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Motor Trend's 60 Coolest Cars


Oddjob

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This article just posted, and ought to set off some discussion.... The 240Z is # 47 on the list (the list is in random order).

 

The 60 Coolest Cars

 

Six Decades of the Rides Everyone Wanted

September 01, 2009

/ By Arthur St. Antoine, Matt Stone

They weren't always the fastest or the most expensive. The sexiest or best designed or engineered. The most radical, iconic, famous, desired, or most outrageous. But they're the coolest. It's hard to define cool, but you know it when you see (or drive) it. As we kick off Motor Trend's 60th Anniversary celebration, here's a look-in random order-at 60 of the coolest, illist, chillist machines to roll earth's highway during our watch, 1949-2009.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0909_60_coolest_cars/index.html

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Guest Rolling Parts

Interesting for sure.

For one thing, how many people do you meet these days that say that it would really be cool if they could just drive a Hudson? An Enzo or a Z for sure but what kind of person today wants (or even knows about) a Hudson?

 

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I get Motor Trend and was happy to see first generation Z's listed as one of the '60 Coolest Cars'. The Hudson is a cool car as well, and was very revolutionary for it's time. It's gotten some attention fairly recently since 'Doc Hudson' was featured in the Disney Pixar 'Cars' movie.

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Guest Rolling Parts
Hudosn was a huge mile stone maybe you should look up there v-8 technology.

 

That's why I think that the V8 supercharged Avanti or even the lowly 4 cyl Metropolitan were way more "cool", unique, and anti-bland establishment Detroit cars from the Nash/Hudson era. Sure the L6 Hudson was a fine car too (and Disney likes it), but in top 60 in "coolness" factor alone?

 

I also don't remember automotive people just craving a Checker Marathon as a gotta have personal car or 83 VW rabbit. Guess I just missed it...

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That's why I think that the V8 supercharged Avanti or even the lowly 4 cyl Metropolitan were way more "cool", unique, and anti-bland establishment Detroit cars from the Nash/Hudson era. Sure the L6 Hudson was a fine car too (and Disney likes it), but in top 60 in "coolness" factor alone?

 

I also don't remember automotive people just craving a Checker Marathon as a gotta have personal car or 83 VW rabbit. Guess I just missed it...

 

Any list like this raises a great number of questions about the reasoning behind the list itself. One question would be when was/is it cool? If the answer is "now, today", then yeah, the Hudson is very cool. I had a Hudson Jet when I was a kid (it was old even then). If I had it today, it would be the coolest thing in the State. The same logic might apply to the Checker, but I do confess they've lost me on the Rabbit. The early Beetle or the Microbus might have been a better choice.

 

Another quibble would be "why 60"? Obviously, Motor Trend picked it because they've been in business 60 years, but the list could just have easily been 100. The Advanti? Yeah. Doc Brown and the rest of us might also nominate the DeLorean. The Nash Rambler, yeah, with a 350 SBC.

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but I do confess they've lost me on the Rabbit. The early Beetle or the Microbus might have been a better choice.

If you read the explanation it was because it started the hot hatch trend in the US (or so they claim - I don't know). I agree, the Beetle is cooler than the Rabbit, but if what they say is true, you gotta give credit where it's due.

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Thank god they didn't miss the Lincoln.

 

As for the Audi... I've seen foxbody mustangs do similar things and they don't deserve to be on the list. I dunno... That car just sticks out like a sore thumb to me on that list.

 

Call me crazy - but I don't think the 2009 GTR has any business on the list either.

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Guest Rolling Parts
Any list like this raises a great number of questions about the reasoning behind the list itself. One question would be when was/is it cool?

 

The 1969(1970 model) 240Z was off their radar in 69 and early 1970.

The 1979 280ZX was their "Motor Trend import car of the year" in 1979 and sold the most of any Z car in any year (so the most popular then).

 

All that makes me think that they massaged history of Motor Trend to include cars they left off and left off cars they adored. GREAT point about questioning the when/now because it really looks like they mixed it up and had a few editors come up with something.

 

It's always interesting how any small group of people chose their small set of cars.

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Thank god they didn't miss the Lincoln.

 

As for the Audi... I've seen foxbody mustangs do similar things and they don't deserve to be on the list. I dunno... That car just sticks out like a sore thumb to me on that list.

 

Call me crazy - but I don't think the 2009 GTR has any business on the list either.

 

Any car that can break Jeremy Clarkson's neck is cool in my books.

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I feel that series Audi is one of the few that should be on the list (from Audi that is). It dominated the "golden era" group B rally for a reason. It made AWD and big turbo's mandatory and along with some of the rest of models of that era, revolutionized the sport. I feel that the Quattro is a big reason that Audi is big today.

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I feel that series Audi is one of the few that should be on the list (from Audi that is). It dominated the "golden era" group B rally for a reason. It made AWD and big turbo's mandatory and along with some of the rest of models of that era, revolutionized the sport. I feel that the Quattro is a big reason that Audi is big today.

 

I couldn't agree more.

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