A few great cars on Bring a Trailer ...
Several months ago, Cookie the Dog's Owner put up a post highlighting other great sites in the blogosphere that Car Lust readers might enjoy. One of the sites mentioned in the comments is Bring a Trailer, which highlights the wild, weird and fantastic in the used-car world. It's basically a daily, higher-budget version of our infrequent used-car challenges.
For those of you who don't receive the BaT daily e-mails, I wanted to share one of yesterday's featured listings--a Group A Ford Sierra Cosworth rally car, formerly driven by rally great Carlos Sainz. If the Sierra's basic shape looks familiar, it's because it was the car exported to the United States as the Merkur XR4Ti. The difference is that while the Merkur came with the goofy but highly endearing biplane spoiler, the fire-breathing Cosworth version never made it across the pond--a real shame, since it was a hot car for its time.
So, just to reiterate--this is a Sierra Cosworth in Ford works livery, and with real competition history, formerly driven by one of the great rally drivers of all time (and who only days earlier won the Dakar Rally). I'm gobsmacked.
It still hasn't dethroned my all-time favorite BaT car, though. The car holding that title is this absolutely gorgeous 1968 Citroen DS21 Pallas. Oh ... my goodness.
--Chris H.
Anthony Cagle on January 21, 2010 at 01:05 PM
JAYsus, that Citroen is at the top of my list of Butt-Ugliest Cars Ever Made.
CJinSD on January 21, 2010 at 01:41 PM
Anthony Cagle,
I've never seen a Citroen ID, DS, SM, or CX that wasn't at least cosmetically a clunker. Even when I was in europe and they were still available brand new, they always have visible body damage, evidence of corrosion, and interior panels in some state of delamination or finish peeling. There is something about their architecture and construction that makes them fundamentally ill suited to our world.
Chris Hafner on January 21, 2010 at 01:43 PM
CJinSD: "There is something about their architecture and construction that makes them fundamentally ill suited to our world."
I love the Citroen, but I think this is a great line. There's definitely something about most Citroens that makes me think they were designed for a planet completely unlike ours.
Anthony Cagle on January 21, 2010 at 01:52 PM
Ah yes, the planet with people who's heads are shaped like Flying V guitars.
Chris Hafner on January 21, 2010 at 01:58 PM
Sounds like a pretty fun place, actually.
Anthony, I'm guessing you're thinking of this guy:
http://www.tradingmusician.com/
Mochi Mochi on January 21, 2010 at 01:59 PM
My god that DS is beautiful !
a little history on the DS...
"[French President Chares] De Gaulle was targeted by a settlers' resistance group, Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS), and several assassination attempts were made on him; the most famous is that of 22 August 1962, when he and his wife narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when their Citroën DS was targeted by machine gun fire arranged by Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry at the Petit-Clamart."
The DS was riddled with machine-gun fire but was able to flee the scene of the attack and carry De Gaulle and his wife to safety. De Gaulle ever after that selected the DS as his personal car. With something like a hundred rounds fired into the car and at least one tire hit, I would keep a DS around for those days when everyone is taking shots at you.
Anthony Cagle on January 21, 2010 at 02:06 PM
Maybe they weren't shooting at De Gaulle in the first place. . . .
Chris Mallow on January 21, 2010 at 02:21 PM
That Ford is SWEET! I would definitely drive around in that... very proudly! Talk about getting some attention...
Cookie the Dog's Owner on January 21, 2010 at 02:23 PM
The "Dessie" is nowhere close to the ugliest Citroen ever built. It's weird in a weirdly bizarre out-of-this-world way, but it's got a certain rightnes of line and a certain retro-future vibe going for it.
The Ami 6, on the other hand, . . . (shudders as though someone just walked over his grave).
Mochi Mochi on January 21, 2010 at 02:50 PM
Nice shot Anthony ! that was really smooth ;)
Chris Hafner on January 21, 2010 at 02:52 PM
Anthony: "Maybe they weren't shooting at De Gaulle in the first place. . . ."
Okay, now *that's* funny.
That Car Guy on January 21, 2010 at 02:56 PM
Yes, that was the best comment of the day! Maybe the year (So far)!
...m... on January 21, 2010 at 08:39 PM
...there was an XR4Ti competing at our autocross last weekend - i hadn't seen one of those in decades...
John B on January 22, 2010 at 09:02 AM
When I was a kid in the 60s, there was a nearby family with not one, but two Citroen DSs..a sedan and a wagon. Fairly rare anywhere, especially in suburban Kansas City (albeit on an Air Force base..they probably brought them back from Europe).
I love the European Ford Sierras. When I was living in England in the 80s they were all over the place, coupes, sedans, wagons...great looking cars. I wish I'd had one but I was driving a well-used 1-liter Toyota at the time.
I've always wondered why Ford didn't build them over here instead of some of their other mid-size cars (anyone remember the Tempo?). Later, they built Americanized versions of the Sierra's successor, the Contour, over here but is I read that it wasn't a hit because of the lack of back seat space.
Still, I'd like to see Ford come up with a true "international" car and I guess with the Focus and the new to the U.S. Fiesta, they're finally doing it.
Still, I'd love a Sierra...it would be something different.
Anthony Cagle on January 22, 2010 at 09:31 AM
I recall reading a couple of articles while doing research for a post here on the whole "world car" idea and why it's rarely succeeded. Regulatory environments differ -- you can't just sell the same windshield in Europe and the US, for example -- but also that markets really *are* different. Europeans want different things than north Americans do, than south Americans do, etc. Why so many people default to the idea that European taste is just so so much better is rather beyond me.
John B on January 22, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Anthony...
I'm not defaulting to a "Europe is better" mode, but they have a great track record of producing excellent mid-size sedans.
After all they've been making them for years and it does seem that Detroit only gets on the band wagon when fuel prices spike.
Sure Detroit does some things better (entire segments (large cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans...and some aspects of quality, rust protection and general longevity) but when it comes to mid-size cars...especially fun to drive midsize cars...the big 3 could do worse than importing a few designs.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on January 22, 2010 at 11:09 AM
Chris, you forgot to mention the Lotus:
http://bringatrailer.com/2010/01/19/bat-exclusive-unusual-1980-lotus-eclat/
Anthony Cagle on January 22, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Sorry, John B, I didn't mean that to sound like a criticism of your post. I see what you're saying. . . .OTOH. . . .I think it's still difficult to make judgments across markets. Like you say, some quality metrics can be applied, but it gets tougher after that. We want/need different things from automobiles. I tend to think Americans -- because of culture, distances involved, other transportation infrastructure, the basic design of urban and exurban landscapes, etc., etc. -- tend to see cars more as appliances than Europeans do. They've got higher gas prices, higher taxes, shorter distances, greater urban densities, blah blah blah. Maybe they're more likely to pay the extra dough for somewhat better handling.
Eh, I dunno, just rambling. I became rather fascinated by the whole thing after watching Jeremy from Top Gear just completely fail to get the point of the Ford Lightning (I think) pickup. I kept thinking "Jeremy. . . .it's a *truck*."
John B on January 22, 2010 at 12:48 PM
Anthony
I agree with nyour point. I have English relations and many friends and I'm always amazed at how they (and even some journalists for UK auto magazines who like Clarkson should know better)don't appreciate that the car markets and needs are so different over here.
Chris Hafner on January 22, 2010 at 11:07 PM
Cookie the Dog's Owner: "Chris, you forgot to mention the Lotus"
Absolutely yes. That Lotus Eclat is so, so gorgeous.
http://bringatrailer.com/2010/01/19/bat-exclusive-unusual-1980-lotus-eclat/
Gawd, it's pretty.