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Old 30th July 2016, 07:54
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Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
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It's a funny old thing, but when I visit vintage and classic race meetings I am always blown away by the overall beauty of the cars from the 50's and 60's.

But if you really look at them, up close, the panel fit and gaps can be very haphazard, the (original) paint poorly applied and some of the design features can be very clumsy.

Take that (gorgeous) Ferrari Vignale above. Beautiful car but if it was a kit car body you'd be telling the designer to sort out that front wheelarch arrangement as it looks like they couldn't be bothered to finish that end of the car.

The shape of the arch and placement of the wheel within it are very strange and the transition from the grille surround into the front of the arch is also somewhat ungainly. I suppose there may be some functional reason for this, but I just can't think of one.





Vignale were able to get away with that though because people are dazzled by the Ferrari badge and the overall look of the rest of the car - Ferraris are beautiful and this is a Ferrari, ergo, this must be what beauty is.

So, I suppose my point is: is it really fair to compare the Sammio designs against a notion of perfection when the actual cars of the period they represent were often imperfect themselves?

Answers on a post-card...

Last edited by Mister Towed; 30th July 2016 at 07:57..
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