TimeOut

Mine were all emotional picks...

 

...although, I have been lucky enough to drive or ride in a number of the cars on my list.  I'm sure all you gentlemen know much more than I on these matters, but since Thomas has requested our thoughts, I wish to oblige him.

1. 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Droptop - My best friend's father built engines for NASCAR and Super Truck racing as an employee of one of the biggest racing teams in American motorsports.  Growing up we spent a lot of time hanging out with him at his home garage.  That's where my love of American muscle cars was born.  Are the Camaro, Charger, Mustang GT pinnacles of automotive design?  Maybe not, but for me they were the thunderous chariots of my childhood.  That explains my first choice, which was also the Indy pace car for the '69 race.  

2. 1965 Aston Martin DB5 - Everyone knows I am a James Bond freak.  Obtaining one of these cars would be like owning a piece of "Goldfinger," and would connect you to the legacy of the world's most enduring film franchise.

3. 1966 Ford Mustang convertible - My uncle owned one and every time I see an example, I'm transported in my mind to memories of youthful summers driving around with the top down.

4. Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera -  As a woman, sometimes I feel like car companies, especially makers of exotics, discount women drivers completely.  And frankly why should they concern themselves with the opposite sex?  We're not generally the drivers and/or purchasers of such vehicles.  Unfortunately, I feel that as a result of catering to their core audience, some supercar designs are so overtly masculine, as to have become automotive extensions of the male ego (or some other body part).  However, IMO the Gallardo successfully sidesteps that pitfall, and deftly displays a yin/yang quality in the coupling of its muscular, aggressive stance and shark-like silhouette with the sensuality of the car's rounded shoulders and haunches.  Even the spoiler exhibits a duality of shape that is both edge-like and harmoniously curved.  Add to that Lamborghini's e-gear (Great to drive!), and the fact that I love the Telesto gray exterior offered and I'm sold (or I will be when I finally hit the lotto).

5. 1961 Ferrari GT California Spyder - It's gorgeous, it's rare, and Ferris Bueller drove it (a replica, at least)!  If Heidi Klum (Or insert your favorite supermodel here -- I'm not up on this kind of thing, but I have no doubt some of you fellas are.) were a car, she would be this car.  I nearly cry every time I watch that scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Cameron destroys his dad's California.  *shudder* 

6. Audi RS8 - Is it just me, or is Audi's design department on a roll?  Those boys ought to hit Vegas one of these weekends, they are on such a hot streak right now.  The R8 was HOTT (That's right...so hot you need TWO 't's to describe it.).  Make it even faster, and how can you go wrong?  This is the car I most want to drive.

7. Aston Martin DBS Volante - Brawny and beautiful, and top-down ready for sunny Southern California.  Look at the car's silhouette!  It's svelte and lovely regardless of what position the top is in.  Added points for being the current James Bond's choice (In the non-convertible version, of course.  One must protect against the baddies' bullets!).  Looking at it, how can you not be shaken or stirred?

8. Fisker Latigo CS - I don't think pictures represent this car well.  In person, this car is a much more elegant, graceful version of the BMW 6-series on which it's based.  If a BMW M6 and an Aston Martin Vantage had a baby this would be it.  Not surprising obviously, since Henrik Fisker's name is on this car.

9. Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir - Because black is back (Did it ever really leave?) I choose this model out of the Veyron range.  Blacked-out lights, carbon fiber, the rich interior, black powder-coat on the rims...all awesome.  I suppose the aluminum side mirrors and grill treatment echo the headlights and grill respectively of the Atlantique 57S, on which the Sang Noir is supposedly an homage, but looking at the two of them together I don't really get the connection.  Both exhibit a somewhat Rubenesque profile, but it's not an immediate connection stylistically in my mind.  Whatever.  The Sang Noir is a beast.  'Nuff said!

10. Brabus Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR - The phrase "bat out of hell" was made to describe this car (see photo below).  I would not be surprised to see Lucifer himself speeding down the highway in the black version, coupled with Brabus' blood-red interior.  I wish I had a lipstick in the same shade as the seats in this car, as they are so delicious.  The Brabus body kit, fat tires, and platinum edition wheels make this MB devilishly handsome.  What girl (or boy) wouldn't want to be seen emerging from behind these butterfly doors?