Category: Drive Time
Si, Ragazzi!
Finally, a bit of good news:
Fiat has confirmed it has stopped producing cars in one particular colour – not due to a lack of demand from customers but because it doesn’t represent the brand’s ‘New Dolce Vita’ values, the Italian firm said.
And that offensive color?
As of today, the company will no longer sell grey cars.
Oh, be still my beating heart. And why not grey?
Fiat said the decision has been made to ‘enhance the importance of colours in life, embodying the Italian way of living’.
Let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone associates the color grey with Italy or Italians.
If grey can be associated with any nation, it has to be Britishland, mostly because of their gloomy weather but also because of their instinct for self-effacement and distaste for anything that reeks of “flashy”.
And right on cue:
But the move could significantly backfire when it comes to demand for new Fiats in Britain, with grey being the nation’s most popular car colour for half a decade.
Ugh. Enough of the gloomy greys, say I, and let’s get back to some… Italian colors.
Yeah, that’s more like it.
Daily Reminder
Daily Reminder
Inspired by this meme:
…I asked the question: “Never mind 50 years ago. How about 60 years ago?”
So here’s the first of such considerations:
Monday – Friday for the next two weeks…
Bygone Broads 8
Some have you may have been wondering what kind of posters I had hanging in my dorm room back at Hogwarts St. John’s College. Wonder no more (right-click to embiggen) — behold the Austin Healey Mk III from the late 1960s:
And for the Healey’s companion on the wall over my bed, the exquisite Claudia Cardinale:
I still feel stirrings, all these years later, on both accounts. A fitting end, I think, to this series.
Phoniness & Fakery
I almost, but not quite had a Red Cloud Of Blood (RCOB) moment when I saw this little piece of snot:
The biggest automaker in the world is reportedly working on an electric vehicle prototype that mimics the feel of driving a manual transmission, complete with a gear shift that’s not connected to anything and a floor-mounted speaker to pipe in fake engine noises. The car will even pretend to stall out if you fumble the controls — in order to deliver drivers the complete experience of driving a manual car.
…in other words, turning their already-shit cars into the automotive equivalent of a RealDoll.
Here’s my thought on the matter: what with the Kardashians, CNN and Gavin Newsom (to name but some examples), I think we’ve got all the fake shit we need around here.
The thing that stopped me from a full-blown RCOB and made this just a Tut-Tut Moment was the recollection that I’m never going to own or even drive an electric car, ever. It would be like Macy’s announcing that they’re going to be selling onion-flavored toffee — nauseating, yes; but I never shop at Macy’s, I’m not in the toffee market, and am therefore unaffected.
And as for a “gear shift that’s not connected to anything”, I can think of no better description of Joe Biden.