Table of contents for November 2015 in Automobile

AM: How do you conceive a design for each car? LG: When people commission me to make a car and ask what I’m going to do, I say that it’s not up to me. It’s whatever the car wants to be. One time I designed a woman’s Ford Focus like an aquarium filled with fish, and she loved it. AM: Explain how a car knows what it wants to be. LG: Every car has a story and a history. Every car has an alter ego, and deep down they all want to be different. Most of today’s cars are just boxes. Imagine a beautiful world where every car on the road is unique and has its own personality. AM: How does a car speak to you as an artist? LG:…

Porsche likes to introduce back-to-basics, hardcore variants toward the end of a model’s life cycle. It’s the company’s way of nodding to its true believers and saying, “We still love you.” Or, if you’re more cynical, it’s a way to squeeze those avid enthusiasts one more time before the process starts all over again with an all-new car. Either way, we approve because it’s gotten us the new Boxster Spyder. The most recognizable element of the Spyder is its manually operated top, which looks rather nice, can be put risk-free through an automatic car wash, will tolerate 180 mph without coming loose, and weighs 24 pounds less than the push-button job on the regular Boxster. That’s the good news. The bad news is you need fingers of steel to lift…

LAKECOMO, ITALY- The road that runs through Moltrasio on the west side of Lake Como is narrow and winding. On one side, pedestrians meander alongside a stone wall that serves as the only barrier between the street and the rocky shoreline below. On the other, oncoming tour buses make the road seem even narrower. It’s making for a sketchy start to our drive from Lake Como, Italy, to Munich, Germany, in a caravan of historic BMW M3s representing the first three generations of the now-famous model. To many, the BMW M3 needs no explanation. It’s as much a part of a car enthusiast’s vocabulary as the Porsche 911. But perhaps not everyone knows the M3 wasn’t an instant hit in the United States. Its popularity evolved over time, and much…

SUN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA— “The sad thing about it all,” observes Seamus Taaffe, Singer Vehicle Design’s test driver and R&D specialist, “is that Rob Dickinson has made me as anal-retentive as he is. I saw a Ferrari California and its license plate was misaligned side to side by probably half a millimeter. I saw it from three lanes away on the freeway, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? The guy who put that plate on should’ve been fired!’ It drives me crazy to be like this, but our cars are the way they are because of the way Rob is.” OCD MOTORS Spray-painted on a wall inside Singer’s shop in the San Fernando Valley is Dickinson’s mandate: “Everything is important.” Nothing about the Porsche 911s that emerge from this…

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI MILES TO DATE: 8,756 1,904 Eco-friendly upshift reminders from the instrument cluster are a total buzzkill. We don’t need to be told how to drive, VW. Reminders not to forget our cellphone in the cupholder are, however, most useful. 3,266 Copy editor Kara Snow: “Clark plaid cloth seats are as comfortable as they are chic. Compelled me to match my wardrobe to the car.” 5,854 “Big brakes stopped me from a grille-full of brown bear that was lumbering out of some bushes,” says contributing photographer John Lamm after dancing along forested two-lane roads in Colorado. Good thing we got the Performance package. 6,025 The GTI avoided the bear, but a stowaway rodent proved just as dangerous, chewing through some wiring near the engine. Replacement wiring harness: $1,200.…

1964 Mercury Comet Caliente Sold at $17,280 S/N 4H25F518078 WHITE OVER RED VINYL interior with white vinyl top. 164-hp, OHV 4.3-liter V-8; three-speed automatic transmission. Great equipment list for 1964, including power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, and wire wheel covers. The Caliente—an upscale version of the Comet model—was advertised in period by Mercury as “Every bit as hot as it looks.” The MSRP before options for this Caliente was $2,636; Mercury built 9,039 Caliente convertibles in 1964. THE STORY BEHIND THE SALE: As World War II was winding down, Ford formed the Lincoln-Mercury division, formalizing a ladder of brand status much like General Motors. While Mercury hasn’t been with us since 2011, it’s also fair to say that the brand had a great run and made some quite memorable…

Danh Vo “Das Beste oder Nichts” 2010 The engine of the artist’s father Phung Vo’s Mercedes-Benz 26 x 40 x 81 in If there’s nothing unique about the filthy Mercedes-Benz engine sitting on the clean, white floor of the Guggenheim museum in New York, why did artist Danh Vo put it there? Vo and his family fled Vietnam as refugees in 1979 and found asylum in Denmark, where Vo later attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 2010, Danh tore the engine out of a Mercedes-Benz 190, the car his father bought as a rolling reminder that he’d made it in the West, then dragged the grease-covered block into the Guggenheim and transformed it into art. Art and the automobile have a longstanding relationship that’s sometimes straightforward, sometimes…

