Só para tugas - Escultura sobre rodas

Alguma vez se perguntaram qual será o caro mais belo alguma vez produzido pela humanidade? Qual será máquina que está mais perto da barreira que separa o homem de Deus? Não! Não é um carocha. E não é amarelo.

Basta de estupidez. O que eu esperava conseguir com este post era uma avaliação universal de algumas das mais perfeitas obras de arte motorizadas - quer gostem do tema quer não. Vá lá, não custa nada. É só darem uma olhadela às imagens que estão por baixo ou, se tiverem outra ideia, escolher o carro dos vossos sonhos e escrever um comentário com a vossa opinião.

Aqui estão eles:

Alfa Romeo Duetto, conhecido pela forma da secção traseira.

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale - uma escultura sobre quatro rodas.

Citroen DS Pallas: um clássico francês.

Pôr uma legenda nisto seria ridículo. E não, não é um MINI COOPER!

Talvez o melhor ferrari de sempre - o 250 GTO.

Construído para vencer a Le Mans: o Ford GT40.

O V8 americano em toda a sua glória: Ford Mustang de 1968.

Considerado pelo Jay Leno como o carro mais belo alguma vez feito, cá está o E-Type.

Carregado de apêndices aerodinâmicos, eis o Lamborghini Countach em toda a sua louca glória.

A Lamborghini quer, a Bertone sonha, o Miura nasce.

É, segundo Jeremy Clarkson, um "sorvete" do mundo automóvel - o Lancia Fulvia.

A arma de rally da Lancia: o Stratos.

Denunciado pelas asas em estilo "gaivota", o Mercedes 300SL é um exemplo de perfeição.

The new Audi A2... seriously?

Those LED-ish lines could be supressed...
Now does it look modern? Yes. But beautiful? NEVER!

Audi has just confirmed that a new version of the manufacturer's most hated recent car - the tiny, controversially styled A2 - is coming back from the dead. No, they're not pulling out any spell... they've just facelifted and moulded the thing according to the make's current liking. The concept car is bound to be presented at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and the production version will show up by 2013, giving Audi buyers a chance to get rid of their bulky A4s and purchase an electric car with their favorite badge. That's right, the new A2 is planned to come in electric form. Packing 116 bhp and 200 km of very, very, very careful driving plus the capacity of carrying four midgets adults, the new baby Audi will go from not to sixty (0-100 km/h) in 9.3 seconds and reach the impossible speed of... 150 km/h. And it will take only four hours to fully charge it.

It does indeed seem that this new A2 will not follow on its predecessor's footsteps. If it did, I'm sure everyone would walk away and leave it to be bought by old ladies.

Dacia: Sarkozy was wrong

The Sandero. Doesn't look cheap, now does it? A little...

Nicholas Sarkozy, the President of France, decided it would be better if he massively deported the thousands of romanians that lived in his fancy country, where many of them enjoyed filling their wallets with tax payers' money. While many considered this act the right thing to do, many others criticized the President's fury against the Romanian people. But the thing is: whatever he had in mind when he ordered the deportations, he was forgetting about one of Romania's greatest affiliation with France: Dacia.
You might have already heard of this low-cost division of Renault - which is one of the most important French automotive makers - , created to churn out not-so-well-built cars at a not-so-absurd price. In my country, you are able to buy the Clio/Polo/Fabia-sized Dacia Sandero for not more, no less than an impossible 8000 euros. The secret behind this bargain? Manual windows everywhere, no radio - hell yeah, old school! - and a build quality that would be frowned upon by the vast majority of buyers around the world. But it ends there. Confort and ride is not perfect, but is certainly average. And that's what it should be: an average, budget car available for everyone. Although noisy and a bit more expensive (nearly 11 K or more), the 1.5 diesel engine is a nice deal if you want to buy this little low-cost vehicle. Just don't forget to fit some extras to make sure you purchase a fairly equipped car!
On the other side of the food chain is the market's cheapest 7-seater - the Dacia Logan MCV. Designed to suit every kind of use, from transporting potatoes to carrying seven occupants (or crash test dummies... oops), it should also be considered when buying more expensive, flashier vans. Its base price beats almost anything, and it can room any kind of passenger/baggage configuration.
So, Sarkozy, what do you think of the Romanians now?

