Re: Double-takes and lookalikes

CAUTION: this post might blow your mind.

Like many here, I have not had an easy relationship with the DS5. Are those chrome plated hockey sticks reaching down  towards the headlights from the A-pillars? Yeah, you've had those thoughts too. What was CItroen thinking?

I was looking at a picture of the back of the DS 19, quite innocently I might add. It's very familiar. But then I started to not just look at the whole, and began to look more closely at some of the details. Hmmm. What's that? It looks like a chrome strip running off the bottom of the C-pillar, heading towards the tail lights - but... errr ...... it stops somewhere near the bottom of the rear window. Hmmm...... looks a little odd! Then there is the indicator light in that funny flute shaped chrome strip that runs along the top of the windows, and stops on top of the C-pillar........ That rear bumper looks kind of gothic now that I take another look. Did they have to make the bumper enclose the tail lights? Looks a bit garrish. I still like the overall shape of the car, but now I take another look, the cut lines on that rear door make the rear door very rectangular. That's just not in keeping with the horizontal flow of the body side. I like the way the car tapers down toward the tail. But..... may'be it looks a bit droopy? Kind of weak? Stop! What am I thinking? This is a design great! I know that because experts and famous designers alike have named the DS their all time favourite. Of course, they MUST be right...... right? Yes........

It's 1955 and you are the first person in the world to see the DS. Nothing has been written about the car. It's just you and the DS. You know what cars have looked like before. You know the Traction Avant, the 55 Chevy, the Beetle and the Morris Minor and many more. The question is: would you like the DS? Do you like the detailing?

Re: Double-takes and lookalikes

Thanks -Joe- for your reply. My attitude to life is increasingly: No icons, no heroes, no perfection. All products have good and bad elements, real people are always a combination of good and bad, and today's perfection is tomorrow's starting point. Car design is subjective - our opinions say more about us than they say about the things we have opinions about. It has taken me a few months to figure it out, but I think that is what Gandini was getting at in his recent CAR interview. He's focusing on the future. He knows that the Countach was just a job he worked on.  It's enthusiasts and the media that have tunred it into a legend. He is wise to keep his feet on the ground. Likewise, the Citroen DS is a goddess, but it isn't God - it's not perfect.

I have a Hotwheels Avant Garde on display next to a Matchbox Citroen DS. I have to say I prefer the modern interpretation better than the original - bling wheels and all. Not sure if the Avant Garde would work full size in the real world, but I think it's a great piece of Hotwheels design.

Re: Double-takes and lookalikes

 To me "the ideal" has never been about perfection. I appreciate any attempt to strive for perfection, but everything I consider an ideal features its fair share of flaws. I do believe in an absolute value inherent in a few precious things, be they works of art or mere commodities. But I accept that this value is highly subjective and therefore only applies to my own worldview. 

The man whose name I've (ab)used in this forum for so long has been meticulously aiming for flawlessness, but even he, no matter how many takes it took him, no matter how far he pushed himself and others, couldn't avoid being ultimately at the mercy of circumstances. And yet he clearly didn't fail.

I harbour an awful lot of respect for Bertoni's DS, too, but I'd never call it perfect. Groundbreaking, otherworldly - yes. But like man and everything man touches, it's also full of inconsistencies. That doesn't make it less of an achievement in my book. 

Re: Double-takes and lookalikes

 Indeed I never thought about the matching front. With the DS5 I guess people will/ may come to like it in a similar sense to the Bangle era BMW's. Me and a friend were folling a DS5 the other week and we both did like it from the rear. I guess it is rather quirky and 'nice' but then you see other angles and think it's over done. 

I too like the AMI, especially the one James May used; complete with it's period 'dress.' They are a way of showing that not every car needs to look like it's going 200mph and that honest design( as Dieter would say) is much better in quite a lot of cases. Below = Lovely

Re: Double-takes and lookalikes

Here I am, enriched by a trip to Switzerland and some inspiring car sightings. You scoff, but to a chap bred in the Middle East, spotting a Citroen DS myself, two Porsche 2.7 RSes, a Macca MP4, an Austin-Healey roadster and a rallying Alpine (the last in my own guest-house garage!) is no  small feat.

I'm afraid I'm taking this discussion off on a tangent. On the trip I noticed that design heirarchy in a brand doesn't skimp on sharing parts. Indeed, some vehicles have perfectly identical lamp and grille units, differing only in size and relative execution.

Here's the Ferrari 458, FF and Lancia Stratos Concept.