I know modern cars look rubbish - at least, those I could afford - but among reasonably-priced modern cars, it’s really only Citroëns that ever stand out for me as being quite good looking - and probably not the boxy smaller ones.
And Alfas, I suppose.
I quite like the look of the Fiat 500, although it’s a little underpowered and bouncy in standard form.
A few years ago I photographed a French champagne house owner called Bruno Paillard - he’s now the CEO of Lanson. A very interesting man - he commissions artists to paint original artworks for the labels of his champagnes.
Anyway the point of mentioning him in this context is that he had a fantastic collection of cars stashed in lockups all over Reims - an assortment of makes including a Maserati and several Citroens, plus a Ferrari Testarossa and a Facel Vega which were in the process of being restored by a specialist firm.
He took my colleague and I on a tour of the vineyards in his DS convertible, followed by a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant where we had the tasting menu with a different Bruno Paillard champagne with each course! The subtleties of the different champagnes went over my head, but it was very memorable!
Oh my… I never could get the hang of the double-declutch… aaargh
I’m a little disappointed that Charleston Ami isn’t a real thing 
C’est trop mignonne !
[quote=“Ancient_Mariner, post:22, topic:47179”]
I quite like the look of the Fiat 500, [/quote]
It’s a lot closer to the look and spirit of the original than today’s bulbous Mini
[quote=“Ancient_Mariner, post:22, topic:47179”]
although it’s a little underpowered and bouncy in standard form. [/quote]
But you wouldn’t be against the Abarth version? There’s several around our way…
I drove an Abarth 500 last year in Lanzarote, and it was ok but not a car that I would eagerly seek out. Definitely too firm for Oxfordshire country roads though.
I do rather like the first version of the mini countryman like I had, though I know they don’t suit everyone. Not a fan of the current standard mini - it looks Japanese in a bad way.
I was behind one this morning and thought it looked far too bulbous from behind -
Might that make more it American (or heaven forbid, contemporary British!) than Japanese?
I have now become very dubious of unusual car photos and tend to look around the main subject for evidence of photoshop or AI. In the photo, the cars in the background are all chopped up and unidentifiable. My car, just sold, for balance!
