One of my favourite things about US car design between the 1950s-70s is their enthusiasm for creating enormously, absurdly large cars that only have two doors. Evoking the bigger-is-better ethos and rock-bottom rock oil prices of the era, they represent frivolity and excess better than pretty much any other consumer good you can name.Here are two staggeringly vast cars spotted in the Goodwood Revival car park - a Cadillac with a boot large enough to fit a basketball team in, and a Buick with the fuel filler placed ill-advisedly at the edge of that extravagantly protruding rear bumper. So, who can name both models...?
To round off SuckSqueezeBangBlow's week-long Goodwood Revival extravaganza, here's a variety of scenes to illustrate what the event's really about: getting up close and personal with the guys who are elbows-deep in these priceless, gorgeous classics. The fact that visitors can be so intimate, so involved with these motoring heroes is what makes the event truly special; where other shows may keep the public behind ropes, Goodwood allows the amateur enthusiast to get under the bonnet with mechanics, drivers and owners, and observe as they prepare their machines for the next rubber-vaporising, 100-RON battle. Truly magical stuff.
The 1959 Cadillac Coupe De Ville is arguably the ultimate expression of car-as-sculpture, with every curve, surface, nook and cranny stuffed with ornate details and shining fripperies. So for the discerning customiser, it makes sense to take this artistic canvas as a base and paint across it something that takes the car to its logical conclusion; in the case of Wildcad, 'the biggest, lowest, baddest kustom car with a full metal, hand-sculptured interior'. The headlining is all-metal, formed from the roof of another donor '59, while the centre console features a whole Coupe De Ville tailfin, complete with working illumination. Exterior-wise we find a substantial roof-chop and some wonderfully subtle flames over the mile-deep purple paint, while under the bonnet is - what else? - a super-detailed Chevy 454ci big-block. Oh, and just for fun, the doors, bonnet and boot are all remote-controlled, just to baffle people at shows. Why not, eh?
Old-school East Kent drag racers may fondly recall the heady days of Screamin' Alley - an impromptu drag-strip that found quick success on a service road at RAF Manston. Its time was short but, offering the south-east's only option for proper drag racing besides making the trip to Santa Pod or across into Europe, it was a true cult hit. A Reliant Kitten on slotmags, a Marina Coupe gasser and a narrowed Renault 4 silhouette? It could only be the 1980s...
I've never been totally sure about the Panamera. Like the Cayenne, I get the point of it and it's undoubtedly a thoroughly capable machine - there's just something about the styling that jars with me.
