Back in the olden days when I was in grammar school, long before the internet or even home computers, there was no way to instantly summon cool stuff you wanted to see or learn about. If you had a burning desire to know more about model rocketry or kite building or slot cars (check, check, and check), your only hope was finding a book on the topic at the library, be it school or public. Along with a bunch of other kids, I completely wore out the school’s one and only book on slot car racing, which I pored over every chance I had to check it out. The only other book that I checked out more frequently was devoted to exotic cars of the late sixties and early 1970s, and I was absolutely wild for wedge cars. I was less wild about wedgies, which I also received. You take the good with the bad.
Anyway, I’ve never stopped being a wedge-car guy, and I probably image-search “wedge cars” at least once a month to once again take in all those wonderful, still-futuristic-to-me shapes. I have many favorites, but here are a few that are always near the top of the list:
The Italdesign Aztec is a later entry to the wedgiverse, and the influence of 1980s science fiction films is highly apparent in the “greeblie” detailing ahead of the rear wheel skirts. I’m not sure any of those geegaws do anything (other than the one that looks like a gas cap), but I love the spaceship energy they give to the two-seater.
And it is emphatically a two-seater, as driver and passenger each get their own wraparound windshield. Another detail I always enjoy is the slot windows in the doors. I have a thing for windows below the beltline.
The Maserati Boomerang is another Italdesign winner, and there are those door windows I like. I’m also a sucker for the windshield and hood sharing the same angle, which is critical for a true wedge car. I’m less into the giant trident on the hood.
And then there’s the super-groovy Ferrari Modulo, for which Pininfarina made the bold choice of hiding the wheels but allowing the tires to emerge seductively from the strangely, wonderfully technological yet organic shape. And again, the windows extend below the beltline (bites lip sexily).
So, it’s wedge cars for me. Your turn:
What Cars Have You Admired The Longest?
Top graphic image: Italdesign
My oldest memory is literally of a car I still admire, so there’s no other choice really: The Renault 12 Break.
The year was 1985, and I was 3 years old. My father led us down the stairs to the garage, in which two cars were parked for the very first time. The Renault 4 was also there, so this is technically a tie, but the “core memory” is specifically that of the new-to-us 1977 Renault 12 C parked behind it. Both cars in the exact same shade of dark blue (I have no way to actually confirm this, but over the years I became pretty confident it was Bleu Foncé, Renault paint code 460). The Renault 12 looked gigantic and that first sight of it made such an impact on me, I can’t even begin to explain it. I vividly remember my sisters’ excitment, which I later came to realise it had to do with the three of them no longer having to pack themselves in the two rear seats of the Renault 4 and travel with “the baby” on their laps in long trips. I remember my father smiling and looking proud, and my mom looking happy but kind of embarrassed, as if getting a second, bigger car was downright opulent and ostentatious in her mind. I think I somehow sensed the importance of that moment for our family, and that may be what made this memory so strong.
I remember seeing Modulo when it was newly displayed in NYC. Wild then and now.
The redhead in the red dress looks like she is waiting for the Dukes to go over that jump behind her.
For me it’s the 63-65 Buick Riviera and the 63-67 Corvette. My parents test drove a 63 Riviera when I was 9 and I’ve admired them since then. A 64 Riviera was my first car and I would love to have another one. A neighbor and good friend had a 63 spit window Corvette and I’ve always wanted one of that generation.
Avanti and XKE. Yummy.
Cars I’ve seen in person that I still like the looks of today are Jaguar E-Type aka XK-E (there was a 12 cylinder one in the Athenaeum parking very often). Fastback Mustang 1st gen, a friend had one and Porsche 911, another friend had one (~1967 model year). Then, as now, I have friends with waaaay more money then myself.
Countach and Diablo, RX7, and Testarossa. The latter three were in the original NfS game for 3DO, and the Countach I’ve never driven but sat in a couple times. I remember drooling over one at the Auburn auction, black over biscuit with gold wheels, and the owner let me sit in it with him while he talked about it, even seeing I was some 16-year old kid who couldn’t possibly bid on it.
The RX7 is the only one I still lust after because “influencers” have killed Lamborghini as a brand for me and Ferrari… well, is Ferrari in how they treat customers.
Earliest I can remember from single digits that I still admire are the Countach, C2 Sting Ray, 2nd gen Charger, and 250 GTO. There was the Beetle when I was really young, but that didn’t last long. Funny enough, it was seeing the other cars in the Herbie movies, particularly the villain’s Apollo GT that moved me on from them (I think he was the villain, but it’s been a number of decades I’d rather not disclose since I saw that movie and I might remember it wrong).
Model rocketry was so much fun when I was in middle school (we called it junior high back then)! And I still get a laugh out of model rocket fail videos.
I was a huge fan of the M-B 300 SEL 6.3 when it came out four years or so before I could drive. And I liked pretty much any M-B sedan through the W124 series. And then Mercedes jumped the shark and I put away thoughts of ever owning a 6.3 when I started reading about how complicated its various systems were.
AMC Eagle. Really the whole Eagle family, but in the case of the notchback that is somewhat grudging. But the Kammback, SX/4 and original Wagon, so hard.
