Rant...!

it's too bad chrysler designing got lazy on the new Sebring. They stole every sculpted angle from the crossfire and slapped it on the sebring. Talk about low class, I've lost so much respect for Daimler Benz for selling us out to Cerberus. I will never even think about purchasing a Mercedes Benz product as long as I live.

 

Y'know, I like the look without the strakes. Cleaner I think.

 

I think the ribs give a stream-lined look and definitely prefer them as they are.

 

I too like the strakes but...

Coming out from work yesterday I discovered that someone had parked their new sebring right next to me. It was really embarrassing. Although, I imagine the sebring owner was thrilled to see that his family trukster looked so much like the Crossfire.

 

I'm thinking about buying a crossfire. One of the things I don't like about the car is the hood strakes. Now that I see I could theoretically have a shop take them out, my interest is a bit more piqued.

It's a nice looking car with the strakes, but without them, it's beautiful. Just one man's opinion.

 

Personally I like the strakes. I think it adds a little more something to the car that makes it stand out.

Also, I read somewhere in the forums (I've been spending too much time here reading lately, lol) someone called them "blood grooves". It struck me as being quite funny.

I'm an engineer, albeit not mechanical or aeronautical, but to my way of thinking, form follows function. The comment about airflow seems right to me.

 

The rib and grooves in the hood line up with the vertical bars in the grill.
They also strengthen the hood and help stop it from 'oil canning'.
Stylist are 'funny' people - they may 'enhance' certain aspects of the car.

 

Maxwell
Now that the MB - Chrysler marriage is over, I'll never buy another Chrysler product. I bought my Crossfire because it is a Benz in spite of the Chrysler label.

 

I'm not sure I understand this line of thinking. The new Sebring was designed while Daimler owned Chrysler - it has nothing whatsoever to do with Cerberus!! Hell, I'm glad Daimler got rid of Chrysler - other than the 300/Magnum/Charger the styling at Chrysler has gone seriously downhill under Daimler, not to mention all that cash Chrysler had before the takeover. Chrysler were style leaders in the domestic market before Daimler came in and I hope they will be once again.

I, for one, am more than happy to have the Chrysler wing logo on my Crossfire. The last several Chrysler products I've owned have been among the most worry free vehicles I've ever owned.

 

I couldn't agree more.
The Star was definitely the bad actor in this marriage.
This decade has been a low point at MB while Chrysler has been waking up again.
Chrysler built the XF.
The C-level at MB will always wish it (and its owners) would just disappear.

 

I felt the same way the first time I saw a 4 dr. Sebring coming at me in a parking lot. It looked like a "Fleet" car, with a Crossfire front end.
It's funny now though, they don't bother me at all.
(see avatar)

 

Actually...I believe someone has a "no strake" hood on their Crossfire.

Hmmm...I wonder where it was I saw that...anybody know? Maybe +fireamx knows where I saw that?

 

The depressions in the hood payoff in the grille. The grille verticals line up with the strakes but it's way to subtle. Perhaps emphasizing them would visually justify the hood lines.

That said, the "crossfirization" of the Sebring nose was a cheesy move by Chrysler in my opinion.

 

I wondered if anybody was ever going to catch that.

Those who know me, know I only bet on a sure thing.

Actually I posted over a year ago I was working on a scooped hood for my car, but I guess nobody noticed my post. I was responding to a post FirebaseD had made about them at the time...I sure do miss that guy.

 

Just so everybody will know, the correct terminology for the "ribbed or strake hood" are called "speed lines". I hope I didn't pi$$ anybody off or make me seem like a smart a$$ by making the correction. At least that's what Chrysler was calling them in a article I had read just before the Crossfire's hit the market

 

Interesting. Did the article say if the speed lines had a function? I always thought they were for aerodynamics and possibly rain water diversion.

 

It's been too long ago to remember if they said they had a function, I just remember them referring to the lines in the hood as speed lines. Sorry.

 

Well I for one am PI$$ED!
I think I heard the same thing when they were talking about the lines that were on a gravity racer that Chrysler built and was selling at Barret Jackson last year. They even mentioned the Crossfire when they were showing the car.
I've just been calling them "strakes" since I read the Road Test in the Oct 2003 issue of Road & Track.

(quote)
"The Crossfire takes the 1930's Art Deco styling of French coupes from such legendary marques as Talbot Lago and Bugatti and blends it with modern, Maching Age surfacing. The long hood, the teardrop-shape cabin and boattail rear end, along with such cues as the hood strakes, center spine line and even the Chrysler singed emblem, which is part of the grille cap, recall those classics."

Besides, if we all started calling them "speed lines", then for sure somebody somewhere would misconstrue some of our posts as
"code", for "lines of speed". Then we'd have to deal with the DEA.

 

Wow, did you have that Road & Track issue in your pocket? I just thought some may find it interesting to know that Chrysler was calling the lines in the hood Speed Lines at one point in time. It's gotta make your car feel faster if you know you have speed lines.

 

Here's a pic without the "speed lines"...

Tazz