Automotive Inspirations, Admirations, and Heroes/Heroines

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, this topic is another topic of general interest. Often times, we are reminded of people who make us admire, respect, and honor faces in the automotive world. There are some people and cars that really stand out among others. There are people we often look to and admire. There are all sorts of cars out there that are total standouts and trendsetters.

So GTPlanet, whatever your interest in cars or people, discuss some of your heroes, whether they are people or cars. In future posts, I'll talk about my heroes, whether automotive or people. Your heroes can be people, cars, car companies, or whatever. Do you have your contributions to this thread? The ones you choose don't have to be known in America. So if you live in Australia or someplace and there is an automotive icon or hero, talk about that person/car/company. Here are some random examples that:

HERO/HEROINE: Caroll Shelby is a hero because...
CAR: One of the most interesting machines has to be the Ford Mustang. Outlasting...
CAR COMPANY: I've always admired Jaguar for their stylish designs and...

So honor your heroes/heroines.

 

[1X83Z]

Ferdinand Piech and Carlos Ghosn are my heroes. They both turned **** into gold.

👍

 

[TheCracker]

Colin Chapman: A truly great automotive engineer. Produced the greatest handling road cars ever. Revolutionised F1 and gave Indycars a much needed engineering kick-up-the-backside. Introduced, nurtured and influenced some of F1's greatest talents.

Porsche 911: An idea that should have never really worked - but did, very well. Arguebly the best all-round sports car ever. 40 years later and still going strong. Probably the most successful road-based racing car ever. For the kind of performance it gives, its a very practical car to live with on a daily basis.

A tough one this, but i'd have to go for...

Ford: I can't really comment too well on the US side of Ford, but certainly for the Euro branch, they have always produced cars that are very good at what they do. More oftern than not their cars are 'class-leaders' or 'class best sellers'. They are relatively cheap to buy and easy to fix. They have a stronger following then any other manufacturer in europe. They have competed in probably every single form of motorsport, on every level, in the world - and have usually being highly competitive if not dominant. They introduced to the world the 'sporting saloon' without it we may never have had the Sierra Cosworth, BMW M3 (etc) Subaru Impreza, Mistsi Evo, Volvo T5, Merc 190 'Cosworth' etc etc.

 

[Elstro]

Actually, the Audi Quattro and the Delta Intergrale brought us the rally-bred generation>

HERO: Peter Stevens - for turning Brit maintsream sedans (MG ZS) into cool cars

CAR: Tricky.....VW Beetle. Considering it was the idea of one fo the msot evil people to date, this cute car shouldn't have woprked but it did, and was built up until July last year. How mahy other cars have a cuter face than this? It is also a film star as Herbie - the only car to ahve its tyre marks set in concrete. It's also going to be in GT4!

MAKE: MG Rover. The only British mainstream make left (apart from Vauxhall) that produces cars in Britain. It has survived over several takeovers, and Top Gear give the make a zero image, which shows how we are unwillign to support British cars THAT ARE NOT SUPERCARS. It has proved that cutting-edge and tehcnical wizardry isnt always the way to go because their cars , although getting on, have still survived enough and are still rated well enough, and the MG Z-cars are very cool, especially the ZS sedan in blue with the large spolier (Impreza P1, anyone?), and loads of people still speak fondly of an MG Roadster, and they have always been found in motorsport. If you go to any country in the world, e.g Germany, you will find more of their domestic cars than any other, whereas here, Rover, Austin, or MG cars are not as commonplace outside of the West Midlands (where I spent 7 of my fifteen years)

 

[TheCracker]

Actually, the Audi Quattro and the Delta Intergrale brought us the rally-bred generation>

...but what/who inspired audi or Lancia to put powerful engines and trick suspension in mundane cars in the first place?

Vauxhall are American

Peter Stevens Thanks for styling the Macca F1
Not so many thanks for 'ricing' a dull oldmans car

 

[Elstro]

Vauxhall are from Luton, Bedfordshire, but they were bought by GM years and years ago

The MG's are not riced - they have the go to match the show!

 

[ShobThaBob]

Hero - Chris Bangle - His designs for BMW are just awesome.

 

[I6-4-eva]

Takumi Fujiwara- He's the real drift king he started the whole drift scene here in the states.

