lure of the CX to its enthusiasts is much the same as all Citroens; they are eccentric and off beat. To own and drive a CX today is surely a little out of the scope of the 'normal' motorist and certainly employing an early car in a typically seventies hue as a daily hack will have you inducted into a unique club. Sure to turn every head on any high street, there are not many cars left like the CX.

faema e61

Fabbrica Apparecchiature`ElettroMeccaniche e Affini

In 1961 Faema wrote an important chapter in the history of espresso machines when they released the E61 with its internal pump to regulate pressure at approximately 9 bar to produce 'perfect' espresso. The E61 was also relatively laden with other features, but it is arguably one of the best looking automatic espresso machines ever built.

Whether an individual was responsible for the design or not is unclear, but it is certainly the machine's aesthetic that is responsible for its sustained popularity as in 45+ years since its inception better machines have come and gone and it is still a popular machine for commercial and domestic use and is seeing restoration by coffee enthusiasts all over the world. The E61 is quite possibly the most collectable espresso machine on the planet and it is easy to see why.

onitsuka tiger - mexico 66

Cannot list the specific designer of these magnificent trainers, but Onitsuka Tiger was the brainchild of one Kihachiro Onitsuka a Japanese entrepreneur who is essentially responsible for the first Japanese sports shoe.

The Mexico 66 is to many the quintessential design from the company, not for sporting applications but as a fashion accessory. Sports shoe technology has come a long, long way since 1966 when this design was first released, so it is something of an irony that there is still a market for them. But like many classic designs, the Mexico 66 is representative of an era.

The Mexico has been released in a multitude of colour combinations over the years, ranging from white strips over black, through to a yellow/red/green combination released in 2004 and many in between. The Mexico is one of the many trainer designs that is eternally versatile in its wear applications; a true fashion accessory!!

It was the first Tiger trainer to feature what are now the signature stripes on the side panel. They served a greater purpose than pure aesthetics however, known as 'Tiger stripes" they reinforce the shoe's side panels for greater lateral support whilst running.

The leather upper is of extremely light weight (as they were intended for sprinting...) and the suede toe piece added durability to what was an already durable design although, anyone who is a serial Mexico collector will tell you that its the least stain-resistant part of an otherwise easy-to-clean trainer!

Right at home under jeans, with shorts, socks, no socks - the Onitsuka Mexico 66 is one of the great and enduring sport garment designs that not only offers a great look but unparalleled comfort!

mercedes benz W123 TE - bruno sacco

Produced from 1976 to 1985, the W123 Mercedes Saloons, Coupes and Estates bridged the gap between the classic, and the modern Mercedes.

The model which has always been the range 'star' if you like is the CE; the coupe. A restrained, pillar-less design which was handsome yet fairly sober, ever by Mercedes Benz standards. The model that is now starting to make a comebackhowever, is the TE - transport und tourisik, the humble station wagon. Dismissed by many for years, canibalised for spares and worth a pittance, it is the new 'cool old Mercedes'.

Possibly because its the most practical incarnation of the model, or perhaps because it was, in many ways the very first of a now popular genre - the mid-sized 'prestige' estate. Today, high calibre estate cars from the likes of BMW, Volvo, Alfa Romeo and certainly MB are common, but in the seventies the concept of the station wagon was almost one of a more commercial or down-market application. A humdrum workhorse that was used and abused by the family! 

This made Bruno Sacco's W123 estate possibly the first upmarket, factory designed and built station wagon in Europe. Volvo had made factory estate versions of the Amazon, as had Triumph with the 2000 and 2500 but those by comparison, were not luxury cars.

The W123 TE changed the perception and began a new trend in luxury estates. Sacco's tidy lines were most successful on the TE, where there was the opportunity to offer more balance, and the long roof and extra glass lent a detailed look to the design. As a seventies design, it retains the high-street fashion look, the look of quality that the plastic-clad cars of the eighties lacked.

 And this is probably why today, the TE is becoming fashionable again. It is totally different from any other station wagon on the road, it is a  restrained machine, that speaks quietly of its owner. People can be found, kerb-side admiring W123 Mercedes again as they're shedding they're dowdy, bargain basement, used-car image and there is a pride driven by the most-produced Mercedes Benz of all time.

Find one soon, and use it.

matra 530 - philippe guedon

An excersize in creases is the Matra 530 to me. A typically French design by one Philippe Guedon; obscure and like nothing else so that it is nearly impossible to describe. 

By comparison, cars in the same genre like the Fiat X1/9 are simply common and even its predecessor, the Matra Djet is quite ordinary. The 530 is like a cubist work on wheels, appealing - like all my favourite designs, to only a small group! It wasn't a particularly popular car, less than 10 000 units were constructed from 1967 and all were left hand drive, confining this piece of automotive, sculptural master-class to Europe where even there, they are rare.

