By Robert Emslie
It seems that, for decades Ferrari has served as the pinnacle of automotive aspiration. Oh sure, there were those whose dreams were to be chauffeured in the isolated confines of the back of a Rolls Royce, but those were usually individuals who also thought the epitome of luxury was a bathroom with a bidet. For those of us who would rather do our own below the equator maintenance, a driver’s car is also more the preference.
A big part of why Ferrari has always been the automotive equivalent of nirvana has been the brand’s slavish piety to the house of Pininfarina. That company’s designs for the Maranello marque have almost always been solid endeavors, and on occasion have proven knuckle-bitingly beautiful. Take for example the Lusso above. That design is 40 years old, and while it looks it, the shape remains to this day something that you’d seriously consider life with a single kidney to possess.
But something has happened to either Ferrari or Pininfarina, something dark, and possibly evil. The products offered up by the Italian super car maker in the last decade have been, how shall we say it, different. And while different may be a plus when you’re a fictional character like Forrest Gump, for a car brand whose products typically end up in museums rather than junk yards, that may not be in anyone’s best interests. What do you think about modern Ferraris, is the company’s current styling trope unappreciated in the present, but simply waiting for society to catch up? Or, are this generation of Ferrari’s just plain fugly? What’s your opinion on current Ferrari styling, brah! or blah?
Image: WallpapersHD
Jeff Glucker
I have said it before, and I will say it again: I simply do not care for Ferrari. I appreciate the craftsmanship in their products, but none of their products have ever evoked an emotional response from me. Am I dead inside? Maybe.
None have looked good since the 456 and I don't think they will as long as they continue to go for the form follows function route.
I don't care for the early GTOs all that much and never have. The 288GTO I always thought was a hash as well. Brock's Daytona Coupe does it for me, though. It is a matter of taste, I suppose.
I'll take it one further: Blech! Their new stuff does nothing for me. I love the F40, I love the 288 GTO, and you can't go wrong with their older designs, but the newer stuff is just missing something.
A mustache.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Ferrari_308_gts_Magnum.jpg">
heart and soul.
I can't even fall back on my "At least the GT cars are sexy!" anymore. The F12berlinetta is just… brash. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but I wouldn't marry it either. They need to take a note out of BMW's first attempt with Rolls design and stick to stylish and refined. The saying "Don't argue with an idiot because an idiot will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" applies here in my mind. They're trying to fight Lambo on Lambo's level instead of building a car that makes it puts them in a whole different league. Buying a Gallardo is an infinitely more attractive to imaginary rich guy version of myself than anything Ferrari has put out since the early 90's.
Eh.
Let me add to the thought here. I saw an SSC Ultimate Aero at a car show a couple weekends back. As it rolled up I literally let out a string of incomprehensible profanity. It's not a beautiful car by any means, it's just… special. When driving through a town on my way home from work I sometimes see a GT3 RS and a 458 parked together. They get an "Oh, that's cool to see". I don't feel like I should have the same reaction to a GT3 RS or an R8 that I do for a Ferrari. They just aren't special anymore.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/7hZKI3k.jpg" width=500>
I'd probably have the same reaction to an SSC Ultimate Aero. I guess being ultra rare and ultra ridiculous helps.
They aren't near so beautiful now as the high points they reached with Pininfarina, but they're also vastly better than they were a decade or two back. I like the trend, but they ought to channel a lot more P4/5 spirit into their designs.
Production ended on it last year, but I found the 599 (like this GTB Fiorano) to be quite lovely with lines and a shape that evoked the gorgeousness of Ferraris past.
<img width=500 src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Ferrari599_A6_1.JPG">
The current models do nothing for me except the shooting brake FF…because shooting brake.
Looking back over the last 10 years or so, there aren't too many that I would call gorgeous. The F430 is probably the only one. The Enzo and FXX, while respectable for their capabilities, aren't gorgeous. The 550 and 575 now look dated and haven't been able to keep the timeless beauty of models from the days of yore.
I'll agree, the 599 was a very pretty car and so was the F430. Everything current seems… chintzy.
Glad you mentioned the F430, too. I have this poster hanging in the laundry room, and it makes doing the clothes a little easier a task.
