Nice, but we'll have to agree to differ here.
Journalists have long been chasing for ever better, cleverer metaphors and analogies where the Veyron is concerned, and the most commonly used was also the most accurate.
Veyron = Concorde.
As an expression of technology Veyron and Concorde are closely matched, they both even have four turbines. For ultimate power and yet sublime civility, they stand hand in hand. As gauche, crass demonstrations of conspicuous consumption, they make similar statements.
As symbols of national pride, as exercises in industrial one-upmanship, they parallel. Most of all, as snapshots of what was possible in a moment of time, both defined their respective eras. Neither are likely to be repeated any time soon, they will likely be celebrated for what they meant, not what they were.
The Steam Locomotive analogy stacks up better, I feel, against that other embodiment of sibarytic excess, the Rolls Royce Phantom. The art-deco expresses of the forties and fifties had effortlessness at their core. A passenger on one of these spent a quiet, comfortable journey hardly aware of any mechanical chaos taking place. Acceleration was seemless and without fuss, as was it with the Phantom. Even the proportion and detailing found on each machine lend weight to this analogy.
A Bugatti Veyron, for all its infinite power and majesty, is at heart far from subtle. There is no air of mystery about what it does, it just has a fucking great big engine. A Rolls-Royce Phantom, though, still motivates its gargantuan bulk with scarcely a whimper, but with great speed. Just like that Chatanooga Choo-Choo.
Journalists have long been chasing for ever better, cleverer metaphors and analogies where the Veyron is concerned, and the most commonly used was also the most accurate.
Veyron = Concorde.
As an expression of technology Veyron and Concorde are closely matched, they both even have four turbines. For ultimate power and yet sublime civility, they stand hand in hand. As gauche, crass demonstrations of conspicuous consumption, they make similar statements.
As symbols of national pride, as exercises in industrial one-upmanship, they parallel. Most of all, as snapshots of what was possible in a moment of time, both defined their respective eras. Neither are likely to be repeated any time soon, they will likely be celebrated for what they meant, not what they were.
The Steam Locomotive analogy stacks up better, I feel, against that other embodiment of sibarytic excess, the Rolls Royce Phantom. The art-deco expresses of the forties and fifties had effortlessness at their core. A passenger on one of these spent a quiet, comfortable journey hardly aware of any mechanical chaos taking place. Acceleration was seemless and without fuss, as was it with the Phantom. Even the proportion and detailing found on each machine lend weight to this analogy.
A Bugatti Veyron, for all its infinite power and majesty, is at heart far from subtle. There is no air of mystery about what it does, it just has a fucking great big engine. A Rolls-Royce Phantom, though, still motivates its gargantuan bulk with scarcely a whimper, but with great speed. Just like that Chatanooga Choo-Choo.
This is starting to annoy me.
Concorde as "..synonymous with tragedy, death, and litigation.."
No it isn't . That's stupid. It's synonymous with optimism, technological advancement, national pride, beauty, and finally a really terrible accident.
On every single Concorde-themed Gawker post the comments have been a chorus of people saying the same thing as me, yet all have been studiously ignored by the staff who keep churning out the same old attention-grabbing stuff, because it causes a sensation. Page views are good, except here it makes you look stupid.
Concorde, as a concept, is still valid. In execution it was definitely valid.
In running out of luck, it was epic.
Concorde as "..synonymous with tragedy, death, and litigation.."
No it isn't . That's stupid. It's synonymous with optimism, technological advancement, national pride, beauty, and finally a really terrible accident.
On every single Concorde-themed Gawker post the comments have been a chorus of people saying the same thing as me, yet all have been studiously ignored by the staff who keep churning out the same old attention-grabbing stuff, because it causes a sensation. Page views are good, except here it makes you look stupid.
Concorde, as a concept, is still valid. In execution it was definitely valid.
In running out of luck, it was epic.
Spinelli returns? Shit just got serious.
Welcome the hell back, Mike.
Welcome the hell back, Mike.
@Ray Wert: Aha, but he did, strangely, in Old Top Gear pre 2000. They went from one incredibly successful formula to another, with a two year hiatus betwixt them.
