Repost from last February 25. I just found these chops on my hard drive and decided to repost since I didn't have a lot of readers the first week of my blog when this first appeared, lol.
X4/h
C H O P S — In a retro move sure to shock the automotive audience right out of their Eames lounge chairs, the newest Teutonic crossover coupes come with, wait, drumroll please, only 2 doors. In the States, three drivetrain choices will be available, including a turbo 4 at the bottom, a full hybrid all-wheel drive mid-ranger, and a twin turbo DI 6 at the top—the new X4/t4, X4/h and X4/t6.
The rear hatch is powered and opens in a unique manner: the rear glass slides up and over the roof, and the painted portion of the tailgate powers down and inside the body, resting totally out of the way, leaving a wide open aperture for luggage. Kudos to anyone that remembers the full sized 1971-76 GM wagons' clamshell tailgates. In those cars, the rear window was powered in all versions, with the tailgate manually lowered unless optionally power assisted. I can't think of an earlier powered rear hatch/tailgate on a production vehicle. The idea wouldn't become popular for another 20 years. In the case of this X4 however, the rear glass slides over the roof, not inside it. Chop based on X6 of course!
X4/t4
B T W :
I N F L U E N C E S — These two Bimmer chops use 'floating' backgrounds. I grew up looking at car brochures, probably the earliest reading material of mine. It was a big thing in my family, every September, to go see the unveiling of the new cars. The brochure art of the sixties was at a zenith I'd say. My '64 Tbird catalog is large format, heavy stock and features not only onion paper in the front, it has a cloth-type art paper cover evocative of the Landau vinyl roof. The interior photography is all highly stylized and saturated with colors. Pontiac was still using artists to paint their new car advertising, Buick used illustrated interior art. Oldsmobile, later in the decade, placed cars on plain backgrounds and feathered in a setting to suggest how many activities and good times could be had with a new car. I guess I was pretty influenced by the artwork in those PR pieces, and I'd say my chops reflect that aesthetic much of the time.
A more obvious use of this sixties feathered/floating motif is in this early chop of mine, the Chevelle Camino, a shortening of Chevelle El Camino of course.
Can't you just hear the opening theme for Hawaii Five-O right now? Which, since this post was first written last February, has come back on the air and is one of my favorite shows now!
It's really too bad that BMW couldn't have made a car like this look as attractive as you've made this. The X6 and the 5GT are SO ungainly looking and the X6 is woefully impractical with very limited luggage space and an almost uninhabitable rear seat. I'm reminded of how Peter DiLorenzo can get going about how BMW has lost its way.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the Chevelle Camino, that is spectacular! I like the current Malibu's styling very much and this builds on it. Andd the background is wonderful -- I've seen the surfers on the North Shore of Oahu and there were El Caminos everywhere -- from every generation and condition. In fact, it appeared to be the official state car of Hawaii -- they were everywhere, many of them from the 68-72 generation (in 1985).
I like the new Hawaii 5-0, but I really wish they had made a new version of Hawaiian Eye, where the detectives drove 60 Oldsmobile convertibles and Connie Stevens drove one of the pink Jeeps with the striped surrey tops! Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens -- something for everyone!!
I well remmember the incredible art in car advertising and the annual fall collecting of literature was religiously observed, first with my Dad and then on my bicycle when I got older. Now at the auto shows I glance through the literature on offer but rarely find anything compelling enough to make me carry it around the show floor in a cheap plastic shopping bag!
Paul, NYC
You know even for a non-car person like me there was something to waiting each year for the arrival of the new models...that anticipation ...of what they would look like or how many HP the new cars would have. Now, at least for me, it's all a blur of 30/40 second spots on TV.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on the North Shore of Oahu I tootled around in my little BMW 318, that I bought when I lived in Germany, shipped it back home to California and shipped it again to Hawaii. When I moved I sold it to my landlord. I wonder if it is now one of those rusted cars left along the Hawaiian roadside? I think that car had more shipping miles on it then driven miles. lol
The last time I went to the NY car show, I not only carried around tons of brochures in a cheap plastic bag, i had them Fedexed back home, lol. I think that was in 1997 or 98. I used to make it every year, but I just haven't been that interested in making a day of it.