 

[ND4SPD]

Hero: I'd have to say Ferrucio Lamborghini for making such elegant supercars and for a company that started building tractors.

Car: The Dodge Viper, the only car IMO that you can call a present day muscle car.

Car company: Mazda for making such great handling cars and using rotary engines in there cars.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

Me?

People:
Humble beginnings-Mr. Honda (don't know the first name)
Engineering-Ferdinand Porsche & Ferry Porsche
Mass production-Henry Ford
Racing strategy-Enzo Ferrari (not the car)
Design execution-J. Mays

Cars:
-VW Beetle-The true 'World Car'.
-Mini Cooper-The British icon.
-MBZ G-wagen-After all these years.
-Jeep series-The American hero.
-Honda Insight-Revolutionized the over 60 mpg ecomomy Hybrid.
-Honda FCX-Introduced the Fuel Cell vehicle in a big way.
-McLaren F1-Rare beast.
-Chevrolet Corvette-The true American sports car.

Car Company:
-Honda- The only independent car manufacturer, they are the perfect example on how to build and economical, efficient, and fun engines for the masses. And not only they build cars, they also build generators, lawn mowers, marine engines, motorcycles, and of course a jet engine.

Sorry if its quite a list back there.

 

[Iceman]

car-shelby cobra-revolutionary, lightweight and powerful
car company-ferrari-has a deep racing heritage and builds fast cars 👍

 

[Elstro]

"Hero - Chris Bangle - His designs for BMW are just awesome." -

one word for all Bangle beemers: U.G.L.Y

 

[High-Test]

the bantam mfg. co. Say what? they were the only company to get the army's contract for the design of a new offroad vehicle to replace the horse, but sadly, they couldn't produce as much so production was handed over to willys and ford for the production of the GP. (if you haven't figured it out yet, L ) bantam made the trailers for the jeep though. not really as if anyone wanted a history lesson-ish thing.

colin chapman - pioneered downforce and stuff like that, i.e ground effects

Gordon Murray, for the Mclaren F1, and because the fan car pwns j00.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)


Hero: Gordan Murray! The mind of the McLaren F1!!!!! Got a dream car to be built base on his own liking and ended up with a car that set a standard in Supercars that is yet to be matched or broken!

CAR: The McLaren F1!!!! One of those RARE/Unique cars you can ever own! Three seats, F1 layout and...uh...I really need to finish up reading my Driving Ambition book.... And lets not let me forget the 93-98 Supra !

CAR Maker: Blah it doesnt matter to me I buy wut I like!

 

[JohnBM01]

To be honest, I don't really have any automotive heroes. In terms of people at least. I think everyone has done their part in creating cars for all styles and tastes regardless of what people think about them. If I had to choose, I'd say that one of my fellow Texans, Caroll Shelby, is a wonderful person. I don't know too much about American icons, but I know that his passion to build a car that was lightweight and packed heavy horses, the AC/Shelby Cobra is bar none, one of my favorite cars ever, if not favorite American cars.

In terms of cars, my main hero would be the Chevrolet Camaro of the 1990s. This car got me into cars. I often imagined the Camaro was this sort of supercar, and in the papers, sale prices on the car was under $30,000. In fact, I seen some say it sold for $13K. Secondary heroes are as follows: The Toyota 2000GT and Datsun 240Z. Both of these Japanese sports cars have elegant styling that's still sought after 30+ years later. The Ford GT40 is a hero of mine because the style of this classic machine is very eye-catching and just owns any race track it raced on. To see Americans win the Le Mans race with the GT40 was sensational. The Mini Cooper is a hero of mine because it proves that driving fun doesn't have to cost a lot or be big or long. Without the Mini Cooper, I wouldn't appreciate the Subaru 360, Daihatsu Storia, Daihatsu Tanto, Honda Beat, or anything like that. Another hero of mine would be the McLaren F1. I know I say an awful lot about this car, but name me any car that can do 0-60 like it's nothing? Handle... like it's nothing? Accelerate to 240 and perhaps beyond... like it's nothing? It's a performance car lover's dream. It's no wonder people like McLaren F1 GTR and McLaren'sAngel love this car.

What are my manufacturer heroes? Find out in a future post!