Ep. 15 Riding High: The History of the Neoclassic Car
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- A classic car connaisseur brings you another vulgar story: the neoclassic car, tech of today, design of yesterday!
I see that I've mixed up the terms 'classic' and 'classical' more than once. My apologies! I blame my crippling coke addiction...
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Enjoy!
This channel is criminally underrated.
It’s about to blow most likely
tru
no I hate it when channels get big, then it'd be full of sponsored trash, more comments than you can ever read, drawn out commercial videos it would be awful....I'm glad this channel is still small and intimate you can see all comments with him replying easily, also the videos have quality and effort exactly BECAUSE he doesn't get 100k views guaranteed from randys in a massive sub fanbase. god bless small channels and I hope they stay small :(
@@ccllvn I would say the limit is like 100k subs anything above that usually get very corporate.
100% I just found this channel and the first episode I watch had me 🤣🤣. Insta sub!
I'd love too see a video on why modern car designs are moving towards massive, gaudy grilles.
For example: what has happened to BMWs :cry:
Once the pinnacle of sporty driving and looking sedans, but nowadays a car impersonating a fucking rat..
Just look at those grills(BMW calls them kidneys)
I blame Audi. In the latter half of the 90's grills had become tiny (Acura Legend) or gone altogether (pre-facelift Infinity Q45, Oldsmobile Aurora). Then Audi decided to buck the small grill trend by putting big grills on cars again. I thought the big grill Audis looked terrible (although they look modest and tasteful compared to what we're getting now), but they stuck out and the other manufacturers soon imitated them.
It's interesting to see that we're headed back to the grill-less look with the electric cars.
oh, oh, I know this one! at least part of the reason is, since the chinese market is so large due to population, it has a very large influence on car design. And it happens so that the chinese love to show off their newly acquired wealth with large idiotic logos and disgustingly unproportionate grills.
@@zalanfarago9805 that’s true but the majority of chinese people are poor and can’t afford cars or buy one of the many chinese knock off car brands which are just copy and pasted designs from other brands.
@Yule Calma I’m very sorry man!
But how have I ruined your childhood?😂
It's not Steve Brooks, it is Brooks Stevens. Legendary designer for Studebaker as well. He was also an industrial designer of furniture, appliances, motorcycles, and more. Fascinating guy.
Wow is that really you Matt Farah's million mile Lexus
Yes, there's a small museum devoted to Mr Stevens in Milwaukee.
Thanks for the correction! I almost gagged when I heard "Steven Brooks!"
Yeah.. that was a rough one.. its Brooks Stevens… unfortunately there are probably many who watch this not knowing the inaccuracy and take “Steve Brooks” to be the truth and will pass it along as such.
One of my frat bros built the fenders for the Excalibur in Milwaukee in the early 70s.
I wouldn’t call Morgan neoclassical since they never really became new, they just began making classical cars and never stopped
Morgan just never stop making them.... thats not the same
It’s not neoclassical, it’s just classical
They first built it in the late 60s with a 30s look - so it’s not a classical
@@andreistoica2994 Morgan make cars since 1909.
Beat me to it! The current Morgan, if based on the +8, can trace it's lineage back to the late 40's when Morgan made it's first 4-wheeler, the +4. Making the same style of car continuously for over 70 years does not make it "retro" but rather "awesome."
Definitely classical. Morgan still uses wood supports in the metal bodywork, like it's 1921.
A friend of mine had a 1986 Excalibur SS, 2 door with rumble seat, it was actually a decent looking car.
I'm not sure but I think the excaliburs are actually still made it's built on a per request.
Your channel and RCR sure are TH-cams good side of car content creators!
To be named with RCR in one and the same sentence is an honor!
O so positively!
Ed is far far funnier than RCR.
8:20 To be fair Morgan has made that car practically unchanged (except the engines) since 1936 although in 1950 the vertical grille was changed to the one it has now.
Ed, I'm studying in the Netherlands so let's do coke together and talk about the 1972 Lincoln Continental
Sounds fun bud! You can email me if you like! edsautoreviews@gmail.com
I'll come if we can skip the Lincoln and just do loads of coke.
