October 1: Who is this guy ? When this car turned up on my street, I immediately wanted to meet the owner to chat about his car. It takes a certain moxie, usually reserved for Subaru WRX STi and Plymouth Superbird drivers, to put an enormous and utterly useless wing (at legal speeds anyway) on a road-going car. And this one has a number too – shades of “The General Lee” from The Dukes of Hazzard. What’s that all about ?
The graphics package and the wing emulate a car built by an Australian named Paul Henshaw. I
f the license ( 260 GTR) is to be believed, this is a mid-70’s Nissan 260 with a much-newer GTR motor, neatly upping the horsepower from 150 to somewhere around 400. Add the Corbeau seats, alloy wheels, tires, and the aerodynamics package, and this guy has spent a huge pile of money to build what is effectively someone else’ car. I understand the whole imitation is flattery thing, but this seems a bit extreme.
Or perhaps not. I recently visited the Guild of Automotive Restorers in Bradford. In 2012, the Guild completed construction of this reproduction 1935 Bugatti Aerolithe. The original car was shown once, at the Earl’s Court Motor Show in 1935, and never seen again. To build this reproduction, the Guild had to digitize and scale off only a dozen or so pictures know to have been taken at the show. The body is entirely magnesium which has the great benefit of being extremely light. However, it’s prone to breaking when bent, and bursting into flames if overheated when welded, so the technicians at the Guild built the curvaceous body by carefully welding longer strips of metal together on wooden jigs. The attention to detail, and the effort devoted to producing the finished car, are astounding. Even the tires are custom made reproductions. It’s worth tens of millions of dollars.
And I understand why someone would spend that kind of insane money on what is to most people just a car. But to see it as a car is to miss the point; it’s a work of art. Beyond the shapes, beyond the colour and the appearance of it, there’s the craftsmanship that turned mechanical pieces and bare metal into something that evokes an emotional response. That’s what art does: it takes you to a different perspective, a different understanding for how things can be.
The Nissan is not a great work of art, but it is one man’s creation that expresses his view of what is desirable and exciting. I too have spent ludicrous money on wheels and tires and bits and pieces to make some of my ( pre-mortgage ) cars more reflective of my taste and values. I may not have the dough to build a Bugatti, but I do know how it would feel to try. After all – I am that guy.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/1935-bugatti-aerolithe-re-creation-completed-lost-magnesium-bodied-coupe-replicated