Here at Monterey Car Week, things tend to kick off with an event called Motorlux, which is basically what happens when you close down the Monterey Airport and fill it up full of fantastic cars, some airplanes and helicopters, a lot of booze and fancy food that is trickier to eat while trying to balance a drink and not dump it sloppily all over your dressy clothes, and then flood the whole place with a lot of rich people and an awful lot of eager gearheads.
It’s a fun, decadent time, and I was there, acting as your eyes, ears, and, yes, bladder. For those of you that couldn’t make it because of the cruel realities of distance, resources, and, very likely, restraining orders, allow me to share with you some of the automotive highlights of the event.
Oh, I should remind you that these highlights are ones that are filtered though my eyes and brain and all the related fetishes and obsessions that are contained therein, so consider this a disclaimer. Let’s get going!
Oh, first I should show you that our Murano Cross Cab is now hobnobbing with a higher class of fellow automobile. No more Festivas up on blocks for our Cross Cab! Now it’s devaluing self-satisfied Rolls-Royce SUVs!
This seems to be a 1950something Alfa Romeo CS Touring Superleggera, but it has all sorts of interesting and peculiar details, which I helpfully pointed out in this reel I happen to have handy:
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This window beading is the detail that fascinates me the most; I’ve never seen anything like that before? I mean on a car, at least – it sure looks like what I remember old payphone handset cords looked like.
Also, for automotive lighting fetishists like myself, this pictures gives so very much: the racing-chic X of tape on the headlights, that wonderfully peculiar gridded green tea-colored indicator lens, that wonderful old driving lamp. So good.
There was a new Morgan three wheeler there, and if your goal is to have the most arachnid-like car possible, this is your solution. Hey look, I have another reel for that!
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There was also a new Morgan Plus 4 there, and we’ll be looking deeper into these soon, but at the moment I just have a question:
What do we think the odds are that these use the same wiper blades – and perhaps arms – as the old three-wiper MGB/Midgets? I bet the odds are pretty damn good.
Our buddy Matt Farah was there with his three-cylinder radial-powered Meyers Manx. I’m not sure I’ve seen someone so delighted with a car in a long time. It was a pleasure to see.
If you’re an HR Geiger fan, you may like this. It’s fascinating and also a bit unsettling. This is the metal 3D-printed chassis of the Czinger, and the chassis elements have been designed and optimized in such a way that they use the minimum amount of material to get maximum strength, a process that leaves them looking like…bones. Biological bones.
I mean, look at these things: they’re all pelvises and clavicles and coccyxes up in there. I suppose this is a reminder that evolution is powerful and managed to get highly efficient bone structures over eons, but it sure is jarring in this context.
If you told me that instead of bodies, they had a process to grow skin and muscle and sinew over these chassis, I’d believe it, as I internally recoiled in horror at the idea of a car that could get sweaty.
This is a really charming Lambretta scooter, and I want to show you specifically the badge on this one:
Look at that little black sheep, making trouble and kicking up what look to be lowercase “i”s. This made me wonder if the name Lambretta is somehow related to, you know, lambs, but it seems it’s named for a suburb of Milan. Oh well.
These Alfa Romeo SZs are so incredible; I’m not sure I’d call these six-eyed angular wonders pretty, but they’re striking as hell and they make an impression anywhere they end up.
I didn’t realize that Fiat is bringing the new low-speed EV Topolinos to America! They’ll be about $15,000, limited to either 19 or 25 mph, and are really clever and fun little cars. As a Changli owner, I can say that a 25 mph car is actually far more useful than you may realize, in the right contexts. These are fun, I’m glad they’re coming here, and, shockingly, compared to most golf carts, that price isn’t bad. I know, I know.
We’ve seen this amazing cube-ified Volkswagen Type 2 before, and I’m happy to see it again. It’s like a cartoon escaped into our reality, and I welcome it.
This seems to just be a stock 1964 Opel Kadett Sport Coupe, but holy hell is it just charming. Simple and charming.