@@wadeguidry6675 where do you think all the coke is stored ?
@@wadeguidry6675 hey there buddy you don't get to do coke without the Lincoln.
@@Ice_Soup_3k do rolled up Ben Franklin's count?
I saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile a few months ago parked in front of Hotel Indigo in Baltimore, Maryland.
Pretty groovy.
Bro there is no way you only get this many views, please keep up this amazing work. The quality and the edits are that of a multimillion subscriber channel. I can’t wait to see when your channel get big.
Thank you very much!
no I hate it when channels get big, then it'd be full of sponsored trash, more comments than you can ever read, drawn out commercial videos it would be awful....I'm glad this channel is still small and intimate you can see all comments with him replying easily, also the videos have quality and effort exactly BECAUSE he doesn't get 100k views guaranteed from randys in a massive sub fanbase. god bless small channels and I hope they stay small :(
The Mitsuoka Buddy looks alright from the front. If they chose something with a more vertical rear to put that grille on, it might actually look good.
One those neoclassical Zimmers used to park on my street about 20 years ago. As a kid I thought it was a car from the 30's, though I could tell something wasn't right.
Maybe it’s because I love the Panther Devil and wish I was 80s rich but I unironically love these cars and wish they were still around
From the land of DAFs & Donkervoorts, a great channel you have here, Ed!
We Americans of Netherland ancestry are fond of saying "If u ain't Dutch, you ain't much", which is why we continually offend most decent folks.
...Always assumed these gaudy NeoClassics were aimed at guys who survived the Depression, fought WW2, and always admired the Duesenbergs from their youth. Once they'd retire to Florida, they'd buy a gauche white Clenet to match their golf shoes and belt.
There were a ton of citroen 2CV based neoclassical Kitcars. Speaking of citroen, there is a company that fits Classic looking pannels to modern Vans.
Actually, there was one company in the Exner revivals that gained traction - Stutz. There were multiple different models that pretty much followed Exner's design language, and the company sold about 617 cars between 1971 and 1995. There were a couple of Stutz Blackhawk revival cars featured in the original Gone in 60 Seconds from 1974.
I talked about Stutz in my Pimpmobile video, go check it out for more details!
I was wondering where this was. My father was good friends with Stutz's co-founder Jim O'Donnell - nice guy, by the way - and he would always drive his Blackhawk when visiting. Got to ride in it quite often, which was very cool for a kid, and I remember one jaunt we went down the road to a large but deserted intersection (we were quite a bit out in the country) and Mr. O'Donnell put my bike ramp he had had me bring along (I didn't know why) out and just started doing donuts faster and faster around the intersection and then hit the ramp and we made it twice more around the intersection on two wheels - very fun! (of course it was the 1970s and while I'm pretty darn sure cocaine wasn't involved I do know for a fact that alcohol was.)
The founder of Excalibur was named Brook Stevens, and he designed a lot more than just the Oscar-Meyer Weinermobile. He also designed the late-50s Gaylord Gladiator of King Farouk II fame, the Willys Jeepster, the Miller brewing logo, and the Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk among other things. I own a GT Hawk myself, and it's an absolutely lovely thing. A real underdog in American car history. Great video otherwise!
Thanks! For comedic purposes, I only mentioned the Weinermobile, but Brook Stevens sure is a great designer nonetheless. Plus, I'm planning to do an actual car review of a Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk in the coming months!
@@EdsAutoReviews Nice one! Again, just constructive criticism on my part and like I said before it was a great video. Since you're giving a review of the GT Hawk in the future, I could send you some footage of my own GT Hawk as well as a few factory documents I have. Sales brochures, TV commercials, things of that nature.
I LOVED seeing an Excalibur driving by as an Eighties child. 🇺🇸
The Wiener mobile. I laughed right along with you Ed. I believe this may be my all time favorite TH-cam channel. Thanks. An Excalibur did come up for sale locally. I wanted it pretty bad but had no place to park it. Four full size is my limit. Instead, it sat there and went to hell very quickly. It showed the cheap fiberglass it was made out of, no doubt. It lost it's finish almost immediately. The dealer started driving it and took it with him when he left. It was all Ford based however, not a mix and match. There was another company based in Minnesota who did better 57 Thunderbird's than Ford could ever do. They were all Ford based as well and were excellent cars.
