Photos by Hemmings staff, including Judi Dell’Anno, J. Daniel Beaudry, Ed Heys and Kurt Ernst.
Editor’s note: As print (and digital) editors with a passion for older vehicles, we tend to look at new cars with a certain ennui. We’ve seen a million waterfall grilles, Hofmeister kinks, faux intakes and drag-reducing aero kits, which is why it’s helpful to bring a few designers to auto shows, to help restore our sense of wonder. As Design Editor, Ed Heys is responsible for print production and art direction of Hemmings magazines, but he also enjoys writing on period advertising, automotive design and automotive marketing (including the Midweek Matinee series he pens for the Hemmings Daily). Below, Ed gives us his take on a few favorites from this year’s New York Auto Show, followed by a gallery of images we thought readers would like.
Best Example of Making a Crossover Look Sexy:
Infiniti’s QX30 concept.
Or, how to entice your beloved partner to deliver the kids to soccer practice on a regular basis, or maybe offer to drop off the dry cleaning, stop at the farmer’s market for fresh vegetables for dinner, or run any number of errands that your BFF was previously “just too exhausted” to perform. Technical specs? We don’t care, as it will never be used much beyond legal speed limits or too far outside one’s typical in-town performance expectations. For its sinuous sculptural qualities alone, this one shines. Especially in its slivery, liquid mercury clearcoat finish. Parked under pinpoint spotlights. On a rotating turntable. We would sell the Nissan Juke for this pup.
Best Example of What to Drive while your Beloved is Running Errands in the QX30:
Aston Martin Vanquish Volante.
Once you punch through a threshold of 500 horsepower, top speeds tickling 200, engine descriptions that include the term V-12 and sub-four-second 0-60 times, specs become purely academic — it quickly becomes the stuff of pipe dreams and cost doesn’t really factor into the equation. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. We didn’t, and most assuredly, we can’t. But with press credentials, you can sit behind the wheel, comment on the instrumentation, stroke the quilted upholstered seats and think happy thoughts.
When a Standard-Issue Maserati just doesn’t Make the Cut:
Maserati Grancabrio MC Centennial Edition.
Sometimes you want the kids along for some quality top-down cruising, so, yes, maybe a four-place convertible would be more practical. Slightly less over-the-top specs than the AMVV above but, with more carbon fiber accents, so again, it’s all good. Plus, a special edition vehicle often commands a higher resale value. Sometimes it’s all about making a practical choice.
We do too like Big American Sedans:
Buick Avenir concept.
Especially when they’re as nicely proportioned as the Avenir. Graphic Designer Judi Dell’Anno appreciates the slightly retro lines of the grille, hood and cabin, particularly as the contoured lines keep the mass of the vehicle tightly coordinated. But the rear of the car? Not so much. Managing Editor J. Daniel Beaudry approves of that muscular flare over the rear wheels. I absolutely love its nod to the boat-tail treatment of the early ’70s Rivieras, which were themselves nods to the past. A little something for everyone, as a proper flagship sedan concept should be.
And an Honorable Mention to Volvo’s Set Designers:
Hemmings Graphic Designer Judi Dell’Anno, on the rocks in the Volvo booth.
After several hours on the show floor, we parked ourselves for a few minutes on these marvelously comfortable boulders nestled on sand-colored carpet. They looked remarkably like granite stones, tumbled and worn to egg-ish shapes by frigid Baltic Sea waves and tossed onto a sand-and-rock-strewn Swedish shoreline. We shared a bagel, sipped a latte and contemplated the XC 90 redesign as it might someday be applied to something quite a bit smaller – with fewer than four doors, maybe. Or, say, a retractable hard top. A model name, just maybe, beginning with a C?
It was a day for dreaming.
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