AFF Greatest car of all time?

[vztrt]

So what do the members feel is the greatest car of all time is?
It doesn't have to be the fastest, doesn't have to be the most reliable.
BUT you do need to give a couple of reasons as to why you think this car would be considered the greatest.

Also remember these are people's OPINIONS so please dont start a flame war.

Below I've thrown an article that talks about their top 10 greatest cars. They have listed it and given their reasons why.

Greatest cars of all time
Harvey Grennan, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 9, 2009



From Ford's classic Model T to Australia's favourite compact car, the Corolla, there are plenty of contenders for a list of the all-time best.


Luis Guarch with his fully restored 1966 VW Beetle


From Ford's classic Model T to Australia's favourite compact car, the Corolla, there are plenty of contenders for a list of the all-time best.

How does one define the best cars ever made?

Are they the most beautiful, the fastest, the most technically advanced or the most prestigious? Is it a contest between the E-Type and Stingray, the Ferrari and Lamborghini or a Rolls-Royce and the illustrious Bentley?

Or should we look at more prosaic qualities, such as which cars gave us the seatbelt, the automatic transmission, pneumatic tyres and cup-holders?

There have been many attempts to identify the world's greatest car. A decade ago a worldwide vote among 133 motoring journalists found the Ford Model T was the car of the century. The runners-up were the Mini, the Citroen DS, the Volkswagen Beetle and, of course, the Porsche 911.

Men's Vogue magazine in the US named its 25 most influential cars recently. While the Mini topped the poll, most of those on the list were predictably either testosterone-charged, such as Ferraris and Bugattis, or of US origin. Consider, if you will, the intellectual rigour of the Ford Edsel, Chevrolet Bel Air, DeLorean, Cadillac Eldorado and the Hummer as among the most influential on car design. The car most revered by European rev-heads, the Citroen DS, managed just 17th place.

Autocar magazine in Britain, managed a more credible, if Euro-centric, attempt with its "five cars that changed the world": the Ford Model T, Volkswagen Beetle, Citroen 2CV, Mini and the Fiat 500, also known as the "Topolino".

So there is little argument that the Model T, Mini and Beetle are towards the top of everyone's list. But the truth is none of these automobiles were all that original.

Henry Ford was not the first to dream up a moving production line, just the first to have a car with sufficient demand to justify one.

The Mini was far from the first automobile to have front-wheel-drive or a transversely mounted "east-west" engine.


And the Beetle was a dead pinch from a Czech-made Tatra, which was killed off by Adolf Hitler out of sheer embarrassment.

And if those US and British magazines can take a parochial view of what is best, why not Drive Life? What about the Charger and the Magna, both created with "smell-of-an-oily-rag" Aussie ingenuity.

The Charger was a Valiant with a few inches chopped out of the wheelbase, a swoopy boot tacked on the rear and a very attractive price tag of just $2800. It was Australia's answer to the Mustang.

The Magna was a Sigma sliced down the middle and widened to create the Australian Six ("Big Aussie Six") family car on the cheap. Both vehicles were hugely successful.

Don't forget the much-maligned Leyland P76. It was yet another automotive triumph of Aussie inventiveness, let down by poor execution on the production line.

The cars on the market today are the best made, safest and most technically advanced in automotive history. They boast standard features that not so long ago were extras or the exclusive province of expensive German marques. None of that is surprising given the march of technology. But they are also cheaper than they have ever been - a testament to the industry's resilience and creativity.

Drive Life's 10 best cars track not the beautiful or the powerful, or the prestigious but the cars that made those qualities affordable to the masses. And there's not a Cadillac or a Hummer among the lot of them.



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Drive Life's 10 best cars


Ford Model T

The "Tin Lizzie" was the first car produced in volume and at a price for the masses. While the Model T was simple and cheap, it had a lot of new technology including high-strength steel-alloy axles to keep weight down, a detachable cylinder head and a planetary gearbox that did not require any particular skill to change gears.

Morris Mini

The brilliance of the "flying brick" was not in the front-wheel-drive or "east-west" engine, which was not new, or even in its novel rubber suspension but in the efficient packaging. Four adults could sit in a car just three metres long. It was also cheap to run, fun to drive and made designer Alec Issigonis a legend.