@Tanshanomi: Spread the love, homie. Right back atcha.
I'm the last person who'd extend any hate in a Jalopnikwards direction, I have my Ye Olde star from yesteryear to look after. But I really don't understand the point of this article.
It's a list of ten crappy cars (except the X-Type), none of which will be seen as classics, mainly because they're terrible or forgettable. The whole classic thing is redundant and not worth mentioning.
I've just conducted a straw poll in my office, and there are 10 people here who will never become professional footballers.
Does anyone else know somebody who won't become a professional footballer?
It's a list of ten crappy cars (except the X-Type), none of which will be seen as classics, mainly because they're terrible or forgettable. The whole classic thing is redundant and not worth mentioning.
I've just conducted a straw poll in my office, and there are 10 people here who will never become professional footballers.
Does anyone else know somebody who won't become a professional footballer?
@LandofMinos. So stupid, he makes two short planks look like a computer.: There was something about her astride those big guns... What were they, ten inches?
@Lahjik: Where's Beercheck when you need him?
@Novaload: I'm sold. Where do I sign?
@callmetyz: It's not my Jalopnik avatar for nothing... I shiver on
its mention too.
@Pessimippopotamus: I wouldn't worry. I did four years car design, I was pretty good, too. And now I'm a salesman. Woooh.
That's just patina!
/optimism.
I'd run it as is, and burn around town looking like the eccentric old man I want to be. Just get those Campagnolas reinstated and melt those horrible dubs down, maybe casting the resultant lo-qual alloy into a symbollic aluminium/magnesium phallus.
Nice price. $16k, that's, like, £547.13, right?
/more optimism.
/optimism.
I'd run it as is, and burn around town looking like the eccentric old man I want to be. Just get those Campagnolas reinstated and melt those horrible dubs down, maybe casting the resultant lo-qual alloy into a symbollic aluminium/magnesium phallus.
Nice price. $16k, that's, like, £547.13, right?
/more optimism.
@Mikeado: Yep, 2.8v6 and four whel drive. Also sold as a wagon. Good fun car.
@OMGItsWeasel: European XR4 had them too, though.
Cosworth didn't, XR4 did.
Cosworth didn't, XR4 did.
@Bueller: Dodge Viper OEM 3's were always pretty damn acceptable.
Dammit.
Excellent work my old buddy. You're right on pretty much all counts. I had to deliver an SLK 350 to Bradford-On-Avon the other day, along the Castle Combe to Bath road, no less. I skilfully avoided rearranging every hedgerow despite not knowing the roads.
Damn me to hell for working on the day this competion was announced.
I'll console myself with the thought that it was only open to US commenters, and deliberately not read the rules in case I'm wrong.
Good luck mate, good work.
Excellent work my old buddy. You're right on pretty much all counts. I had to deliver an SLK 350 to Bradford-On-Avon the other day, along the Castle Combe to Bath road, no less. I skilfully avoided rearranging every hedgerow despite not knowing the roads.
Damn me to hell for working on the day this competion was announced.
I'll console myself with the thought that it was only open to US commenters, and deliberately not read the rules in case I'm wrong.
Good luck mate, good work.
@Novaload: Not only that, but it appears to have caused me to develop a stammer. That's some wrist action you have there, er, for your pitching, that is....
oh dear.
oh dear.
@Novaload: Not only my upper lip...
@Novaload: Not only my upper lip...
This is some weird shit. Seriously, I was thinking about you in the shower just this morning, thinking, some day you'll wanna hang up your Jalopnik writing crayon for a little while, you know, finish the fries and move on to the steak.
But you'll never want to give up the fries for good. Can't be done.
Best of luck on the novel, I have space for it in the vacant lot I keep in the lounge for the released any day now DOTS Coffee-table spectacular.
Good luck, man, thanks for all the joy.
So far.
But you'll never want to give up the fries for good. Can't be done.
Best of luck on the novel, I have space for it in the vacant lot I keep in the lounge for the released any day now DOTS Coffee-table spectacular.
Good luck, man, thanks for all the joy.
So far.
