If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
156 restyle: Last chance to buy a new future classic?
Saw a copy of "Practical Classic Car" or some such in WHSmugs yesterday
& they were listing cars made in the last five years most likely to become classics in x years time. 156 was top of the list, with a prediction that it would be the earlier pre-facelift cars with original nose, interesting metallics and wood steering wheels which would be most sought after. As owner of a 2000 in Nuvola this underlined why I have kept this car for four years and have decided (for the first time in thirty years of car buying) that I shall keep a car until it is at least five years old. Which brings me to Giugiario's nose job. Most of the coverage has been favourable, probably because the full depth 147-u-like grill is, in isolation an object of drama: indeed it is easily the best thing (aesthetically) about a 147. But, while the restyle still leaves the 156 a lovely car, I can't help but feel that the innate "rightness" and intense beauty of the da Silva original has been compromised. This even applies to the mild tweaking of the rear: the light units now turn down instead of up. In so doing they subtly (&, OK, very slightly) alter the previous relationship to the curves in the rest of the body. This is change for change's sake. But the nose??? This is I fear a significant dilution of the car's beauty. One of the most extraordinary characteristics of my 156 has been its ability to elicit praise from non-car people, especially women, who find the car (and of course the colour) beautiful. Massively entertaining to see the 4 year old 156 get far more attention from the girls than the nearly new £25K+ Audi TT bought by a male colleague for the express purpose of attracting the girls... I have shown two of these women photographs of the facelift. "Not as good" was the shared response. I have to say - after looking at the result in the metal at Brooklands 2 weeks back- that I agree. And I'm unsure about the whole "corporate nose" thing anyway - on the 166 I think it is aesthetic vandalism to stick on the 147 grill. The 166 is a large car with a subtle and mature appeal. The original grill suited it well - the drama of the 147 nose (which is great on the small Alfa & pretty damn good on the GT) is ill at ease on such a car. Every car needs a nose suiting its proportions, style and intended audience. "Corporate nosing" f***ks this up. With the 156, I'm not knocking Giugiario - as corporate nose restyles go, its really very good. But with a car this beautiful, not as good as leaving well alone. So my proposition on the 156 is: the most beautiful production saloon of recent years is no longer in production. It has been replaced by a significantly less beautiful car and history will bear this out... |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|