It’s unpretentious and straightforward, detailed in just the right way, wearing a tasteful amount of chrome – what a satisfying little car.
If you thought harlequin cars were just for VWs, you’re only half right! Look at this marvelous harlequin 911! The color choices are fantastic, like various sherbets, and look on the inside:
It’s like a thrift store vigorously humped a Porsche catalog, and here’s the glorious, gingham/plaid/denim/corduroy result!
The most recent bb-Auto Porsche was here, resplendent in gold, and it looked fantastic. Plus, look at this serendipitous visitor, making a lovely visual and chromatic poem:
Let’s get closer to this bee on the bb:
So good. Thanks for showing up and dressing the part, little bee.
Our partner Beau loaned his amazing Biscuter to the event, the finest Voisin-designed Spanish microcar of all time.
Have you taken a moment to consider just how huge the turn indicators are on a Ferrari 512 BBi? They’re massive. They may be the largest turn signals of any car, in square area. I should look into that.
Speaking of turn signals, this incredible Chapron-designed Citroën DS Décapotable has some really lovely ones. Since this is a convertible, the DS’s traditional roof-horn-mounted indicators couldn’t stay, so they needed to be redesigned and relocated. This is the result:
Subtle, elegant, functional – an absolute turn signallic triumph.
This ’78 Super Beetle convertible was in stunning shape. Super Beetles tend not to be as collectible as pre-’68 Beetles, so I’m always happy to see them in this context.
I never really understood this trim piece on ’73-’80 Super Beetles. Was it to hide a weld seam? It’s odd.
This Fiat rally car is a boxy wonder; it’s so purposeful and rational, like an appliance built for speed and handling.
This bubble-topped Jaguar XK racing car was magical. Feels like it should be the car for some ’50s-era super hero called the Jagnoir, or something.
It’s already called “the Black Cat” as it is, after all.
Earlier, I mentioned that the Morgan three-wheeler was ideal if you were seeking out insectile/arachnile cars. If crustacean is your automotive jam, I think this Delahaye is your answer.
Also, if you’ve always wanted a car with little square-shaped hood vents, that Delahaye is also for you.
I never get tired of looking at Alfa Romeo Montreals. Those vents on the B-pillar area! Why are they so good?
Okay, finally, one last detail: did you know these Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen G500 soft tops had that funny triangularish plastic window there? I’d never seen that. What a weird little window! Why isn’t it bigger? Look how much unbroken canvas there is behind it? Why doesn’t the angle match up with the other triangular window there? I guess because of the ribs of the top? I have so many questions.
Oh one other question: why the hell do hotels do this?
Why put a toilet paper roll in a weird little sack? Is it too distasteful to see the roll itself? Does this help? It looks like the sack containing the most disappointing gift a two-foot-tall Santa Claus could deliver. Or maybe it looks like a laundry bag. It’s just stupid!
I also have more things to do and see! So I can then relay them to you! To enjoy, judge, feel, whatever!
It’s a Bocar XP-4.
That Rolls is riding pretty low for an ‘SUV’. You should challenge it to some breakover testing/research with your cross cab. I mean, I’m sure it’s “adequate”.
That harlequin Porsche makes me want to take my car apart this weekend…
This is a Rolls-Royce. The required verbiage is “cromulent.” Forsooth.
All the Cross Cab needs is some bling from Mansory and it would fit right in. Their hood ornaments depicting a certain sexy time theme would put it right considering Jason’s 70’s porn director attire. Yes, I am jealous.
“it sure looks like what I remember old payphone handset cords looked like.”
Also showerwand hose.
“If you’re an HR Geiger fan, you may like this. It’s fascinating and also a bit unsettling”
You should try his Absenthe:
https://absinthe-hrgiger.com/
“Speaking of turn signals, this incredible Chapron-designed Citroën DS Décapotable has some really lovely ones. Since this is a convertible, the DS’s traditional roof-horn-mounted indicators couldn’t stay, so they needed to be redesigned and relocated. This is the result:”
Is it just me or are those not quite screwed down all the way?