<img src="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-488-488-90/59/5935/V8CRG00Z/posters/ferrari-f430-scuderia.jpg">
"Laundry room". I aspire to having an entire room dedicated to the encleansment of clothing…
You need to move over here. Many homes even have rooms dedicated to mud in close proximity to their laundry shrines.
Sod that, I've heard that several of you have entire rooms dedicated to rumpus!
We buy that in bulk.
Plus we get to have a special room for 'bonus'. I assume it's some sort of board game?
And the den, don't forget about the den. Because we all have wolves here.
Yea, it's 102 square feet of pure bliss.
[/sarcasm]
It's like the Mercedes S-class.. The new car makes the previous one look good. I didn't like the 360 but when the 430 was released the 360 started to look a lot better. Then when the 458 was released the 430 suddenly looked ok.The 355 is still my favourite modern Ferrari, though.
Also this
[youtube 0fIF6Nh7gCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fIF6Nh7gCo youtube]
I'm not a Ferrari man, but I will say the F40 is probably the best-looking supercar Ferrari ever made.
I am going to put it out there that the 612 was the last good looking Ferrari.
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/Ferrari_zps7e8d4871.jpg" width=500>
While the 612 is definitely stunning, I think the 599 has it's moments and it did outlast it a bit.
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJwqrtQkURY/Ts4nMN_AzWI/AAAAAAAAAeA/zEvsxo3mros/s1600/2011-Ferrari-599-GTO-Images.jpg" width=500>
Yeah, the 612 is much-maligned, and often the press photos were showing all the wrong angles. In the flesh, though, it is a quite magnificent accomplishment. And has much more presence than the prettiest of all Modern Ferraris, the 456GT.
Ferrari lines showed up on everything. I don't think I'll see LaFerrari designs on anything.
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/PhotosGuy/Temporary%20Cars%2007/75-Chevy-Monza-475-Chili-_0037.jpg?t=1194050719" width="400">
<img src="http://gomotors.net/pics/Ferrari/ferrari-365-gtb4-daytona-pininfarina-01.jpg" width="400">
<img src="http://www.fantasyjunction.com/img/cars/large/65175.jpg" width="400">
<img src="http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/80184.jpg" width="400">
Anyone else curious why the Rover's door fell off?
I'm wondering why the other three are still on.
Very fast shutter speed.
Top Gear
Ah. Must have missed that one.
http://youtu.be/bf7q8lWEd-o
The 458 Italia is sexypants and I won't hear a word against it.
I mean, the rest aren't quite as good, for instance the California looks like it has stumbled upon some particularly upsetting pornography. Plus the overuse of 458 headlights could potentially make one tired of them, since nothing else they make looks as good as the 458.
But the 458 is absolutely gorgeous.
<img src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2009/09/ferrari_458_02.jpg">
I could look at that all day.
She's pretty, but she needs those huge eyebrows plucked.
It looks like something anyone else in the supercar game could have designed though. In person it's more of a "Oh, look, a Ferrari… neat" moment than an OHMYGOD pass out and drool kind of thing.
I don' t know… it looks like accountants were involved. No Ferrari should ever look like an accountant had any input on it.
I'd argue that it only looks like accountants were involved because its younger sisters keep using its parts in less successful ways. When it was introduced it was exciting and a breath of fresh air, and definitely the best looking Ferrari since the F355. It's a gorgeous and perfect whole, while everything else in the lineup looks like a compromise.
If someone said "Hey, pj134, do you want to drive my 458 or my R8 to this fancy shindig we're going to?" I'd have to say "Hmmmm". That's an issue, because I don't particularly like the R8 and Ferrari should never have a product out that would make me question if I'd rather drive it's lesser over it. If they asked the same question but replaced the R8 with an F430, I'd take the F430.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 550 was the last good looking Ferrari in my opinion. Also, I've always managed to forgive the 360 a little bit, so I think it's alright looking.
<img src="http://www.datanet.rs/automobili/najskuplji/images/c431829a.jpg">
From the door back, I see a Pontiac Sunfire.
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAMqx2eAC9E/UDUT4lF48FI/AAAAAAAAAu4/o41RB51RSb4/s1600/1988_ferrari_testarossa-pic-36301.jpeg">
Shark, meet Mr. Fonzarelli.