ReplyDeleteI liked those 318s! I almost bought my mother a used on in the early 90s, it was incredibly clean and low-mileage, but it was the very base model, and when she saw it had wind-up windows instead of power windows, she nixed it. She said at her age she didn't want to go back to work, lol.
I was driving out to California in 1982 and caught an undisguised prototype of the soon to be introduced BMW 318 4 door driving near Lake Havasu. Naturally, I snapped some photos. When I got home I contacted Car&Driver and they bought the pics. Turns out I had the only pics of the new 4 door. My 15 minutes of fame, lol. But I made enough on the sale to pay for the entire trip! As a result, I still love those 318's too!
ReplyDeleteI think the body style used for that 318 could be my favorite 3 series. It was such a clean and upright (like me!) design, so purposeful and unadorned. The subsequent oens have been nice but to me simple is best when you're talking about the ultimate driving machine. Of course, if someone offered me a new 7 series, I don't think I'd refuse!
ReplyDeletePaul, NYC
CARS, HERE WE GO AGAIN. JUST GIVE ME AN OLD STAGECOACH AND SIX HORSES,I'D BE AS HAPPY AS A DOG WITH A CHICKEN BONE. J/K CASEY. J/K.
ReplyDeleteLOVE THE LOOK OF MOST NEW CARS THE VOLTS NOT BAD. I'D TAKE ONE IF SOMEONE WANTS TO GIVE ME ONE.
Paul, you talked about the limited trunk space in the X6. I sold my '89 Mustang and bought my '96 Z3. I like to joke that I'm the only person who ever bought a sportscar and got a BIGGER trunk! LOL
ReplyDeleteKatie
The Chevelle Camino seems a little long ... but maybe that’s an optical trick or something. I think if GM imported the Holden Ute, why, they'd sell tens of them! But, hey, ain't no big thing, bruddah.
ReplyDeleteYou said something about Hawaii Five-O ...? http://www.marketplacemagazine.com/blogs/blog2.php/2011/01/28/hawaii-five-o-vs-hawaii-five
Steve, what a great write up about the new and old Hawaii Five-0! I love the new one and learned a lot from your post. I didn't realize they had done some tie-ins with actors. I knew about the Mercurys though, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that between the original Park Lane and the later Marquis McGarrett changed tires about every 500 miles. (In other words, more often than his hair stuff.) Every time he drove the car all you ever heard were squealing tires, and all you ever saw was the dive of the shocks when he stopped.
ReplyDeleteyeah, you have to admit the new Camaro handles a lot better than the Park Lane, lol. I THINK there was a new Mustang in the 1st show, or the pilot, but then the Camaro showed up. Kono drives a Cruze and there is a Traverse at times too. And does the Governor have a Suburban?
ReplyDeleteSuburban or Yukon, I think. I understand she's a back-seat driver. (Rim shot.)
ReplyDeletegood one! I'm looking forward to the show tonight. the digital TV guide says it's a repeat, but the last 2 weeks have said that also, and I didn't remember either one of them. I don't even mind watching repeats of shows I like though. I should be working on a book i'm doing production on but I'm taking the night off. tomorrow's another day, and another big snowstorm. Aloha!
ReplyDeleteYour snowstorm tomorrow is our snowstorm tonight. You're welcome to it.
ReplyDelete(Ponders why none of his ancestors ever left the Arctic Circle.)
(1) New Five-0 Monday night. Be there. Aloha.
ReplyDelete(2) One oddity about the HPD: They may be the only large police department in the U.S. to allow its officers to use their personal vehicles as squads; the HPD pays mileage, apparently. (Was the Starsky & Hutch Torino the police department's or Starsky's?) The repeat had, I believe, a blue light on a Subaru Forester in the final funeral home scene. Which makes one wonder if the Park Lane and Marquis were State of Hawaii cars or McGarrett's personal wheels. (Ditto the Camaro.)