The most amazing looking car-if only they made them

[Lady Elanore]

This has to be my favourite all-time stunning car design. It did spawn other great looking cars, but surely nobody can forget this once you've seen it. love those see-through doors (I see they appear on the McLaren Senna  ) 

 

Lamborghini Mazal

 

Anyone else got a favourite that didn't make it to production but inspired many other designs (eg the original Stratos Zero design) 

[vrskeith]

No,its not a favourite ,Lady E,Yours looks a bit like  the poorly conceived   DeLorean , did this really make it into production.

 

https://www.delorean.com/

 

Edited 15 May, 2018 by vrskeith

[KenONeill]

I think you got mine Lady E (I'm treating competition cars like the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato as limited production (there are 2 of them), and things like the 2 Toyota 2000GT convertibles as conversions).

[Lady Elanore]

It [almost] makes the Pink Panther car look tame  

[mac11irl]

2 hours ago, vrskeith said:

No,its not a favourite ,Lady E,Yours looks a bit like  the poorly conceived   DeLorean , did this really make it into production.

 

https://www.delorean.com/

 

 

 

I think its fair to say the Delorean looks like a poor recreation of the Marzal..

 

I cant say it (the lambo) is one that i like, aesthetically, but given the era it was conceived, it has a touch of the flamboyant and one of a kind kudos.

The delorean was just a failure for a dozen reasons.. mostly down to the bits it was badly made from meaning bad sales.. If it hadnt been made a movie car it probably wouldnt even have the "following" it has now. That said, DMC managed to screw a massive amount of government money out of London to help get it going so some see that as a victory of sorts, blowing all the money away...

[Lady Elanore]

The Mazal was like something from outer space when I was young, astonishing as it's over 50 years old! My brother first showed it to me as he had a Matchbox car version (or a DInky? ) 

 

Sadly I find that modern Lamborghini have lost the elegance of the earlier ones :( 

[camelspyyder]

I don't think elegance has been a Lamborghini feature since the Espada.  Apart from the 350GTV, the 60's cars all had it, but then the Urracco & Jarama didn't and the Countach replaced "elegant" with "outrageous" as the company's design theme.

 

The Marzal with its rear mounted 6 cylinder was too slow to be a real Lambo, but it looks great unlike that awful stainless steel yank tank pictured above. Did Giugiaro have an off day or just scribbled the DMC-1 onto a napkin for John deLorean over lunch?

 

 

Edited 15 May, 2018 by camelspyyder

[Lady Elanore]

Well the Espada is the offspring of the Mazal...sort of 

[Lady Elanore]

Here is a 'show car' (commissioned my the Daily Telegraph) that came from the Mazal. Based on a Jaaaaag chassis and predates the Espada 

 

 

Bertone Pirana

[mac11irl]

1 hour ago, camelspyyder said:

I don't think elegance has been a Lamborghini feature since the Espada.  Apart from the 350GTV, the 60's cars all had it, but then the Urracco & Jarama didn't and the Countach replaced "elegant" with "outrageous" as the company's design theme.

 

The Marzal with its rear mounted 6 cylinder was too slow to be a real Lambo, but it looks great unlike that awful stainless steel yank tank pictured above. Did Giugiaro have an off day or just scribbled the DMC-1 onto a napkin for John deLorean over lunch?

 

 

 

Nah, he visited the planned factory location in Belfast, got scared by all the sectarian shenanigans, so "drew inspiration from the ship yards of Norn Iron" (a squished shipping container that he spotted out the taxi window) and ran away as quick as he could

 

[Lady Elanore]

28 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

.... and ran away as quick as he could

 

 

 

to go and (allegedly) sell cocaine 

[KenONeill]

@Lady Elanore - There was definitely a Matchbox model of the Mazal; I had one.

[KenONeill]

12 hours ago, mac11irl said:

 

Nah, he visited the planned factory location in Belfast, got scared by all the sectarian shenanigans, so "drew inspiration from the ship yards of Norn Iron" (a squished shipping container that he spotted out the taxi window) and ran away as quick as he could

 

 

12 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

 

 

to go and (allegedly) sell cocaine 

You're talking at cross purposes here.

 

Guigaro designed the bodywork.

 

John Zachary was arrested and tried for drug trafficking, and offered a successful defense of "police entrapment" (source Wikipedia).

[camelspyyder]

Matchbox did all the best show-cars in miniature, Marzal, Carabo, Modulo being 3 I can recall having in my collection.

[KenONeill]

12 minutes ago, camelspyyder said:

Matchbox did all the best show-cars in miniature, Marzal, Carabo, Modulo being 3 I can recall having in my collection.

Likewise. Oddly, the Pininfarina Modulo is the only one I can recall the Carouserie (sp) being credited on the box and base plate of.

[Lady Elanore]

2 hours ago, KenONeill said:

 

You're talking at cross purposes here.

 

Guigaro designed the bodywork.

 

John Zachary was arrested and tried for drug trafficking, and offered a successful defense of "police entrapment" (source Wikipedia).

 

 

I quoted the wrong post of mac11irl! oops.

 

Got to say I always felt he (JZD) got his hand caught in the cookie jar

[Lady Elanore]

1 hour ago, camelspyyder said:

Matchbox did all the best show-cars in miniature, Marzal, Carabo, Modulo being 3 I can recall having in my collection.

 

 

Who did the Beetle with a German fighter acre behind the wheel? Was that a Matchbox too? I remember our first dog eating one, much to my brothers enjoyment  

[camelspyyder]

Anyway, back to pant-wettingly good looking cars.

 

I know this isn't a one off (the chassis production is thought to have totalled 18) but just look at it!

 

Only 8 are known to have this body, and only 2 have dual headlights  - so close to unique.

 

 

 

 

 

The aforementioned Bertone Carabo was one of a number of showcars built on this chassis by Bertone, Farina, and Ital.

 

The Ital Alfa Iguana coupe on this base had a stainless steel body - just like the same designers later DeLorean.

 

 

 

Edited 16 May, 2018 by camelspyyder

[KenONeill]

3 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

 

 

Who did the Beetle with a German fighter acre behind the wheel? Was that a Matchbox too? I remember our first dog eating one, much to my brothers enjoyment  

I think that was originally a Matchbox diecast, and a Revell 1/25 scale kit. Then it was made into a full-size car!!

[KenONeill]

If not that it's so much less attractive than the much more common coupe versions the Ferrari 250 GTO "breadvan" would qualify.

[Lady Elanore]

Our dog did like to eat beetles for some strange reason

[camelspyyder]

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

If not that it's so much less attractive than the much more common coupe versions the Ferrari 250 GTO "breadvan" would qualify.

I don't think the Drogo breadvans were on GTO chassis. I'm thinking they were recycled after crashes 250SWB or 250TDF. And I agree neither was as good looking as any factory 250.

 

Edit:

I checked - they were 250SWB's. There was later a smart looking Drogo GTO coupe, but following a crash that was re-bodied as standard.

 

Also:

There have been 25 Aston DB4GTZ - 19 originals, a batch of 4 about 30 years later then a batch of 2 more.

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 May, 2018 by camelspyyder

[KenONeill]

@camelspyyder - OK, I presumed the modern entry details and 1970s magazine stuff I'd seen on the breadvans were accurate, and they tend to be described as GTOs there.

 

Also that's more DB4GTZs than I thought in period!