Much of northern Europe today experienced a solar eclipse, which got us thinking of astronomical vehicles. Don’t ask us why – it’s just the way our brains work. Read on for CAR magazine’s guide to the best cars for eclipse watching.
1) The Peugeot 401 Eclipse
Not only is this elegant 1930s Peugeot named after a solar activity, it also sported an early version of the 308 Coupe-Convertible’s folding metal roof. All the better for watching the astronomical effects overhead – and a reminder how wrong Peugeot got the style with its more recent cabrio efforts…
2) Nissan’s glow-in-the-dark Leaf
We can confirm that Peterborough went briefly shadowy for a few minutes – but it was hardly a black-out. Just in case, we had a glow-in-the-dark Nissan Leaf on standby. It seemed a bright idea at the time.
3) Mitsubishi Eclipse
Mitsubishi sold four generations of the Eclipse sports car in the US, China and the Middle East, until its light was extinguished forever in 2011. Snuff…
4) Anything driven by petrolhead and Pink Floyd member Nick Mason
Dark Side of the Moon and that…
5) Ford C-Max Solar Energi
Ford shone at the 2014 CES show in Las Vegas when the Blue Oval’s solar light show explained how a clever solar-panel-equipped C-Max could go totally off-grid. They’ve done vinyl roofs, but Dagenham Motors can’t yet offer solar ones.
6) Atomik 500 Lunar 2
Barmy 2010 concept took a Fiat 500 and gave it the look of a lunar buggy. That alone surely sunk its prospects – the fact that it cost £105,000 merely torpedoed them altogether. Out of this world!
7) Nissan Sunny
All its rivals at the time eclipsed the Nissan Sunny. Things got even gloomier when it transformed into the Almera, although we saw a glimmer of hope when it became the Qashqai.
8) VW Amarok Dark Label
If a regular Amarok pick-up on your driveway doesn’t obscure the light into your house, this Dark Label special edition and its midnight black accents should. NB – not to be confused with Black Label whiskies.
9) Ford Fiesta Black
A current special edition Fiesta takes the obscure dark colour theme to a new extreme. Judging by this photograph, it matches the 98% eclipse rate experienced in Scotland today – with just a few rays of solar red peeking through.
10) Nasa lunar rover
Well, if you’re talking astronomical eclipses, you may as well be fully prepared for anything…