And Now A Much Heralded American Icon, The 2014 Corvette Stingray…

Launched at the Detroit Motor Show 2013, the latest 2014 Corvette Stingray from Chevrolet is as pretty as the COE (certificate of entitlement) prices in Singapore are high, the latter having reached US$75,000 to US$78,000 depending on the engine capacity of the car. Yes, it cost Singaporeans and other car buyers that sum for a permit to buy and own a car for 10 years. In comparison to the princely ransom of Singapore’s COE, the 2013 Corvette starts with a MSRP of just US$49,600 to the Grand Sport Coupe at US$56,000. Perhaps the new 2014 model will cost a few thousands more. Its price is expected to be announced this fall. Just a marketing tactic I am sure.

An Italian For Inspiration…

Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV

I remember growing up with my three younger brothers sleeping in one large room with three framed copies of, guess what? – the Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV coupe. One was in the classic Italian racing red (Rosso Corsa), one in British racing green (BRG) and the other in deep yellow.  Robert Frost‘s poem, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” with his inspirational lines “But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep”, has inspired us to study into the night. More than Frost, the visual images of the Italian sports coupe I am sure has inspired us to go play at a higher level. It was our symbolic aspiration, it was our symbolic goal – to our university degree.

Of Practical Values And Emotional Appeal…

As Zora Arkus-Duntov, the legend behind the Corvette, wrote in 1954: “If the value of a car consists of practical values and emotional appeal, the sports car has very little of the first and consequently has to have an exaggerated amount of the second.”  Sport cars carry tremendous amount of emotional appeal and their designs, in my opinion, fluctuate from the good, to the mediocre and then bounce back and achieve greatness.

For the Corvette, I like the 2013 Grand Sport with its clean-cut tail and now its 2014 Corvette Stingray. I like the 1966 Mustang’s masculine grille, the Mercedes 230SL of the 1960s with its concave roof, the 1966 Lamborghini Miura with its low-strung grille and its pair of head lamps with their eyelashes, the 1970s Lamborghini Countach with its swing-up doors, the Sean Connery James Bond Aston Martins, not the early Ferraris but its 458 Ferrari Italia Spider (my top favourite). So it is the emotional appeal of these designs that these cars find their fans.

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