balthazar

piscitellidesign :

I like the '21 Escalade 'luxury' trim with the bright grillework. Cadillacs should be shiny. The '90s monocromatic 'sport' version doesn't look great, IMO.

Buddy picked up this fire-victim '72 parts car for his '71 Gran Sport project. Not much on it, but reselling the frame alone should have him break even on it. Wasn't sure whether to put this in the 'spotters' thread, or the 'beautiful cars' thread. Tossed a coin :

That’s not a given? / when did I wax poetic about them?

One man's 'cool, funky, I know what they call the acres of randomly slathered cladding' is another man's 'forgettable, transverse / FWD generic appliance shitbox'. What a disjointed, schizophrenic design, apparently by the same folk that bring you these:

'60 DeSoto Adventurer :

North Dakota, 1940 :

Apparently I have a bunch of 'quickies' in me. This is the steel surround for a '50s Craftsman table saw. The guts were rusted up, so I scraped them, but this shell has been sitting around probably 2 years now. Had some scrap 2x10 so I made what my buddy calls a 'step upon' - it's pretty sturdy and a lil over 11" tall.

'58 Oldsmobubble :

Cadillacs above : 1 :: '58 Series 75 Fleetwood (factory limousine) 2, 4 & 7 :: '57 Series 60 Special Fleetwood 3, 5 & 6 :: '58 Series 60 Special Fleetwood S60S got all the lower quarter panel brightwork, SdVs never did.

Circa ‘80 Chevy fenderside pickup, creme color, survivor, collector plates.

It sounds to me like we -as 2 car enthusiasts- are each approaching 2 vehicles in the same way; you don't find the Eldorado properly enough stylisitically distanced from the Toronado, and I don't find the 6-series anymore stirring than a old VW rabbit. Stalemate. :)

‘Seems to share’ quite literally says ‘I’m not interested enough to actually look at the cars’.

That's NOT the definition of a 'badge job', sorry. They share no body panels below the beltline, and the quarter windows / C-Pillar are unique too.

I believe that's a Type S turbo coupe. The one pictured is mildly customized. I think the Type S had a number of upgrades, including suspension. It a far more distinguished 2-dr than the generic BMW. You take the pig nostril grillettes out and just have the black plastic grille go straight across and I have a narcolepsy episode. It also has a near Pacer-esque fishbowl going on (glass height-wise).

The '80s in a nutshell: when a BMW 6-series doesn't look any more upscale or desirable than a Skylark : But give me this any day if we're talking about some passion in the styling :

6-series above isn't ugly, it's just... there. Like a plastic fork.

Never been into commercial aircraft. Can't own one, can't fly one, usually they require ladders to run your hands over the bodywork... meh. The last time I was on one was 2007. Before that circa 1997. A bunch of the military stuff is definitely cool tho. - - - - -

1954 :

^ NIOCE! Now; lower it 2 inches IMMEDIATELY. I never understood anyone how restores a car including putting new springs in, then stands back and says 'Yep- that looks peachy'. Has more ground clearance than a Renegade.

^ BMW is a forgettable generic 3-box appliance. Disposable.

^ Obviously. So... then... how have the Germans justified 'building carbon copies of Cadillacs'? OR! "lines converge". < -------------- I'm going with this one. But that means the [erroneous] narrative that 'Cadillac is chasing the Germans' must be thrown out the window. Forever.

In '80, a 6- or 7-series wasn't truly in the luxury class yet. But more to the point, why aren't the '80 BMWs in the same vein as they were then? Spartan, lacking details & amenities, pedestrian-grade interiors? Where are those cars today? Generic, forgettable, plebian, focused on chassis dynamics with moderate performance at best? They're gone.