Fair Lady Z and auto design

[Colin Talcroft <ctalcroft@domain.elided>]

In reply to this:

"That designer wasn't even Japanese - it was Albrecht
Goertz (otherwise 
known as "Count Albrecht von Goertz," apparently
another "styling" 
job), the guy who did the BMW 507. Before that, he
also had done an 
extremely pretty 4-seater coupe for Nissan, the first
Silvia, which we never 
saw over here except in pictures...or was that a
Bertone job? Help, 
somebody..."

I don't claim to be an authority. I can only say that
the guy who claims to have designed the vehicle and
that Nissan assigned to designing the vehicle was
there being interviewed. He certainly looked Japanese,
he spoke Japanese, his name was Japanese. I regret
that I don't remember his name from the program.
Anyway, it wasn't Goertz. 

This thread is probably already boring everyone, but,
for what it's worth, I personally think that the Miata
is an attractive and original design (after they got
rid of the hidden headlights) and I like the late
Mazda RX-7 designs. They look original to me, but, I'm
sure someone out there can tell me what they are
copies of. Oh, and what about those old Corvette
designs that seem to have come out of Ferrari-land?
Not only the Japanese have borrowed.... 

One point I did appreciate hearing made was that some
of the Japanese designs have been so original (read
"strange") that they never would have sold here at
all.  That is certainly true. Having lived in Japan 18
years I've seen my share of crazy-looking Japanese
cars. I, for one, am convinced that the Japanese are
very capable of original auto design. The Nissan "S
Cargo"  is a good example, it was a vaguely
snail-shaped (escargo--S Cargo) light van that was
like nothing else I've ever seen. Not to mention the
Nissan "Cherry" (I think this was the B-110 in the
U.S. market or the B-210 maybe. In Japan, one was the
"Cherry," one was the "Sunny"), perhaps one of the
ugliest cars ever designed, but surely original. 

To beef up the Alfa content, let me say that I
recently saw Dennis Adler's "The Art of the
Automobile" subtitled "The greatest Designs of the
20th Century" just out from Harper Collins. There is a
small Alfa section. I think many digest subscribers
would enjoy it. There are many beautiful cars in this
book, but the U.S. examples at the back are an
embarassment for the most part--although their
ugliness again makes them seem original (things like
the Dodge "Challenger" and the Plymouth "Superbird"). 


Colin
1978 Spider
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