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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!ihuxk!rs55611
From: rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: An Empirical Observation
Message-ID: <929@ihuxk.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Apr-85 14:01:40 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxk.929
Posted: Wed Apr 10 14:01:40 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Apr-85 02:14:12 EST
References: <173@ucbcad.UUCP> <954@vax1.fluke.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 53

> > Only Germans and Italians can make real sports cars.
> > -- 
> 
> And real men don't eat quiche.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This could begin an interesting discussion - do the various European
> countries produce enthusiast's cars which can be typecast by country?
> What are the typical features?  Good and bad, please.

I've owned cars from several countries, and I've always ascribed
definite personalities to them, that fit my (perhaps stereotypical)
view of their country of origin:

1.  Triumph TR250 - Nice traditional sports car.  I almost went so far
     as to by a tam o'shanter hat for that English feeling.  Mostly
      reliable, except for some electrical gremlins. (oops, I meant "buy")
     Understated sportiness, and a lot of fun.

2.  Fiat Spider - When it ran it ran great.  Had a great flair to it,
     as well as a lot of idiosyncrasies (Great sounding air horns, window
     winders that turned the wrong way, door looks that turned opposite
     to usual.)  Almost made me want to take up opera singing.  Biggest 
      problem:  Blew up the engine (twice!), and it rusted so fast you could
     hear it dropping off.  100% attention to making it perform (at least
     for a while), and to style.  0% attention to durability.

3.  1959 Corvette (still have) - Makes me feel like finding an A&W drive
     in to hang out at.  Instant nostalgia (although for me its a little 
     before my time, being born in 1955).  Draws a lot of stares; unlike 
     a lot of sports cars, this one seems to appeal at least a little to
     all sorts of people - muscle-car types, sports car types, old, young.
     Goes like hell, turns OK, stops OK (at least for 1959 standards).
     Real durable, as everything is heavy duty.  Flashy and fun.

4.  Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 3.5 - (Normally wife's car, but also
     our family car).  This car makes me want to blast down the
     Autobahn at 100+.   Typical German solidness, with everything engineered
     for about double a typical car's life.  Being older (1971, with 140k miles;    
     it had to be this old for me to afford it), it's less sterile feeling
     than more recent German cars, with lots of wood, etc.  I know I'm succombing
     to the environment when I find myself going faster and faster on the
     Tollway, and humming Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyrie"  (did I get
     that title right?  I meant the music that was used in Apocolypse
     Now.)  Especially if its thundering outside. (Thor?)

Then I get in my old Buick to drive to work and it's back to hum-drum.

Bob Schleicher
ihuxk!rs55611
.