once i was driving when suddenly i saw a car that looked as if coming out of a dream. it was only a flash, and then it vanished into the traffic. it took a long time to see another alike. and still i see 1 once in a blue moon. at the time my life kept me at more urgent issues, but that image remained. until in recent time i was able to spend a few minutes searching for it. when i found it, i learned that it is the crossfire. the coupe. the most beautiful car i ever saw. and when i learned that, for some unfathomable reason, it is affordable to me, i had to buy 1. luckily i found 1 in pretty good shape, so now am a happy owner of the most fantastic car ever.
yes, there is the convertible version that is the most beautiful convertible, but to me, the coupes shape is the 1 that i dream of.
and the style is just what i have been longing for since i learned of cars of the wonderful days of the art deco, like the bugatti atlantic, or the lago talbot, and in more recent days, the jaguar xke...you got the idea...sedans...
and speaking of art deco, here is a description:
"Art Deco, also called style moderne, movement in the decorative arts and architecture that originated in the 1920s and developed into a major style in western Europe and the United States during the 1930s. Its name was derived from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, where the style was first exhibited. Art Deco design represented modernism turned into fashion. Its products included both individually crafted luxury items and mass-produced wares, but, in either case, the intention was to create a sleek and antitraditional elegance that symbolized wealth and sophistication. "

 

Very well stated !!!!

 

thank you sir. its good to meet some others that appreciate the beauty of this car.
and there is still more:
when i got into this great forum ( i dont think there is another that compares with this), i learned that it also is a fantastic achievement mechanically wise too.
based on a mercedes, whose technology still is ahead of most actual cars, and that for this, we can get parts and service from european cars mechanics, we can rest assured that we will drive it way beyond our own time.

 

The attraction we have grown to love surrounding the Crossfire is an enigma.

1. Stylish....... as well stated in the past few posts
2. Engineered.......the Germans could have conquered the world back in the 1930’s, but instead they took to the Panzer and the ME109. Imagine 90 years of Crosssfire upgrades.
3. Long lasting beauty, not fickle to short lived Corporate Whims of fins, horse collars, and thunderbird 4 doors.
4. Rubrics Cube Attraction........a mystery of sorts who’s locked and unlocked secrets make it timeless.
5. Cost Effecient..... the published performance data comparing it to cars starting around 60k with high yearly maintenance.
6. The Poof Factor....... it came and went so fast. Was it really here?
7. The Garage Factor........sitting with a beer while wiping the grease off your hands looking over at the shapely rear fenders.

add yours here

 

7. Speaking of shapely rear fenders and a beer, the only better rear end in our house sits in the passenger seat!

 

You be a brave man. Mrs. Toni know your password?

 

My wife is actually "Big Toni". It's her car, I just get to work on it

 

chapter 1
another case of love at 1st sight.
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/1950-...tudebaker2.htm (mine was light blue, like the picture)
my 1st car had a feature that has something in common with my latest (xf). when i purchased it, i was working at a large airliner at the airport. i had been flying full size airplanes, but did not to drive a car because city bus transportation was all that i needed. but when 1 of my friends told he was selling his car, at a great price, i couldnt resist. the car was in great shape, and looked the closest to an airplane i have ever seen.
but i didnt know how to drive it. it was when he explained to me the basics that i learned that it had a feature that, would you believe? it is embodied in the crossie too!
to start it, you have to press the clutch to the floor!
and both cars also share something else: both are art deco, and i like that.
am adding this that just found at my files:
-my first car.
At the time, public transportation was good. We could go anywhere. but when a fellow worker at the office told me he was selling his car, that he kept in great shape, and the money he was getting, I decided to buy it, and brough him the money. it was a 1951 studebaker that looked as if it only needed a prop to take-off!
we did the paper work, he handled me the keys, and then...well, i had to ask him the details. like how to start it. the starter worked when depressing the clutch pedal to the floor (something i found many years later in my 1985 firebird). the fact was that i had not driven a car yet. i was into flying, and had some hours behind lightplanes, and even DC3, but was never interested into surface vehicles. driving home, with that clutch so sensitive, and the trafic so close around me, i had to stay in the car for 15 minutes before i could walk, as my legs were so shaky! took me some days to get used to all and feel comfortable. as i grew up flying airplanes, with safety belt of course, i felt unsafe driving a car without it, so i managed to get safety belts from the airplanes that were being overhauled, and installed 2 sets on the front seat (bench seat, remember those?). people around couldn't stop making fun of me. at the time not even race cars had them. some racers began using those egg-shell looking helmets, but that was all. since that car, i kept adding belts to my cars, until the government made it a law.
but i will never forget that wonderful car that looked like an airplane.

• 

 

I have restored many a Studebaker. 6 years ago there was still a ton of NOS parts available. Amazing how many parts they kept available for their customers, nothing like today.

 

chapter 2
another car that i had later and liked its looks too was this: https://www.art.com/products/p474586...t-dauphine.htm
and mine was same color of the picture.
light, small, agile, great for driving in a dense populated city, made my day until once, when parked, was slammed against the wall by a madman and disintegrated.
that persuaded me to get something stronger.
its weight was mere 625 kg (1375 #) and even with a small engine that developed only 32 hp, getting 6000 rpm was enough to deal with the situation.
still, 2 things that it has that match the xf are its length (4 meters) and its agility.
and the design has some charm too. (by Ghia)
more data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Dauphine

 

I remember this car for two incidents, in the UK about 1960 a friends father was stopped at some traffic lights while driving a Dauphine, some youths determined to show their strength started lifting the car by the rear bumper. They kept lifting the car and dropping it, when the lights changed my friends father gunned the car leaving the youths behind. On arriving home he looked at the bumper for any signs of damage, he was shocked to find a finger caught behind the bumper, he did not report the incident and disposed of the finger in the garbage.
Five or six years later I spotted another Dauphine that was parked in the middle of a lane, passing the car I saw that it had rusted so badly that it had collapsed midpoint between the wheels with the rocker panels touching the ground. Unable to move the car caused quite a traffic jam, the owner was not to be seen, I guess all the honking and the embarrassment was too much for him.
One journalist wrote that you could hear them rust.

 

Backiin 1960 we has an ice storm. On the way to school we passed our Pastors house and saw his Dauphine in driveway. 6 of us walked back and turned it sideways and easily pushed it into the garage. To this day, we don’t know how he got it out. His sermon next Sunday was all about good deeds.

 

this is a parenthesis. after all, this thread is to entertain all of you. to distract you of the events around us.
as our xf is art deco, why dont give a look at these other art deco cars?
https://www.google.ca/search?sxsrf=A...w=1266&bih=546

enjoy!

 

At least it it distracting. Here is another of the cars I've had. I have probably owned over 150 in my lifetime. I wish I would have kept them, I would be wealthy.

 

Hey Phil, Thanks for the Art Deco Drool .

 

great! now please tell us what is it. and any other data will be great too.

 

you are welcome. so many, so beautiful...so much to see...
and it is everywhere.
see this: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-...amorous-future

 

It is a boat tail Bugatti,

 

like this? https://www.idealclassiccars.net/veh...i-t35-boattail

 

and art deco is everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_De..._United_States
and still is here to stay. look at the most recent ideas/concept cars... Mercedes-Benz's latest concept car takes its design cues from art deco
there is nothing that compares in style, class. just as our xf.