Project Petrolhead

“Art for the sake of art”

Art people can be fairly snobby. Obviously, this is a crass generalisation, but it’s one that I will stand by, in the same way that some arty people will claim that cars are not and can never be art. I wholeheartedly disagree and posit that cars are just one among many mediums of art. Please allow me to explain.

The purpose of art is to convey emotion through a given medium, be that music, painting, sculpture, etcetera. The medium itself does not have to be complex in order for emotion to be adequately relayed.

Beans on toast is not considered a particularly difficult meal to prepare (I like to zhuzh mine up with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and some mature cheddar, Yum!) but a 7ft tall edible sculpture comprised entirely of cake and chocolate, is. They require completely different levels of skill, design and effort, but the medium is the same and comparing the two is like comparing my 8-month-old nephew’s finger painting to Constable’s Hay Wain.

Cars, I feel, can be very similar. Not made better with cheese, but existing on a broad spectrum of design. A SsangYong Tivoli is an utterly hateful little rot box and was designed with all the visual flair of a used tea bag left on a kitchen counter, but it exists within the same industry as cars designed with passion, expression and a deep love for the medium. Cars like the Aston Martin DB9, Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Ferrari 458 Italia.

These cars are designed to elicit a response from anyone who claps eyes on them. Take for instance one of the most famous examples, When designing the replacement for the Lamborghini Miura in the early 1970s, Marcello Gandini worked with a man from the Piedmont region of Italy. When the man saw the designs for the car, he uttered the word “Contacc!”, a Piedmontese expression of astonishment (like “Wow”, “My Goodness” or “Flipping Heck!”). From then on, the car earned the name Countach, and the rest is history.

Apologies for going all BBC Four on you, but now that we have established that cars are indeed art, we can devolve into a childish game of Top Trumps and decide what the best-looking car of all time is. For me, it has to be a coupe. Not that there aren’t some fantastic looking saloons and hatchbacks out there (Mercedes 500E, Lancia Delta Integrale and the E38 BMW 7-Series spring to mind) but for sheer Wow-factor, we need something a bit more exotic. A long bonnet and a stumpy bum are classic staples of the GT car look (think Aston Vanquish, Mercedes SLS and, yes, Jaguar XK) but the truly exotic cars out there all follow the same basic design. Ferrari 288 GTO, Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Countach, yes of course, it has to be a wedge.

From here on in, there is a generational aspect at play. Somebody who remembers Ceefax would probably volunteer the Ford GT40 or Lamborghini Miura, whereas somebody who prefers TikTok would probably gravitate toward the McLaren P1 or Ferrari 296 GTB. Both are laudable choices, but for me, there can only be one winner.

Tapered at the front, with long swooping curves stretching back beyond the horizon. A side profile that makes it look like it’s doing 200mph standing completely still. A rear that gives just the briefest glimpse of the engineering gizzards lurking within. Aerodynamics that are designed for form as much as function. Road presence that almost makes onlookers turn their heads with the ferocity to snap their necks. I give you, the Jaguar XJ220.