A Zimmer Golden Spirit, much like the one pictured has been one of my top 3 dream cars for about a decade, along with a Grenlin X & a 69 Dodge Charger R/T
When my stepmom was a kid her mom's boyfriend had one of these weird roadster things. It had a weird musical horn apperantly
If you mention Zimmer here in the UK, the thing that immediately comes to mind for us is those walking frames for the elderly 😉
Has anyone told you you look like Leonardo Dicaprio?
From this angle, yes. I should update my face in future video's. Someone also commented that I have a voice like Christopher Walken....
@@EdsAutoReviews - Sounds like Polish accent... do you call polka dances?
@@EdsAutoReviews Dont update it, that poorly cut photo has become somewhat of a theme. Same as the refreshments, sad that you axed it
He looks just like Leo, only without the money...
The 35-36 Cord boattails done by Glenn Pray's ACD company are about the only cars of the neo classic genre to actually appreciate in value. And they're worth every penny if you can't afford 5-600k for the genuine article.
I am surprised you didn't mention the Plymouth Prowler. I see it as the last gasp of this design look.
the PT Cruiser as well, those were quite popular in Denmark back then, probably because they're the epitome of "weird American stuff" to people in the EU
Comment for the algorithm because this channel needs to grow. It's great
I love the Mitsuoka Viewt - still in production - go on - take a look 😎
There was a neoclassical type car, similar to a Zimmer round where I lived. It sat out side on the road for sale for a year or two, before the guy who owned it realized that no one had the money to buy it, let alone kept the thing on the road.
I dont real consider Morgan as a neo classical car builder id call them more of a novelty car brand being as they been doing it the way on the same mechsens since the 1950s
And they are sports cars, not luxury cars
@@jimjamauto they do make several models
The way you say ‘situation’ is awesome.
Thanks for putting this together man.
7:54 What in all that is unholy and holy is that? It looks like one of those frankenstein cars you find on Reddit that just makes your brain hurt the more you look at it.
The Stutz Blackhawk was one of the few high quality neo-classic cars produced back in the day.
A Wiesmann would be a nice addition to the video. Interesting design with BMW "M" Technology.
Anyway, well made videos. Keep it up!
Ed your content deserves a lot more subscribers and views. Really top! You know how to make a good show...Derek
4:09 the Wienermobile is amazing! I used to drive trucks in the US and saw one once driving down the interstate. I just yelled and pointed (I was alone in the vehicle) it's like seeing a unicorn on American highways. Just more wiener-y. There was a fleet of them even double decker ones if I remember right. Such a stupid idea that it comes around to being brilliant.
The Panther DeVille is gorgeous! The few lucky people who own them, treasure them, and you are very unlikely to see one for sale. I saw one once in a showroom outside Slough, but I couldn't stop at the time. Never seen one since, but I would buy one in a heartbeat.
Fantastic. And historically important. When they were new and I was a boy, they looked bad. They have only grown more hideous with age. Answering the unasked question. Why? Exner is involved with many hideousities. Brilliant man! Look forward to more of your work.
Bonus feature, there is a kit car in this style that when you spot the passenger area is a classic mini sitting between an actual trunk and a long nose, you can never unsee it!
The Beauford. A ladder chassis with bits of a Mini plonked on, and powered by Ford Sierra bits, much touted as the 'classic car' for wedding hires. The mind boggles...
@@creepingjesus5106 Yes, once seen, can't unsee!
There is the Trans Am.
While not making cars from the first half of the century, they make modernized Pontiac Trans Am.
📻🙂
I legit seen one of these cars the other day at a car show in Australia what a unique car
Absolutely amazing video! Now I better understand where the Tim Burton Batmobile took its inspiration.
Haha! This is so on point as I'm watching the A-team episode where Faceman drives around the Excalibur! Oh, the 80s.
One might argue that the "new" beetle & mini coopers are neoclassic cars... also that fiat thing and the Nissan Figaro.
Strongly assume you are Dutch.
Super cool humor and education.
