Showing posts with label Maserati Quattroporte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maserati Quattroporte. Show all posts

The Awesome Tesla S: These guys GET cars


Car fans! Forget Jeremy Clarkson's addle-headed ambiguity about the Tesla roadster (let's face it, the guy doesn't even get why diesels are awesome and Americans drive F150s). The real Tesla has emerged and one look tells you: THESE GUYS GET CARS! Just look at this photo:
What eco-conscious family man or woman wouldn't want to be driving this?

This pic appeared on the NY Times car blog. Shots like it will be heard around the automotive world. As many of us have said for so long now, eco-friendly doesn't have to be frumpy. Heck, family-friendly doesn't have to be frumpy. I mean, just compare this Tesla S design with what many people consider the epitome of 4-door car design, the Maserati Quattroporte.

I snapped a Quattroporte in Moscow a few years ago (excuse the sunburst in the upper left, but I needed to obscure the name of the establishment outside of which it was parked, and the dude with the bulge in his jacket who was obviously guarding the car):
It's about line and proportion. It's about adding form to function. The fact that folks at Tesla get this proves geeky can be gorgeous, and that bodes well for the future of all electric vehicles.

Leave boxy and square to the milk floats, where it makes perfect sense. For cars that move people, let the coachwork flow around the essential hardware and wetware. The natural result is a planet saving-ly low drag coefficient and looks that people will love.

(Trivia Fans: Astute readers will note that the Maserati Quattroporte is featured in the template of this blog, at the bottom right of this page. Yes, we likee that much. Just as we loved the long gone Citreön Maserati.)

Images Abound: Goosing a blogspot blog template


Just a quick word about the images on this page (all Cobb originals). They are, clockwise starting at the top left:
  • The nose of the DaimlerChrysler Smartcar, photographed in London. There are over 750,000 on the streets of the world, but they are still not sold in America. How backward is that?
  • Aeroflot Tupolev Ty-154M passenger plane, taking off from Moscow airport.
  • Maserati Quattroporte, the most elegant four door passenger car design ever (IMHO), photographed outside a showroom in Moscow, then turned into a pencil sketch with PaintShop Pro. See the real thing below.
  • TGV high speed train, photographed in the Gard du Nord, Paris, after I arrived there from Amsterdam on the Thalys, another high speed train. The lack of high speed trains in America is testament to the continuing power of oil companies and the trucking/road building lobby (favored by a certain governor turned president).
A train, a plane, and two automobiles. A taste of things to come.


Oh, and the blogspot template that formed the basis of this page? It is called Lighthouse, but it looks a lot different from this when you first install it.
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