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Detroit, 1:25 PM
Sun Dec 6
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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Americans, in particular, are getting the seriously short end of the stick right now, and we're getting it up the bum. With offshoring, the banking sector, the housing sector, employment nationwide surpassing 10% and showing no sign of slacking off on top of the rest of the mess we're in, it seems almost a slap in the face by the nouveau riche to even contemplate the purchase of such a vehicle, much less the conspicuous consumption of driving it, to say nothing of it's production.
Now, with that mini rant done, this concept is rather ugly. MB's design language as of late is uninspiring, to say the least. To be more accurate, it's unoriginally bland, strangely proportioned and the protrusions at random angles and points do it no favours. And what the HELL is with this "Massive Wheels Make It Better!" crap?! Good thing the only people buying mercedes these days are gangsta rap thugs, because His Noodliness knows that's the only mindset this will appeal to: thick-skulled bling-whores.
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Cars like this, and the Aston Martin Rapide, and any number of high-end car are objects of desire for many people no matter what their economic circumstances. A vast majority of those people will never be able to afford these cars, but they still desire one and will still strive to be able to afford one some day.
If taken to its logical conclusion, your philosophy would mean every car produced would be a Prius or Taurus. Sony, Panasonic, et al would only produce 15" CRTs and not the 50"+ LCD HDTVs we lust for.
In a time and a world where most "affordable" cars on the road offer little more than basic transportation between point A and point B, I think it's important for car companies to continue to put out cars that we can lust after. It's important to have a carrot to drive us to want to do bigger and better things.
04/14/09
I miss the America where people weren't vilified for their success.
Also, you're tearing this car apart and you haven't seen a complete shot of the exterior that isn't covered in camo or a concept drawing. Impressive.
04/14/09
...Idiot. I'm probably one of the biggest supporters of pure driving cars you'll find, radios and cupholders are entirely optional in my world. But hey, you'd know that if you had even bothered to give my previous posts a cursory glance. Then again, I can spell cursory correctly the first time. Perhaps it could be that maybe, just maybe, I do not think that this is badass? Certainly a v8 pushing prodigious amounts of thrust and twist is badass, but I disagree that the engine makes the car in the segment AMG sells to. Certainly,
@Duke engineerd von Prandtl: I can see the correlation you're making with respect to the 60's musclecars, but I would submit that the venerable 'vettes and 'stangs of that era were significantly more simplistic in their attack and mindset through design. I would submit that the AMGs of today are closer to the one-off, limited runs of the 50s rather than the 60s and 70s musclecars. The first thought in those cars was the luxury and appointments to the interior with the (heinously unreliable) performance engines as a relative afterthought to the entire execution. Perhaps the most translateable to AMG is the Imperial line from Chrysler. over the top styling for the time, large displacement engines and a top-of-the-segment model. Ultimately, the Imperial was a styling exercise as it's thorough impracticality and touted-innovations introduced were offset by the V8 under the hood. What the Imperial DID do, however, was define the design language for the entire Chrysler company.
I see AMG as essentially the same thing. Useless, but perhaps stylishly so. Can they go fast? Sure. But there's only one or two I really want to do that in. The rest are exactly like the Imperials - to large and heavy to be offset with even the mighty V8.
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Bruce be quick
Bruce dropped the top and looked sick.
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They then decided they must have her, and, well, I think you know what happens next.
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04/08/09
I hate when stuff like this is designed into a car for the sake of style and not function.
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@crankcase - Now 50 and even crankier!: Ah, that's where you're wrong. The 300SL needed the gullwing doors because of the insanely high sill. The same reasoning applies to the Gumpert Apollo's case.
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