Do the our American friends get it?
Could be main stream TV show
For a few months in 2005 I lived in an apartment in south Florida while we looked for a house. The condo building we moved into had a parking garage where I kept my 928. One of the other cars there was under a cover. Eventually I pulled into the garage and my eyes were partially damaged by the sight of a "Zimmer Golden Spirit" with the cover off. I honestly puked a little into my mouth! In any case, my vision returned after viewing the engine of my 928 and I shielded my eyes from the HIDEOUS contraption parked on the end of the garage. I thought about suing the owner due to the damage to my corneas....
One day I got into the elevator with another guy. He saw that I pushed the "G" button for the garage. He was holding a clipboard and asked me if I knew where the "Zimmer" was parked. I gave him directions to the egregious assault on aesthetic taste. And I recommended that he wear a welding helmet if he wanted to look at this "car" and then be able to eat the following week-
I remember in the 80s they had one called the Pegasus. It was a body kit that you could put on a Trans Am to make it look like a Ferrari Daytona.
This is first video in this series that you mention DOUSIES ( Duesenberg ) . That's were the expression " WHAT A DOUSY !" or " She's a Dousy " or other twists of it come from. Learned that from Jay Leno 🤣
A really new neoclassical brand, Pembleton, is worth noting, but they released their first model in late 2020, so it makes sense not to be in this video. They have a focus on old sports cars, with small displacement, and very light weight. It's a very cool brand in my opinion, as it isn't just neoclassical in styling, but keeping with lightweight British roadster design philosophy. It's neoclassicism that isn't just riding on its kitschy style.
07:45 That Mustang "Kermit the Frog" 🐸 Edition is one of the most cringe-worthy cars ever.
I love this channel.
One more neoclassical car company that still existed to this day was Bufori, originally an Australian firm founded by the Khouri brothers, their current low volume lineup consisted of the Geneva saloon as well as the La Joya coupe, and those two models were fully assembled in facilities at Kepong, Malaysia since the company moved in 1998.
2:48 The cadillac logo lights and rolls grille I love it 😂
@ 5:45 "As the 70's wore on, THE WORSE IT WAS GONNA GET" Yeah, you just summed up the 70's nicely.
The pimpmobile brought me here, I'm guessing. Not sure what brought me to the pimpmobile...
Let me guess, a sick twisted desire for kitsch, camp and bad taste..?
There's NOTHING AMUSING about hotdog-on-a-bun themed vehicle. Good day to you, sir!
I live in Madison, WI. There were 2 of the new ones parked at the end of my block last week, and 1 again a few days ago. 🤣🤣🤣
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Thanks Ed for cheering me up. Now I know where dear old uncle Pack went. I can finally sleep tonight. Last saw that Packard Clipper 4 yrs ago and then suddenly gon.....
As a lover of Neoclassic's I personally love the design but I will agree to disagree lovely video a friend sent it to me when I was telling them about my want for a 1988 tiffany classic coupe
At last I found another automobile enthusiast who has been entertaining auto fans like us can we be friends gentleman?
The FIRST Neo classic was the' 64 Studebaker S S, which later evolved into the Excalibur. It was designed by Brooks Steven's, not Steve Brooks!
As kids growing up in the 50s, we were all familiar with the Wienermobile, and “Little Oscar” the symbols of Oscar Meyer hot dogs. I walked through the Wienermobile when it made an appearance at our local supermarket in Philadelphia. Little Oscar (a dwarf) handed out souvenir plastic whistles in the shape of a hotdog. I didn’t know the Wienermobile was still around, although I imagine there was more than one.
Btw there's a Malaysian neoclassic car company called Bufori which is still in business. Last I checked they were using Chrysler Hemi engines, carbon Kevlar bodywork, and copies of vintage Jaguar taillights which are supposedly higher quality than the original Jaguar units they were using before Jaguar stopped making them.
I love this channel I'm a car geek and i always learn something
I remember the ads for these kit cars and I admit as a teen in the 1970s I thought they were COOOL. lol The one I would still like is the Auburn Boat Tail roadster.
