15.2.11

RANDOM OBSERVATION

SUBLIME:

1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Shooting Brake, body by Radford.
(top:  Palm Beach Daily News.  lower photo: PVSBond photostream, via Flickr)
RIDICULOUS:

2000 Rolls Royce Surf Wagon, body by God knows who
 (cs.scaleautomag.com)
  
Some things have not gotten better

at

19 comments:

  1. The Devoted ClassicistFebruary 15, 2011 at 1:21 PM

    D.E.D., ever since I saw a mid-fifties Rolls Royce shooting brake at auction (about $18,000, Tepper Gallery, NYC) about 12 years ago, I have really wanted one. It would look great parked in front of my office, but keeping it rolling in the current economy is another matter!

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  2. BlueFebruary 15, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    Never forget that if it's cute someone will buy it and others will envy. As in politics, standards, aesthetic or otherwise, are to be bought and sold. Am I being a tad too cynical?

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  3. HOBACFebruary 15, 2011 at 2:10 PM

    Rolls Royce should sue for defamation of character.

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  4. Raina CoxFebruary 15, 2011 at 2:47 PM

    Plenty o' room for your picking jaunts!

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  5. columnistFebruary 15, 2011 at 10:18 PM

    I do not mind the Shooting Break at all. A friend had one in Australia, and I thought it very chic then, but it was one of many cars, so maybe I was just overwhelmed by the collection.

    The newer creation is indeed simply ghastly.

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  6. home before darkFebruary 15, 2011 at 11:26 PM

    I do believe the last shot is the definition of a mixed metaphor.

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  7. TopazFebruary 16, 2011 at 12:43 AM

    The mullet of motorcars: business in the front; party in the back.

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  8. magnusFebruary 16, 2011 at 3:36 PM

    I visited Los Angeles in late December and noticed what appears to me to be a new- and equally ridiculous- fad: cars finished in matte paint- typically black. The most ludicrous example that I saw was a Rolls Royce finished thusly. Sinister and silly at the same time. I guess we should not expect people to have better taste in cars than they do in designing their houses, decorating or dressing.

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  9. Reggie DarlingFebruary 16, 2011 at 6:59 PM

    A fool and his money . . .

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  10. The AncientFebruary 17, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    I know what you all mean about that second car, and of course you're right.

    But if someone told me that it belonged to Brian Wilson, and three times a week he took it for a spin up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, well, in that case I might forgive everything.

    (But it's got to be Brian.)

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  11. The Down East DilettanteFebruary 17, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    yeah Ancient, I agree with you in principle, but we both know he'd have something much cooler than a steroidal Rolls.

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  12. The AncientFebruary 17, 2011 at 9:15 PM

    TDED --

    You're channeling Dr Landy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch84fmOa414

    Bisous, etc.

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  13. Cashon&CoFebruary 18, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time! I think that the surf wagon is kinda hilarious. I want to know what the driver looks like.

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  14. Turner Pack RatsFebruary 18, 2011 at 9:59 AM

    ah thee you go forgetting your recent history. what about all those psychedelic rock star rolls of the sixties. isn't that what janis had - joplin not ian. i have loved the 50's shooting breaks since the 50's. what a fantastic iteration of a fantastic car. but now, being owned by VW or Bimmers or some other bastard company, what can you expect. i think new rolls are supremely ugly and have gone down the road of looking like everybody else when in the old days they looked like nobody else. my friend has a car that looks just like the new rolls wagon - its a 1989 Buick Roadmaster Wagon but he only paid 400 bucks.
    re Devoted Classicist - parked is the correct word. none of us mortals could afford the parts for one of these things e.g. brake linings for all 4 wheels are something over a grand (and they are made by GM).
    I'm holding out for a Deusy.

    security word def - "tateefpa" - the dance that SARAH Palin will perform on Dancing with the Stars. Her partner will be Jesse Ventura and the dance involves wolves and automatic weapons.

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  15. P.Gaye Tapp at Little AuguryFebruary 19, 2011 at 7:03 AM

    It is that--- would that money could buy taste thing-- that is difficult to master in today's robber barons-whether it be cars or homes.

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  16. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    So ugly it is beautiful would also apply to the 4-wheel drive Jaguar X-Type Estate Wagon, sold for only a year or two in the last decade and so unpopular in the US it is already a rarity.

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  17. TopazFebruary 21, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    I would not have described the Jaguar wagon as ugly at all. It didn't sell in the U.S. because Americans don't buy many wagons OR Jaguars, but it was based on the Ford Mondeo, which was very popular in Europe. I saw several at my local Jaguar dealer and thought they were rather attractive. A google image search confirms this.

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  18. Roamntic DinnerFebruary 23, 2011 at 1:48 AM

    Wow very beautiful and royal its car. i like that and great idea. thanks

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  19. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2011 at 10:22 AM

    Topaz - I think it was an attractive car (and more reliable than most other cars, thanks to Ford), but by sales, apparently I was one of the few. And the Audi and BMW wagons have sold just fine. In that sense it was an MGB-GT for the 2000s. Not popular when it came out but a future classic. And with the 4 wheel drive, good for tailgating at the Gold Cup.

    Rumors of an XF wagon remain just that. But now, if they start selling the Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon here in the states, well....

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