Europe and Cars

I've never been the big car nut that knows all about the mechanical and electrical systems, and I couldn't tell you the year of the car simply by looking at it, but I do enjoy seeing them for both their beauty and engineering. While over here, I have had the chance to see how Europeans view autos and their related activities and since today is the F1 race at Magny Cours (France) I figure its about time to make a post devouted to vehicles.

In general the average European car is much smaller than in the US as you wouldn't think of piling 5 people into a VW Golf back home where here it isn't even given a second thought. Now I know people are going to say that the gas here is more expensive and that's why they are smaller, which it is, but the main reason the cars are so much smaller on the whole is the road size, limit of space in general for a 2 ton behemoth, as well as the excellent public transportation, cars simply aren't needed as often and they have no need for them to be big.

When Jamie and I were in Paris, one of the things they don't mention in many of the travel books is that the Champs-Elysees has many car manufacturer stores that show off their racing machines as well as concept cars (past and present). I don't mean the type of car racing that evolved from the prohibition era, turning suped up stock cars into the beer swilling monotony that has become NASCAR, but racing on roads or tracks that actually challenge the driver, by making them turn left AND right, and engineering skill such as F1 or 24 hour races.

These are from the Renault show room:




And here is Peugot's current and former racing machines:




At Toyota they didn't have any of their racing cars, but did have a full blown concept car studio complete with car sketches in a simulated design studio as well as clay models and full size productions.








This past weekend I had a chance to check out a classic car show near by. It was a bit odd as I'm used to seeing this sort of thing in a parking lot somewhere and not on the grounds of an 1800's estate. Brodsworth Hall hosted the car show in one of its gardens, which luckily for me was part of the English Heritage group (meant I got in free). It was mostly full of MGs, Triumphs, some Aston Martins, a couple of Porsches and the odd Rolls or Bentley. They did have one Mustang from the 70's, but as it had a giant confederate flag in the back window I decided to pass on taking its photo (who said hicks were confined to the US?).






And last but not least, my personal favorite. I always liked the style of cars that took their design from a boating metaphor.



This last image is for Jamie's uncle Chuck who is a big Triumph motorcycle nut. This is one of about 20 vintage motorcycles that were on hand, with the vast majority being Triumphs.