adminUp close, they fascinate in details like door hinges crafted with elegance and fuel caps that would look at home on ocean liners.
From afar they inspire memories of legendary races, glorious moments in the past, great crimes and the pinnacles of human achievement.
They are machines that promise freedom, glory, speed and sexual conquest.
This is why cars are an art, even if the art world is too self-referential to know it.
Here are my favourite eye candies that, no matter how old or new they are, still manage to take my breath away.
They are not necessarily great cars, but they all manage to attract attention, even when they have been parked in a garage for a few decades.
2010 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
From its horse collar grille up front to the rising spoiler in the back, it is one of the best super cars around.
Milled out of a single block of unobtainium, its NACA ducts, tunnelled rear window and ground-bound missile stance have it looking as if it’s going 415kmph even when parked.
2009 Volkswagen CC
The sleek coupe styling you want in a popularly priced everyday sedan.
Low nose, raked windshield, arrow-like windows and a tapered tail. A mean machine for the family man.
2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG
Black Series
So brutally styled, it was almost criminal. Fender flares, huge spoilers and the promise of utterly vicious performance.
2003 Lamborghini Gallardo
The Gallardo made Lamborghini cool again. It perfectly mixes the brand’s traditional sledgehammer visual impact with modern minimalist sensibilities. Will look good for decades. Its 2012 and its still looking good.
1997 Land Rover Defender 90
It is rugged simplicity raised to a high art. Flat aluminum panels and the nose of the world’s strongest bulldog over two straight axles with tall wheels. It is Winston
Churchill equipped with four-wheel drive.
2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS
It redefines a sedan by turning it into a four-door coupe.
It has a typical Mercedes’ low, wide sports car grille leading to a curvaceous body of utter sensuality and a tapered tail. A sporting four-door that looks the part.
2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Traditional Aston styling — particularly the grille — updated for the new millennium by Henrik Fisker.
A clipped nose and foreshortened tail makes it tauter, meaner and more muscular than the DB9.
2010 Audi RS6
2010 Audi RS6 Avant is a station wagon that looks as if it is ready to eat an entire family.
The front fascia is filled with LEDs and big grille openings to feed the frenzied engine. Who knew flared fenders would look great on a wagon?
1968 Jaguar XJ6
It sets a new standard for large sedan lusciousness. It was graceful but modern, with an athletic stance.
The headlights were eyes and the front grille a cat’s voracious maw.
It is a pure feline beauty with four doors.
2012 Audi RS5
2012 Audi RS5 is Audi’s best-looking coupe is shaped with classic proportions and detailed with 21st century tweaks like compound headlights with LED elements, and huge wheels that almost spill out of the wheelwells.
1929 Bentley Speed 6 Gurney Nutting Fixed Head Coupe
It is the original fastback.
It is a car of unparalleled stance and presence, with the countenance of a chopped and channelled locomotive.
It is the most striking of all Bentleys.
1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe
There is no straight edge on the Atlantic.
Every curve is more sensual than the last one.
Usually seen today with Ralph Lauren standing next to it.
1955 Porsche 356 Speedster
It boasts a chopped windshield and single chrome spear down its flanks make this minimal Porsche the best of the 356s. The top never worked, so never put it on.
2009 Audi R8 Spyder
It is a muscular and modern riff on Audi’s midengine racing heritage.
Surgically precise body surfaces make the car seem to dance under different lighting.
It is of superstar proportions.
1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
Ercole Spada takes the DB4 and rebuilds it into a low, wide and lightweight racer. The roof curves so sensually it deserves a foot massage. The fenders are like the perfect calves on a supermodel. It is plain sexy.
1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS
The basic 911 finished off with a ducktail spoiler, slightly flared fenders and (usually) the brilliant “Carrera” script across the doors. The competition “Rennsport” 911 set the bar for Porsche beauty.
1961 Jaguar E-Type
It boasts a long hood, short rear deck and lines that seemed to stretch forever.
The E-Type defined glamour for the 1960s with its overwhelming presence and unmistakable profile.
It is equally beautiful as a coupe or roadster.
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
It is Sergio Scaglietti’s voluptuous and brilliant world champion.
The vents and scoops only make it seem more serious, while the ducktail rear spoiler inspired hundreds of imitators.
It is the GT car all other GT cars want to be. One was recently sold for US$32 million.
1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400
Marcello Gandini’s masterpiece. It is the successor to the Miura.
It is outrageous in every way and the most provocative car of all time.
The first bedroom wall poster car ever, it has defined automotive lust for three generations.
There you have it . . . keep dreaming.
Till next week stay blessed.
- Fact D. Jeke is a motoring enthusiast who has attended auto shows, rallies and has written for various publications in the region for the last decade. She can be contacted via email on [email protected]
leeroy