VW Beetle

Hitler's "people's car" introduced a number of innovations to mass-produced cars - the backbone chassis, independent torsion bar suspension and a flat-four engine. But the Beetle's most stunning achievement was its longevity: production started in 1938 and essentially the same car was still being produced in Mexico in 2003.

Toyota Corolla

There has never been anything revolutionary about the Corolla. Its strength has been its simplicity. It arrived on the Australian market in 1968 and has provided mobility to more people than any car in history, with some 34 million produced and sold.

Holden 48/215

A parochial indulgence here. The first Holden, also known as the FX, was a world leader of sorts for its light weight, genuine six-seater capacity and powerful performance. It was a match for the Ford V8s of the day. The FX established the formula for the "Big Aussie Six", which was copied by Ford and Chrysler.

Chrysler Voyager

The Voyager "minivan" arrived as a Plymouth in 1984 and re-invented the people-mover. It showed other manufacturers that you could fit front-wheel-drive in a van and it offered multiple seating positions to suit a heap of passengers or luggage or both.

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is widely considered the best all-round sports car in the world, with outstanding engineering quality, razor-sharp handling and sizzling performance. But the Porsche also gave the motoring world the tiptronic gearbox.

Mitsubishi Pajero

This is the vehicle that made the soft-roader sexy, a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. Until the first Pajero in 1982/83, four-wheel-drives were very agricultural beasts indeed, with few comforts and a truck-like ride - unless you could afford a Range Rover.

Citroen DS19

The Goddess, as it became known, stunned the motoring world when it was released in 1955. Apart from the classic aerodynamic styling, it was notable for technical features such as self-levelling hydro-pneumatic suspension, detachable body panels and headlights connected to the steering. The beautiful shape did not change for 20 years and the handling was sensational.

GM Volt

This is a bold prediction because the Volt will not be on sale until 2010. It's not the first all-electric car but will be the first full-size, high-volume example from a mainstream manufacturer. Many pundits would opt for the hybrid petrol-electric Toyota Prius but hybrids may prove just a stop-gap until the widespread adoption of all-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell powered cars.

[vztrt]

On a side note one guy in the blogger section said that nothing is better then a VE SV6. Thats the greatest car of all time.

So now we have a base level for the stupidist comment in the thread.

Thanks

[westoftown]

This is exactly like trying to work out who is the best guitarist, drummer, bassist, painter, band, tv show, movie blah blah blah etc. of all time

Everyone has a different opinion and even if you can settle on a top 5 or top 10, then the argument continues as to why number 1 does or doesn't deserve to be there in one's eyes, or why something/someone isnt in the top 10

[Peuty]

Ferrari 355.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Ferrari 355.

Forgot to add some reasons.

5v per cylinder 3.5 V8
The noise!
Looks like a Ferrari should.

[DBourne]

I'm going to say a 1967 mock up Eleanor.

Reasons:

v8, can come with supercharger
looks are second to none, its a timeless design.
its a real muscle car that not only ford lovers or blokes will appreciate (everyone will enjoy it).
its different, not every tom d and harry has one

[irlewy86]

Ford GT40 First Car to carck 200mph and so far ahead of its time its not funny.

[Rob's 76 Effy]

The Bugatti Veyron

[Bluepower]

any one with a V8 and twin system, man grew up on that sound.... :

[xbcool]

Originally Posted by Explorer_Me

The Bugatti Veyron

plus 1

[mik]

15000000+ model T`s cant be wrong.....another vote for the model T, for an interesting read on the model T, http://www.ford.com/about-ford/herit...lt/672-model-t

[MITCHAY]

Mclaren F1

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

Mclaren F1

+1

Just as well you asked for greatest and not best, best at what?

[XR6_190]

I would probably have to say the Mercedes Benz S class, not any model in particular, but they have always been the benchmark in so many ways, they are just about always the first to offer anything standard that later on would become a no brainer in even the most basic of vehicles, Airbags, ABS brakes, Traction control, and a raft of other technologies were all first seen on the big Benz.

Add to that, the fact that most of the worlds dictators used to get about in one, remember these are the people that can have what ever they want, they didn't go for a Roller or Cadillac, they go for the S class. There is also the fact that they have been available with any engine type you would want for most of their life, form 6 cylinders to 12, petrol or diesel, and they have been around a lot longer than 7 series BMWs or Audi A8s.