I'm from Malta and a number of wedding car companies are operating hideous neo-classical cars badged 'Beauford' .. they have doors off a Mini Minor but the rest seems to be custom built, probably with a Ford V6 engine (as would be found in a Capri ..)
There was in living memory an Australian manufacturer of these eyesores that sold out to the malasians i think. I will try and remember the name but my brain is rightly resisting revisiting that information at the moment.
Edit.. google vomited up "bufori", apparently still at it today unfortunately.
Good grief! I looked it up, and let me tell you, it's not only Google that vomited up...
Oh yeah there was that Corvette thing you got down there and was pretty much only used in Mad Max Fury Road
I love "Mitsouka" ! They should bring back the "Classic British Daimler Brougam Limousine" !
Just a few years ago, I was passed by a Weinermobile in freeway traffic. They're used to promote the Oscar Meyer brand of hot dogs.
I really appreciate how much work you put into every damn video..thank you so much kind dude man!
A few small companies were making fiberglass "neo-classical" cars based on a Volkswagen chassis in the 1970's and 1980's as well. If you wanted something with a bit more aggressive styling, one of the aftermarket high performance car parts suppliers (Summit Racing or Jegs) once offered all the parts you needed to make your own T-Bucket or Roadster hot rod - including frame, body, engine, and accessories.
This shows that only a genius can design a beautiful car.
Allow me to defend this style in short order. The Golden Spirit (Zimmer) is perhaps the quintessential flamboyance vehicle. As such, Liberace owned one, and put candles and a candelabra hood ornament on it. Who else liked this gaudy car? People into the pimpmobiles (I saw your well done video on that). As someone who loves this style, I love both Zimmer vehicles of that era (not a fan of the Lincoln refresh, I prefer the 80s Mustang chassis with 5.0L engines). The Golden Spirit, however, is a masterpiece (to anyone who likes over the top "low life", "ghetto fabulous", etc. aesthetic). If you gave me a choice between Isaac Hayes' gold-plated Caddy, and a gold-plated Zimmer, I'd struggle to decide. Last point, and probably my best...other than subjective taste, I think much of the cyberpunk, steampunk, etc. punk art movements today, especially in cars, was birthed partly by the neoclassical movement earlier. Now, with the rebirth of DeLorean and designs like Hyundai N Vision, it's clear we're seeing a move toward retro-futurism. I personally also love this aesthetic direction, for much the same reasons I love neoclassical (the proportions of each is just reversed).
So, as we move toward retro futuristic design (re-imagining the past, projected into the future) I wonder if you'll reconsider the value of the neoclassical style of automobile (re-imagining the present, projected into the past). Cars like the Golden Spirit weren't merely paying homage, or replicas...they had ballsy engines for the time, to match their tubular hoses coming out of the front end of the body, made huge alterations to donor chassis to maximize luxury around the backseat passenger(s), and gave people something they always want in a non-commuter vehicle: TO TURN HEADS. These vehicles had limited runs and came right off the line of Ford, not in kits. You KNEW you were getting something amazing.
Oh, and you talked about them being cheap...but the Golden Spirit went for Rolls Royce money, so I don't know...but their resale value is cheap. $20,000 gets you into one that runs and has few interior or exterior flaws, mid-late mileage. It took over 10 times that to buy one new. The interior alone was worth more than the used price, when new lol.
There is a nice Neo Classical for sale at a local dealer in my small town. It's definitely eye catching.
You forgot Prinzing funeral coaches. Those are suuuuuper neo-classical and I actually really really like them
my neighbor actually has a neoclassical car. some british roadster replica that's built on top of a vw chassie
A main issue is that modern safety standards make it next to impossible to create cars with these kind of designs that would still pass pedestrian safety standards.
Dude, the wiener mobile rocks. Imagine that thing with a big block chevy going down the quarter mile doing 11s? That would be wicked.
First let me say that I find your videos interesting and educational, and your narration is delightfully entertaining. (Yes, I have now subscribed). So far what I have seen, though, are videos that deal only with the outside (the design) of cars. But what about what's happened with cars on the inside, ie, creature comfort, variety of uses, and various extras.
