Every time I drive down from Chicago Midway to West Lafayette, I end up taking exit 178 on the I65 South. I then turn left on River Road and fuel up. And I walk across the parking lot at the petrol pump to look at this rusting carcass of an old American land yacht which has been living in a disused field seemingly since the dawn of man.
This ancient beast appears to be a Lincoln Continental Mark VI Coupe. Aft of the B-pillar, it sports a vinyl roof. This is a strange symptom of design creep - vinyl roofs were initially built to give hardtops the appearance of having convertible roofs. Which makes the same kind of vanity sense that, say, the Trump's toupee does. But then, people started designing half and three quarter vinyl roofs. And that makes not an iota of sense. The only redeeming feature are those dinky portholes in the C-panel. Also, the dual headlamps apparently have a closer panel. And finally, what are those louvres on the side of the engine bay? Are they supposed to be the ventiports of yesteryear?
This period of engineering is rather sad. The attempt was to make something elegant - a sweeping statement of grandeur. What it ends up looking like is a monument to inefficiency. Still; there it sits, this ancient one, waiting to be woken up perhaps by someone who will take care of her. For old times' sake.
No comments:
Post a Comment