Said to have been inspired by its competitive stable-mate, the Matra MS620 sports racer, the 530 was a design that was destined for the people. There was nothing very exotic about the diminutive Matra at the time of its launch. A mid-mounted Ford Taunus V4 of 1.7 litre capacity provided motive power, but this is just a detail. The real joy in owning one of these jewels must surely be the sense of occasion when using it, and enjoying it - targa-roof removed on a beautiful day, imagining that you are taking a leisurely drive along the Champs Elysees or perhaps a more concentrated and urgent sprint through Maison Blanche, wishing that there was rather more than 1.7 litres behind the seats...

In any case, a stunning design that speaks of the time and place that it was created, and a car that we are unlikely to see built again.

 

range rover

My enthusiasm for off road vehicles is about zip. I have no time for them, their ungainly road manners and the concept of having such a hulk of an object as a vehicle for general road use. As a car driver, I also find them annoying as they're impossible to see around or over, and the people that drive them seem to proudly sport a growing disdain for anything smaller than their own vehicle on the roads and in car parks.

Therefore it is with some surprise - even to myself, that one of my favourite designs is an example of a type of vehicle that I openly despise. 

The Range Rover was launched in 1970 to a public who held the off-road-vehicle as just that; a cumbersome yet purposeful device employed for use by farming types, surveyors, builders and anyone else who would regularly traverse roads that were less than 'made'. More interestingly, it came from the same creators who brought the world the Land Rover, possibly the Range Rover's absolute antithesis - a truly rugged design, purposeful by all measures and really uncompromising. The Range Rover by comparison was really a compromise by blending the mechanical elements and designed-in robustness  of the Land Rover with the luxury and civility of any of Rover's saloon cars at the time.

Conceptually, the Range Rover was a pioneer for it spelled the beginning of the appeal of the 'Luxury SUV' as we know it today, and the idea of it having been a gamble is truly mystifying given the demand that there was for it, not only in its first years as a two door wagon, but beyond the beginning of the 80's and into the 90's as a true four-door, multi-purpose station wagon. It was, as a design, the fore runner of the entire genre we today regard as the 'sport utility vehicle'.

Spen King, Gordon Bashford and Graham Bannock were convinced in the mid nineteen sixties that there would be a demand for an up-market off roader and through combined use of conventional LR underpinnings and new thinking in the styling department the idea of the "100 inch station wagon" was born. Stylist David Bache was primarily responsible for the sculpted form that took shape from 1967 to 1969 as a subtle reform of the original shapes manifested by Spen King and Gordon Bashford that would see production and release by 1970.

Look at a 1970 - 1995 Range Rover wagon today and you will look at a shape that looks not long out of date, so one can imagine the impact that it had in 1970, when so much of automotive styling still relied on soft curves and gentle creases. The original Range Rover was an excersize in chiseled sculpture and refinement of straight lines - the 25 year production run of that original shape is sure testament to that. 

It took Land Rover Cars, as the company was known post-1978, until 1983 to respond to customer demand for a four-door body shell. More as a consequence of internal politicking and lack of funds after Rover was absorbed into British Leyland than as sheer ignorance to demand, was there such a delay, but it allowed other companies to make adjustments and modifications to the Range Rover. Arguably, none more so than Peter Monteverdi, the Swiss who's company was responsible for 60's supercars such as the 350S, and the Hai, produced the first four-door Range Rover and looking back, it is hard to see how else the design would have been resolved, but nothing changes the fact the Monteverdi's car reached production before Land Rover's and the basic design of the four-door wagon is still credited to him by many.

Driving a Range Rover today is a revelation. When so many cars make you feel so remote from the outside world by shrouding the driving experience in electronics, the original Range Rover makes you feel like the king of the road, with a high driving position and nearly 200lbs + of torque, not to mention a truly resonant exhaust note few other factory produced four wheel drives can boast the feeling they leave the driver. And the drive is what all great cars - and possibly all four wheel drives - should be about.

ray-ban wayfarer.

Sunglasses. An item owned by nearly every adult and most children. Essentially a functional item that has long been regarded as a fashion accessory and thus, an item that has been interpreted by so many designers that the styles available are truly endless and impossible to recollect. 

There are legendary styles, but arguably none more legendary than Ray-Ban's Wayfarer, often cited as the best selling sunglass design of all time, since its launch in 1952. The Wayfarer was penned by Raymond Stegeman, a designer who was responsible for many patent designs made famous by Ray-Ban's parent company, Bauch & Lomb.

The Wayfarer is a truly timeless design, demonstrated by a revival after the downturn in the 1970's. The Wayfarer was one of the first sunglasses made in cast plastic instead of relying on metal frames and as a result they are often best remembered as a symbol of the 1980's! The ultimate tribute to any design is their adoption in popular culture and in that respect the Wayfarer is the king of fashion accessories. From  their appearance on Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, to nearly any photograph of Enzo Ferrari after about 1960. Andy Warhol was a serial Wayfarer-wearer and today there are numerous personalities who would wear no other style. So enduring and evergreen is the look, it has been copied endlessly and will remain a permanent item on the list of legendary designs.