They may not be the most affordable, but should the best car ever be something everyone can have, or something everyone can aspire to have, because whilst anybody could have had a Model T, Mini, or Fiat 500, they would still aspire for something better, with an S class you wouldn't.

[Lukeyson]

EA Falcon

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by XR8fella

EL Falcon

thats better, we all know they are :

[Jack91]

The new Lamborghini 4 door prototype whatever its called. Simply for the fact that its the best looking car Ive ever seen.

[Maggot]

I vote for the 911.. cannot ignore such a long line of successful vehicles.

[Daymoe]

FG Falcon

[Big Mike]

Ford GT40

My reasons being its appearance and functionality. I like RHD, with the gear lever in my right hand, a nice big engine behind me, and the quality of some of the replica kits means I might have a decent one ONE DAY.

[homegrown]

Thunderbolt! I wouldn't care what rolled up next to me if I had one of them.

[Auslandau]

Always been the GT40 for me aswell ..... never driven or even sat in one but ...... one day It is the most 'Perfect' looking car amazing to think it's from the '60's


Like all lists they are fairley pointless but a good discussion point. The lbiggest problem with that list is that the title should be "The most Influential cars of the the 20th century ..... no way near the best!



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[blackwood]

Model T Ford. Without a doubt.

I don't think people give Henry enough credit these days.
The T was so simple, so cheap yet so damn reliable. Ready to go anywhere, anytime.
Any man could drive one and if it ever did break down, any man could fix it.

In Australia it took people to parts of Australia they had never been before.
It started an industry here that today employs millons whom all have a hand in building world class vehicles.

Forget the Holden, the car that changed Australia was the T.

The T carried Australians into battle during the WW1 (Colonel Durant's Light Armoured Car Brigade used modified T's, complete with machine guns mounted on top!).

Years later Hot Rodding would change motoring forever and at the forefront were a bunch of grubby looking young dudes
with a bunch of chopped up T's.
This would lead to creating an industry that today is worth billions in the US alone.

For me, the greatest car of all time is the car that at every All Ford Day no-one gives a second glance to.

The Ford Model T.

[HSVKILLA]

FORD GT

Reasons:its quick,its stylish and its limited.

[platinumXR]

Nah, you're all wrong...it has to be the VEB Trabant 601

They were so good the East German Polizei used them as Pursuit Vehicles on the E28 Auto Bahn Between Berlin and Kluczewko to stop dissidents escaping over the Polish border with all the Sauerkraut and Hahndorf they could carry...

...or who could forget Herr Manfred Fricke in his EVO II blasting the opposition into the weeds during the 1974-1975 Bundestleaugen Autohausen Agricultural Society Tractor and Sports Vehicle Touring season producing 21Kw from the 602cc and reduced weight by using the Duroplast doors which were strengthened with a light weight cotton sourced from a now defunct secret laboratory ran by the GDR and a few ex-Stasi which tried to manufacture a lightweight replacement for the brown leather jackets they used to wear when conducting covert abductions in Moscow and the French Riviera.

:

[platinumXR]

But on a serious note...being a Ford nut all my life, I would have to say the Ford Mustang...up to about 1969...not exactly an engineering masterpiece or practical but definitely trustworthy, reliable, Shelby versions were missiles, cheap and mass produced, anyone could identify one and they were cool...

But, at the moment, the most prolific car and possibly the future of automotive engineering would have to be the Honda FCX Hydrogen Fuel Cell Concept Car.

Never been a Honda fan at all (and being a mechanic / engineer) but you cannot ignore the technology this thing encompasses...exciting and scary at the same time...

[mrbaxr6t]

ford GT40 for me too BUT I cannot shake my love for a 1957 FORD thunderbird pic :

http://www.ritzsite.net/DKW1000SP/19...hunderbird.JPG

so pretty I love that car, pity they want a liver a kidney and a set of reproductive organs for one.....

[Nikked]

XD Falcon, One of the firts cars to use plastics for bumperbars and the fuel tank...

how can the volt be the greatest car if its not released yet. Harvey Grennan blows

[Falcon Coupe]

+1 for the GT40/ Ford GT

[eb_5litre]

Mk2 2.0L Escort

Reasons: Light, RWD, small and incredibly fun to drive. Also a very successful racing history.