Also microphone goosenecks.
And desk lamps
also very thin Romex (armored wire).
I love the Montreal.
Man, that 3d printed frame annoys me. I’m familiar with the software, you start by modeling hard points and put loads on it and it generates a shape… and what they did is then print that shape.
But that’s half assed.
You’re supposed to take that shape that it generated, and interpret it based on manufacturing/design. Use it as an underlay, and build actual parts using what you learned from that generative process.
What they did just for shock value/gee whiz than doing something correctly.
@Torch: Speaking of the largest versions of something ever made, the odo trip reset button in the 8th gen buick riviera HAS to be up there. It’s huge!!!
I guess if you’re 3d printing it, you don’t really have to refine the designs to account for casting / molding / stamping / welding.
In theory this could produce the lightest possible part with the required strength. In reality, I don’t think I’m ready to trust a 3d printed steering knuckle.
You do have to optimise your part for whichever 3D printing method you’re using though. Because they (generally) print in layers, you might need to orientate the print to align the layers in a direction where they won’t be under tension. Or redesign a part to avoid an overhang.
It’s the right tool for some jobs, you just have to pick the right use cases.
So 3D-printed metal prints are still anisotropic? Since I see them being used, I had figured that that had been worked out with better processes in the past decade. I guess not. So, it is still basically like designing for wood, but to a lesser degree.
I should add, I’m not familiar with the current state of the art in metal printing, which is presumably what this car is using
It looks like the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, did they hire Gaudi’s Ghost as a designer?
What a visual target-rich environment!
A few comments:
The Morgan +4 is very close in color to my old ’84 Tercel 4×4 wagon.
The HR Geiger looks like what’s left of a car that encountered some mechanical piranha.
The rear surface of the Alfa Montreal is just so beautiful. As is the Citroën DS Décapotable.
The bee is the best part of that Targa.
Joseph and the Technicolor 911.
The radial Manx and the VW box van are really fun.
Maybe some year I’ll go. The hotel rates around this event are truly frightening.
Great article. I feel like I just took a small vacation. I can’t believe you gave us a bathroom pic of a wrinkled sack. Outrage!
Glad to see the parking lot oil spill didn’t ruin your good suit!
Can mere mortals attend or do they have to have 4 certification like SEMA?
Motorlux is open to the public. Tickets run about $700 and there is a dress code, but compared to other car week events in Monterey its not too bad.
I see little drip marks trailing the Murano, which is kind of hilarious.
I was recently in Amsterdam. Every third car was a Topolino, seemingly all unique in color and decals. I wanted to put one in my pocket to take home.
Regarding that large turn signal…
You should be carrying around one of these with you at all times. They tuck right into your pocket, and you can whip it out as a size reference anytime you want.
https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Precision-Stainless-Detachable-British/dp/B094G1XBP4
It’s a sign of how much I loathe the Cullinan that the Murano somehow manages to look better.
Wow, though, some other beauties there. I love that Opel Kadett, and if I saw it at a car show I just know I’d be having a long, enjoyable discussion with the owner.
I instantly go back to Hamsters’ Oliver in the Africa episode of Top Gear.
I already posted my opinion of the Cullinan (wait, isn’t that the water softener company?) elsewhere, but you’re right. If you want to make a CrossCab look good, you can park it next to a Cullinan. Or a Youabian Puma.
Legend has it that if you park a Cullinan ten feet away from a Puma, a hellmouth will form and open up between them. They embody the rectilinear and curved opposite monopoles of nope.
True. I like the Chantecler that’s parked next to it, too.
A few notes:
Vredestein gives you 4 free tires and you barely show their name in the back window of that delightful Alfa? Tsk, tsk.
The TP bag is so when you pull the last roll out, you put the empty sack under your bed pillow and the TP fairey refills it.
