Illustrations inspired from the 1995 July issue
"Super Car Olympics" article from Car and Driver Magazine.
In 1995 Car and Driver wrote an article comparing 5 of the greatest sports cars of the year. This article interested me since it featured 1. very obtainable and "affordable" cars for todays standards and 2. it features 2 of my favorite cars. I recommend giving the article a glance. It's an easy read and it's always interesting to look at something from so long ago.
Below I'll be putting these cars through the design Olympics of 95.
5th place:
Porsche 911 Turbo.
Porsche makes beautiful cars without a doubt. The only reason why this is coming in at the last spot is because it has somewhat of a dated design compared to the other cars in this competition. Lets face it, most Porsche cars look the same and this is a design competition that involves some very unique style cars. I'm a huge fan of cars that keep the same look through out the years. Such as the Datsun z to Nissan 370z. It looks like the same car but more modern and I love that. Porsche has a great and iconic design, so why fix it?
4th place:
Ferrari F355.
The 355 is an outstanding car although personally I enjoy the 348 more. The 355 is the updated version of the 348 and offers some great new changes. I definitely appreciate the design of the 355, especially the size but it doesn't do it for me quite like the 348. The reason why I like the 348 more is because it has a lot of resemblance from the Ferrari Testarossa. We all know what an impact the Testarossa has made. All in all the 355 is a great looking car and was a nice update to the previous 348, I just think that the 348 is a bit more unique looking than the 355.
3rd Place:
Lotus Esprit.
I just love low wedge shaped cars and that’s exactly what the Esprit is. Giugiaro’s polygonal folded paper designs are some of the best looking cars to exist. The reason why the esprit is taking home the bronze medal is because it kept the same look for the most part throughout it's life span and although many cars had the same design aspect of the Esprit, it kept it's nice wedge shape into the 90's and that was a little rare compared to other cars being made at that time.
2nd Place:
My favorite car as a child is holding the 2nd place spot. The Dodge Viper RT/10 is such a unique looking car with it's iconic hood and side exhaust pipes. I'm also a big fan of it's plastic interior and removable hard top becoming available in the 2nd gen. As previously stated in this article, I love it when cars can keep the same look throughout it's newer models and versions and that's exactly what the viper did. Although I think the latest Viper is outstanding in looks as it resembles the first gen body style so well, no Viper has topped the original design in my books.
1st Place:
Acura/ Honda NSX.
Taking home the gold is the Acura (North America) Honda (rest of world) NSX. If you read anything about cars you will know why the NSX is so great and iconic, so i'll keep this to a minimum. As it's been said over and over the NSX's design was way ahead of it's time and still looks like it was made in the current day. What's better than a timeless design? Something i'm a huge fan of is pop up headlights and targa tops and although the Ferrari F355 offers that as well, does it look as good as it does on the NSX? Also the two tone color ways with the black roofs they started offering are outstanding. Okay, enough praising the NSX, you hear it all the time. So one thing I dislike about the NSX is the way it looks in black. Yes I still love it, but with the lengthy rear end and built in spoiler I get a Batmobile vibe and I can not stand that! Although, if I came across a black NSX at an affordable price and was in the market for one, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! The appreciating value of these cars hurts me as when the time comes for me to be in the market for one, they will just be way too expensive. It's a shame the new NSX couldn't have any resemblance of this. Heck, I'd say the Ferrari F50 looks more like a new NSX.
What are your thoughts on these cars and how would you rank them?
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