And the AMC AMX/3. Ye gods, what might have been.
There’s a “wedgiverse” ?! Why was I not informed ?!
So yeah, by the 70’s I had a framed De Tomaso Pantera, M1, and a Ferrari Dino Spyder hanging in my bedroom. I was very struck by the 1971 maserati ghibli 4.9 liter spyder I got to see up close at an exclusive front lawn car show at Algar that I had no business being at, nor invitation, but just drove my Karmann Ghia convertible in there like I belonged, parked in back, and was served champagne and hors d’oeuvres in the early 80’s at 18. One of my fondest memories, as it was an odd day off from work, gorgeous 70 deg. spring day, nothing better to do than cruise around top down, and happened upon it. I only stayed an hour, for fear of being found out.
Any early 70’s-mid 80’s IMSA race car.I remember how they blew my mind as a little boy the first time I saw them at Watkins Glen.I liked the Corvettes until I saw a Monza in the pits and just went bonkers.They looked so cool and did they sound great.The Datsuns were beautiful but didn’t sound as good.
Of the cars that I admired before I turned 10, the ones I still admire are the Shelby Cobra, the 917 Can-Am Spider (had a slot car if it), and that’s it. The other ones I lost admiration for?
928
When I was in elementary school, we had neighbor who had one and always parked it outside – facing away from our house. I adored that car and still do.
My mom said the rear looked like a butt that needed to be kicked.
For those of us in Gen-X, John Hughes introduced us to seemingly everything cool in European motoring – Lisa conjures up a 928 for Wyatt to drive in Weird Science. Couldn’t take my eyes off it (or her).
What your mom said was pretty funny and not untrue.
I’ve admired the MGB every since my brother took me for a ride in his ’76 B back in the late ’80s. Totally blew me away. It’s the whole reason why I got into British sports cars and why the first car I purchased as a senior in high school was a 1977 MG Midget. Had wanted an earlier chrome-bumper car, but this one popped up just too close by and was cheap enough for 18 year old me to afford. Finally, about five years later I scored a 1970 MG Midget that was an even greater thrill.
Rick’s Power Wagon from Simon & Simon
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zF_bqFin_qA/sddefault.jpg
Jon’s Chevy pickup from Chips
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlm8-GApu-g7Nvkq7EWDpSV-trsFLZYJi3mu8OyDf81PAOkdua4XXwhLtc&s=10
What, not Jon’s RHD Mini Cooper?
Dude! It looks great but I couldn’t fit in a modern Fiat 500, let alone an original Mini.
lotus 7 – completely impractical.
now i ride a motorcycle, even more impractical.
wedge car? countach!
I read this as the longest car I’ve admired and then that got me thinking about would longest be something with the ratio of dimensions having length being large relative to height and weight or is it simply focusing on the single dimension without care of the others.
I admired the driver of the S65 who used to roll around Buffalo mid-winter as that much torque in the snow must be something else.
I’ll have to go with the E38 7 Series.
I had a poster of a BMW M1 in my room growing up. But I think the older I get, I realize because I don’t do track days, nor do I have locations where I can open up something to its fullest limit, I want something that looks classic/good, is reliable and comfortable.
Gimme a W123D, a LS400/430, or even a Panther platform Lincoln.
The Vector W8 .impressed me. In the hay day of the Lambos and Ferraris, I saw this thing was like wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBr8mcLj9QY
Oddly, over the years I’ve seen 2 in our little town just north of Clearwater.
Porsche 911, from 964 and back. Don’t care as much for the new ones, but they are still cool.
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. I get a buzz every time I see one.
The Toro is what you get when someone gets an idea and just goes with it, and the engineers kinda like it and just go with it, and the marketing guys like it and just go with it, and the executives all want one. Boom, done.
I don’t have a lot of respect for the big luxocoupes but damn, that thing is sex on wheels.
These two wedges are my fave slices; 1969 Ferrari 512 S Berlinetta Speciale and the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo.
Another pair I’ve been lucky enough to see live. Sometimes it’s good to be old.
I’ve never had the opportunity to see either. Been a fan of both and the Modulo and the OG Stratos since I was a kid (when they were new).
My grandparents had a 1969 chevy impala sport coupe in garnet red with a black vinyl top. i remember going everywhere in that car with them. i also remember telling my pop at 7 i sure would like to have this car when i start driving. she went in the barn around ’89. in 96 pop tossed me the keys and said me and you and your dad will get her ready if you still want it.Both my grandparents are gone but i still got the car. its been completely restored and theres not a single time that i look at it or get in it that i dont think about them.
as far as unattainable vehicles id have to go with the vector m12. ive got the lavender hotwheels version on a shelf.
I owned a 68 SS 396 Impala in white, black roof, automatic. Nice car. Had it for a couple of years before selling in and buying a 70 W-30 442.
Oddly enough the 69 replaced a non ss grotto blue 68 fastback 396 that my dad cleaned out a ditch with to avoid an accident in high school.
R34 skyline gt-r in midnight purple. Yeah they’re way overpriced for what they are nowadays and the midnight purple is a bit of a cliché. I don’t care. It’s the first car I really dreamed of owning, and the first car I would buy if money became no object.