Why is Griffin in front of the camera instead of behind it? These cars deserve the best photographer you got, and that is definitely him.
Honestly I wish I had a use case that justified getting an Ami
How about pure silliness. I’m in if Fiat Brings that over. Perfect grocery/hardware store/pharmacy run vehicle
Between the triplets of the city-EV-quadricycles, I would say the Citroen Ami is the cutest of the bunch in-person.
The Opel Rocks-e got hit by the ugly stuck. Though the Fiat Topolino is nice, but not quite as charming as the Ami.
I believe the toilet roll is placed in a sack to protect it from besmirchment before it’s needed.
Thank you for the pictorial!
(Of the cars, not the toilet paper)
“Why do hotels put toilet paper in a fancy sack?” is like that inflection point where a well-known comedian stops being relatable to 99% of the general public 🙂
Yeah, the fanciest place I’ve ever stayed was a Holiday Inn and it was just in its’ paper wrapping like the Scott single rolls come in, but printed with an unfamiliar, presumably institutional-bulk sale-only name.
I love that 3D printed structure, I’d actually love to see some algorithm that can optimize for specific production methods, taking into account the limitations of sheet metal stamping or fabric composite layup.
I’m sure there’s a super-efficient, super-strong stamped subframe design somewhere in the ether, it just needs to be liberated from the sheet metal by the correct procedurally-generated die.
I find it a little Gaudí, personally.
It’s more interesting as an engineer than as a buyer, I’ll admit. I think a designer can go through and make the design like 1% less optimal and a lot prettier. It also really gets me that some parts seem to be designed in completely different scales, which makes sense as they take different loads, but really could have been more graceful.
I see what you did there…
Very appropriate pun
Regarding that ‘bone’ chassis, you’re absolutely right. Nature had millions of years to experiment and get it right. We should be emulating nature more often in certain design criteria. BTW, I want that Fiat runabout. It would be perfect and legal for it’s intended use. Even better if it’s an EV.
Funny you say that, I’m a mechanical engineer, and we had several lectures in several classes talking specifically about looking to nature for design inspiration and ideas because it can be such a great teacher about how to do things efficiently.
Yeah it’s just amazing that the optimal weight to strength ratio is achieved by something that looks just like our bones! Who knows, maybe the optimal tire tread would look like our finger prints!
Not sure I would take the manufacturer’s superlative claims as the final word.
I saw a show on fungi a while ago that claimed fungi could design as or more efficient a network of “streets” to transport nutrients around a model landscape than humans and within a much shorter timeframe.
I’ve just been teaching my class about research into the use of mycelium as residential thermal insulation as well. Fantastic stuff – Can recommend the writing of Merlin Sheldrake.
Dead or alive mycelium? Given how adaptable some fungi are at defining “food” that insulation if alive may someday become the whole house.
Definitely dead. Sadly unlike the green mould growing in my house when I bought it.
I guess it’s only a matter of time before it evolves into a crab.
Czinger has the opportunity for the BEST April fools day press release.
Except it’s a car, so it’d evolve into a crossover. With pincers.
Great variety! Happy to see some oddball stuff at Car Week which isn’t yet another supercar.
Looks like the Morgan does not use MGB wiper arms. The Morgan arms appear to have a screw attaching them to the pivot whereas the MG arms do not.
https://britishclassicspareparts.com/product/wiper-arm-spoon-fit-austin-healey-sprite-mg-midget-58-70/
I knew about the funky window on the G-Wagen top thanks to Doug Demuro.
Dang, I’d want to believe in Morgan having bought a couple hundred thousand MGB wiper assemblies from BL’s supplier in the ’70s and still working their way through that stockpile.
Based on the Morgan video, I hope you two had a designated driver!
Although, it could be a situation like from my father’s college yearbook, where the other students supplied your story, one of which went something like this “Is Jason drunk? No sir! He is always this way.”