If automotive art is all about using the language of cars to communicate, what happens when the original manufacturers have something to say? Companies often turn to artists to act as their voices and find new ways to connect with their audiences. Whether it’s Charles Sheeler photographing Ford’s industrial infrastructure in 1927 or Andy Warhol making prints of historic cars for Mercedes-Benz, people worry that involving a corporate entity renders art contrived and inorganic. The reality, though, is that somebody had to pay Michelangelo to take his brush to the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Here are some of the most prominent examples of auto makers working with artists today. “INSIDE ROLLS-ROYCE” Rolls-Royce is opening itself up and letting fans look at what it takes to produce some of the world’s most…

Pity the poor Viper. Ever since Dodge last year introduced the Hellcat Charger and Challenger—a 707-hp sedan and coupe usable as daily transportation and costing about $65,000—the Viper, with (cough) just 645 horsepower and a base price of about $85,000, seems almost irrelevant. Dodge had to discount the Viper to that price just to sell close to 100 per month while Hellcats fly out of dealerships at a premium. However, the supercar strikes back with the 2016 Viper ACR, which is, in a word, astounding. Few cars walk the thin line between “street legal” and “track only” with more success. We weren’t able to get numbers during our laps on Virginia International Raceway’s longest circuit—more than 4 miles—but I’ve never driven a street-legal car so precisely adapted for track duty.…

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – The story of BMW in America officially begins in 1975 with the establishment of BMW of North America. If you’re so inclined, you can chart the corporate fortunes ever since in the sales numbers of the BMW 3 Series, which was introduced in late 1975 as a 1976 model. But as BMW NA celebrates its 40th anniversary in the U.S., we think the story here isn’t about some BMW car or another. Instead the real story is about being a BMW driver, because we are all BMW drivers now. Of course, time didn’t exactly start for BMW in North America in 1975. Max Hoffman, the legendary Austrian-born car dealer based out of New York City, added BMW to his portfolio of import-label car brands in 1954. His…

LAKE COMO, ITALY— Forty years ago, art dealer Hervé Poulain not only persuaded BMW to let him drive a 3.0 CSL in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, but he also talked the automaker into it being painted by American artist Alexander Calder, better known for his whimsical mobile sculptures than for using 480-horsepower race cars as a canvas. Poulain’s clever proposal to transform the CSL into rolling art set the stage for what unexpectedly became a series of vehicles now known as the BMW Art Cars. And as we looked over five of our favorites at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, we saw past the clever marketing ploy and instead reflected on the powerful cultural force that Art Cars has…

It was quite unlike any show of concept cars yet seen in the then-new General Motors Styling Dome. Streamers of red fabric descended from the interior of the dome. A trio of cylindrical cages some 30 feet high were filled with a hundred chirping canaries. Fragrant hyacinths in pots ringed five large circles of carpet on the floor. And within each carpeted circle were two cars, grouped by make. But the real surprise in this dramatic display was that each of the 10 glistening show cars within GM’s inner sanctum of design had been customized by women. The 1958 event was dubbed the Spring Fashion Festival of Women Designed Cars. Orchestrated by GM styling chief Harley Earl, it was the first exhibition by female auto designers anywhere in the world.…

MILES TO DATE: 8,471 1,611 Black wheels, bright orange paint, and an aggressive stance make for one badass-looking pony. “Looks like a high-performance Mustang from every angle,” says senior editor David Zenlea. 1,982 But it doesn’t sound like one. We pull up next to an identical orange Mustang at a stoplight on Detroit’s Woodward Avenue. Its V-8 rumble makes us jealous then embarrassed. “Our four-cylinder turbo sounds strained and wheezy by comparison.” 2,948 The six-speed manual gearbox is a pleasant surprise. Short throws with slightly notchy, mechanical feedback are right up there with Honda and Mazda. 4,680 The check engine light comes on, and the code indicates multiple misfiring cylinders. The dealer tells us it’s a false alarm and clears it. 5,139 Where’d our power go? Someone pumped 87 octane…