Uh-oh

There have been updates on some of my older posts, and these updates can either bring good or bad news. Unfortunately, the problem is there have only been bad things happening lately. First of all, Chris Hrabalek's wonderful New Stratos will never see the lights of the production line. That's right... the project to produce the machine was canned. Which is a very awful thing for all the Lancia fans out there. But it's not over yet. The 2011 update for the BMW 1-Series is permanent... just take a look at the maker's website and behold the magnificience of disproportion! Seriously...? And the final bad thing: people living in countries like mine will have their wallet tenderized if they try to buy a simple, cheap car. And that's because in Portugal, for example, something that in the US costs around 15 K will cost 100 thousand euros. YES. A HUNDRED THOUSAND. Now think how happy we feel wandering around in this massive recession! And the taxes keep rising... on and on.

What the hell were they thinking about???

Can you imagine Sean Connery driving around in THIS?

There have been a lot of motoring misfits over the last years, but the one I am here to talk about should get an award for its complete lack of use and hypocrisis. Do you know what I'm talking about? Bah! Stop looking at the picture. That's right... the Aston Martin Cygnet. The british manufacturer's so called "city car" is based off the clever, innovative iQ, and was fitted with all the clutter that makes Aston Martins what they are: fancy materials and decorations and the Stalin-ish moustache grill (oops. Bad description.). But the differences end there. It packs the same bodywork, the same structural components and - sarcastic drumroll please - the SAME ENGINE! That's right! It's the slowest Aston Martin ever made! Alright, it's sure it is also the most eco-friendly Aston too, but who in the world cares? It's supposed to be the supercar for the city! Plus: they are only selling it to Aston Martin clients. And I don't think they'll sell much. I mean, it costs over 40 K. No joke. I'm serious! And the though truth is you can get an iQ for a third of the price of its classy twin. What the hell were you thinking about, Aston???

Memories: Pop-Up Headlights

The Ferrari F40. The Mazda RX-7. The Lotus Espirit. All these cars have something in common. Can you guess what it is? That's right - pop-up headlights. These iconic adorns were first used in 1936, although they were manually operated. Powered units came with the mythical Y-Job, the godfather of all concepts, and gained popularity as time went on. They were fitted into some of the greatest cars ever made - the already mentioned F40, the Dodge Charger, the Countach - but have not lasted until our age. Pop-up headlights were extinct as of 2004, when the last fifth-generation Chevrolet Corvette came out of the production line. Manufacturers stopped fitting them into their cars due to simple reasons: safety, aerodynamics and ultimately eco-friendliness. Although it's clear that these issues should always come first, I miss the charisma of pop-up headlamps - and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Memories: The Skoda Felicia Fun

"So what do you drive?" "Yellow"

This is the first edition of "Memories", a series of posts that shall depict cars from my infancy (and from the infancy of others...) and strictly evaluate them, comparing my opinion towards them now to my ancient thoughts. And the first car in this first edition may be a little below your expectations.

It is a yellow, yellow car. In fact, it was so damn yellow that perhaps that's the only reason I loved it - I literally worshiped yellow as a kid. It was born in the same year I was (1995) and it was far from the stylish car everyone should adore: it was a Skoda pick-up, packing some garish features that would paralise whoever stared at it for too long - I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was yellow. Yellow paintjob, yellow rims, yellow steering wheel, yellow seat finish, yellow gearbox knob... and the list goes on. But the thing is I really liked the car, and nowadays I still find the superfluous use of yellow interesting. But it's really a blast from the past that belongs to my childhood... leaving a bright, yellow trail behind.