car of the century

[Francois Dion <francois@hyperreal.org>]

I would not put too much into the eventual result of this selection,
and if the errors found on the site reflect in any way the level
of attention they put into this, this should be taken with a grain of
salt. As for the public vote, this is very british/american oriented
as there are no french, german, italian, japanese, ...
translations. For example, a car such as the deux chevaux
(Citroen 2cv) is extremely significant for the French, yet
relatively unknown in the US. Same for the Fiat 500 and
Italy. But what if you dont speak english?

IMHO, a car of the century award should really have different
categories. For example, "economical cars" would have cars
like the Mini, Renault 4cv, volks beetle, simca, autobianchi,
citroen 2cv, honda, toyota, fiat 500, ford model T etc. Then,
a category for technical innovations (de Dion Bouton, Lancia
lambda, Mini etc.).

As for which model, if any, fits best each category for a given
make, this would have to be done by a panel of experts for
this particular make, with all the reasons clearly detailled. Then,
compare the cars based on these details.

Oh, yes also a special category for people behind those
car of the century. In the italian cars field I'm of course
talking of such people as Jano, Lampredi, Ferrari, Bertone,
Pinin Farina, Abarth, Zagato, Lancia etc... To a certain
extent it's more these people and a particular design, engine
or method they made popular that is so significant than a
particular car they made.

Separately, hold a public vote and see how close or far the
automotive experts were. In the end, almost any car can
be argued as being the car of the century and it will quite
probably be a very popular model, as to upset the least
people. If you want to make jokes on cars in the US,
you dont use the dodge neon, you use something that
is forgotten, and that was in limited supply, like the Yugo.
Or, do like Click and Clack and bash a car you know
nothing of, except that there are only a few thousand
left so the damage to your ratings will be minimal,
namely Peugeot. Sure way to put the listeners on
your side, unless the listener happens to be Morley Safer
(but that is another story).

Ciao,
Francois Dion (francois@hyperreal.org)
--
Member: FLU #1722, PCNA
http://www.fortunecity.com/silverstone/zagato/101/launch.html
Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Peugeot, Volvo, Solex