Jay Koka “Graffiti,” 2013 Koka captures the sharp and brutal character of the Corvette Stingray. “Car design is so clean and thought-out by committee that I wanted to contrast it with the rambunctious individuality of graffiti,” says Koka. The sweeping, random energy of the graffiti mirrors the Corvette’s rowdy attitude. Gerry Judah Untitled, 2015 Judah made this 130-foot-tall double-helix sculpture for Mazda to show of at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Atop the twisting steel structure are the rotary-powered, 1991 Le Mans-winning 787B race car and Mazda’s Vision Gran Turismo concept car, representing the past and future of Mazda’s motorsports and design heritage. Guy Allen “Lotus Elise,” 2010 Allen’s comic-strip composition and cartoonish style heighten the sense of drama as you move from panel to panel. This aesthetic has…

Before Albrecht Goertz drew the brilliant 1956 BMW 507 roadster, no BMW held any aesthetic charm for me. The 328 roadsters of the late ’30s were mechanically interesting, but they were also stubby and dumpy. The big 501 sedan of 1952 (the first car sold by BMW after World War II) contributed its hardware to the 507, but it was a frumpy machine with little charm apart from the 502 variant being the first postwar car from Germany to get a V-8. BMW was on its way out of business in the ’50s (due in part to the expense of building the 507) until Herr Herbert Quandt bought control in 1959 and brought in foreign stylists, initially Giovanni Michelotti, who shaped the 1960 Corvairinspired New Class compact sedans that saved…

THANKS FOR YOUR INVITATION TO READERS AFTER your Le Mans trip to recall our own memorable driving moments (“Editor’s Letter,” September 2015). In 1992 I was 16 years old and felt very lucky to be driving a Chevy Cavalier RS. On a summer evening while out driving alone, I decided to test the obvious muscle of my car on a rarely traveled road in West Omaha. As I approached my high-speed goal, the engine gasped for air and the car started to dance slightly as the nose began to lift. Then the reality of my car’s RS moniker being all emblem and no substance finally landed in my brain. As I took my foot off the gas for the long coast down to legal speed, I took special note of…

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA— Vintage? Yes. Historic? Very much so. Old? Not even a little bit. This BMW race car is alive, a machine with a shrieking soul. It vibrates all around me, as if there’s a live-wire tremor radiating from the center of the car all the way to its fiberglass skin. Yet the chassis is rock solid, so hooked up to asphalt that I can’t get it to pivot even if I snap off the gas while cornering. I muscle the shift lever of the five-speed from second gear into third, and the straight-six flexes its rough power. The sound of the 470-horsepower lump behind my head is magnificent. Wait, the motor behind my head? In a BMW? Yes, this is the BMW M1, Munich’s own mid-engine sports car made…

“For now, at least, it’s only a design exercise,” says Karim Habib, the BMW brand’s chief designer. Then he adds with a broad smile, “But of course we would be delighted to take it to the next level.” Like almost all BMW concept cars, the CSL Hommage is a runner. True, the only location where we’re allowed to run this unregistered, hand-built coupe is Villa Erba, next door to the site of the BMW-sponsored Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, where the car will debut. And since it’s just eight hours before the debut, the speed will be limited by hand signals (occasionally frantic) from our BMW nanny. Despite these restrictions, the first encounter with this stunning reinvention of the BMW coupe of the early 1970s earns 10 points out of 10…

For much of its history, the Chevrolet Corvette has made promises it couldn’t keep. America’s sports car has always aimed to beat European competitors costing twice as much, and it frequently has put up the necessary performance stats to do so. But from behind the wheel, this bold quest has almost always come up short. Although fast and fun, the Corvette has usually lacked the refinement and attention to quality that makes a relatively expensive sports car worth that extra money. The seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette, the all-new flagship for an all-new General Motors, aims to live up to its promise at last. Our first few drives in the car left us so impressed we named it Automobile of the Year. But we still wondered whether the Corvette would be as…

As I drive John Leahy’s 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS down Woodward Avenue, he sits shotgun and tells me tales about his heyday spent racing muscle cars along the storied road in Detroit. Chevys squaring off against Fords, Tri-Power Buicks against hopped-up Pontiacs, big-blocks rumbling up and down all night long. Today, we’re just cruising. The Impala SS wouldn’t outrun a modern Honda Accord V-6, and Leahy is more interested in catching up with friends along Woodward than laying rubber at every stoplight. Yet in its heyday, the SS was a bonafide muscle car, and thanks to its subdued looks and four-door body, it didn’t attract as much attention as its performance merited. After a hiatus of 25 years, the Chevrolet Impala SS returned for the 1994 model year with all…