The Excalibur was developed for the 1963 New York Auto Show by Studebaker Corp. It was equipped with a Studebaker 289 and built on Avanti chassis. Named the Studebaker SS, the car was designed by Brooks Stevens, not Steven Brooks. The project was dropped when Studebaker started its wind down of automotive production and Brook Stevens purchased the manufacturing rights and created the Excalibur company.
Someone drives a late model Excalibur to the local Karate school every Friday for meets.
The Clenet originally used MG Midget bodies on a Ford chassis to save money. They got the body, doors, windshield and soft top from junk yards, I guess. So you paid more than premium money for a cramped MG cabin.
The Excalibur was made in West Allis (Milwaukee), Wisconsin, in a rather nondescript one story block building. The Weinermobile is a marketing tool of Oscar Meyer, also in Wisconsin. I see those (as many as six at one hotel stop) around all summer here in Madison. The current ones are 4th (?) generation, with Pontiac Grand Prix flush headlights and TransAm taillights.
Exner's stutz design was built for a few years in the early 1970s the stutz blackhawk.
I love the MG TD vw beetle replicas
Yeah, what happened to the fiberglass kits for Beetle makeovers?
Me too. Always wanted one.
@@randalalansmith9883 they stopped making beetles lol
Don't forget when the big car companies tried their hand at this, like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, Dodge Prowler, or Chev SSR.
Now that car in the icon is really good looking.
I saw a Morgan once, thing of beauty.
I almost bought one in 1980 but the VW taillights and turn signals and the lackluster 454 with 215hp were the turn offs and no I never regretted it
Pursang in Argentina makes exact replicas of Alfa Romeo 8c Monza and Bugatti 35. It's illegal to import parts in Argentina so they make it all, even tires. Leno has a video about them. While they were restoring originals, they collected data to replicate exactly.
Underrated subbed
Thanks! And welcome.
Ha, I saw a Chevy Silverado with a Rolls Royce-styled face at work once. It made me laugh, but I had no idea it was part of a design trend.
There has recently been a Brazilian builder who made outstanding bodies. Their style and finish appeared incomparable.
Hey dude! I'm enjoying the channel quite a lot j(ust discovered it by chance) plus I get to know why american cars are like they are (I'm from Chile).
I'd be great if someday you plublish a video telling why americans love so much the v8. Never been able to understand that.
Keep on going!!!!
Thanks! I hope I can answer this, the V8 became mainstream in the US in the early 50's. I guess it's the American idea of more power = more cylinders/lager displacement. What really helped is that the fuel prices were always low in the 50's and 60's, unlike Europe, where V8's were only found in luxury cars.
@@EdsAutoReviews I am Danish and for a long time I've found it surreal how US standard family cars are usually built in sizes that here are reserved for really expensive luxury cars, and with engines that here are usually only found in high performance sports cars yeah
as a professional truck driver I used to see that wienermobile parked in different places they used it to promote their hot dogs
You are so humorous! :D
I think it's worth mentioning that neoclassical vibes influenced mainstream car design in the US in the '70s and well into the '80s as well, aided by new crash regulations requiring huge (chrome) bumpers and the sealed beam headlight mandate still in effect. As already mentioned huge chrome bumpers, waterfall grilles, hidden quad round headlights, opera windows, fake landau roofs, fake spare tire humps in the trunklid. Good examples are the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, V and VI, the first generation Chrysler Cordoba and perhaps as late as the second generation Cadillac Seville with its literal trunk shaped trunk hump or the K-Car Chrysler Fifth Avenue and Imperial with their stately vertical rear windows.
Kan echt niet stoppen met kijken, keigoede content!
8:46 well this actually looks damn cool! 😯
I got a picture of me around 10 posing next to an original white excalibur property of the then mayor of my city (dad was a mechanic). Striking car! I still want one...you forgot the other neo-classical fad based on VW bug, the fake james dean porsche and old fake british mg, they were big too! Some of them are quite decent to my taste....just like Hoovie new whip, the porshubaru !
May I offer a Netherlands baiting Donkervoort D8-GTO? Surely a radically updated Lotus 7 with Lamborghini beating acceleration qualifies.
The words “ What the hell were they thinking?!?” Comes to mind