I seriously love this car, but that's pretty much the point where Ferarris went from classic sculpture to wacked-out cartoons.
Two of the earliest posters on my wall: a Testarossa and a Countach. Despite the negatives you hear about them sometimes, I would take either one in a heartbeat. I'll never own one, because, well, I couldn't convince myself to spend more on a car than on my house, but I still love the styling 20 years later.
When I was living in West County (St. Louis 'burbs) around 1990 or so, there was a guy who DD'd a Testy, and I used to see him in traffic on Manchester Road regularly on my morning commute. I'll tell ya, in a sea of Cavaliers and Cressidas, that rear was something to behold.
A sea of Cressidas? I want to go there.
I hate Manchester. That road is just plain awful. I feel for you having had to commute on it. Fortunately I don't have to be on it much.
I rarely see anything interesting around here. Maybe because I'm in South County, we're not as rich as West County. I did see an R8 a month ago, first time I'd seen one in person.
There's a sign shop in a gray building just west of Barrett Station Rd. Back then it was West County Kawasaki, where I worked.
http://rustyspokes.smugmug.com/History/West-Count…
By far my favorite Ferrari body is the 308/328/288GTO style. It's imprinted in my psyche as the standard by which all beautiful cars are judged.
What follows is based on looks alone, and in no way takes performance into consideration:
If the 308 is a 10 on my beautiful car scale, the 250 GTO is a 9.25.
The F40 and Mondial are each a solid 8.5.
Testarossa's a 7 (though its engine is a 14 on a one-to-ten scale).
The 458? 6.
The 430 is a 5 and I don't know why.
The California is a 4, along with the FF.
The 599, the Enzo and the frickin' LaFerrari. . . I hate them from an aesthetic standpoint. 3.5-4.
Blah.
Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.
I kind of love the 599… don't really know why.
I find certain pictures of it amusing.
<img src="http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/thieves-use-oversized-forklift-to-steal-ben-alis-ferrari-599-gtb_100337678_m.jpg" width=400>
First of all, I think it helps beauty to step outside the obvious color choices:
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/F430Scuderia_zps07c04eee.jpg" width="500">
Second, the Enzo is a milder analogue of not understanding what all the fuss about girls is about, and one day just seeing it:
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/FerrariEnzoB.jpg" width="500">
First pic: "Whoa Nelly, that's some giant nostrils. Any nose hair up there?"
Second pic: I'm clearly gay, because that looks more like a kit car than a professionally built vehicle. I know what they were going for (mix of road car and modern-day Formula 1), but they didn't get there.
Ferrari has always been about racing and performance. Ferrari built the motor and drivetrain and It's just happenstance that Pinninnfarinna made the vessel carrying the performace attractive. With the advent of wind tunnel designing, the form is all about function and Pinninnfarinna has been hand-cuffed by this.
Buy a Ferrari if you want performance. Buy an Aston if you want beauty.
no ferrari has ever looked or sounded better than the F355, and that's a fact
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i020077.jpg">
I've always had a thing for the underdogs.
456GT, especially the later versions with the round driving lights, were spectactular, with some of the best rear lights ever on a car.
612 Scaglietti, with that looooong bonnet and the headlamps right on the edge of the castelations thereof; stunning.
308GT4, with Bertones' paper-dart treatment in place of the flowing, organic Pininfarina forms, was fresh and pert.
365/400/412, some of that Bertone sharpness, some of the Pininfarina curvature, with the scale and proportion of a Jag. Fantastic.
I'd kill for any of them.
Testarossa, though, wins the ultimate prize for looking better in the flesh than in two dimensions.
The Ferrari Daytona- Just for the way the roofline flows back tp blend the rear fenders and trunk area into one cohesive design. Only Jessica Biel has a better rear perspective.
As with women, it's about the curves. Any good Italian knows this.
I think recently they've done a better job of it, than in some years past.
I come down on the side of the classic Ferraris – the 250 Lusso being the epitome of Ferrari design, in my opinion. I would point out, Bob that since this car was first produced in 1962, the design is actually 60 years old (61, if you're splitting hairs), and not 40, as you state. Even more impressive. I wonder how "La Ferrari" or an Enzo will fare 60 years from now? My wager is, not so good.