When it comes to the racy, romantic convertible, designers conspire to create an object of emotion as well as motion. Most ordinary hardtop cars get you from Point A to Point B, they explain, but a sportscar convertible is engineered to make you feel a certain way-strong, spirited, sexy-as you get there.
Gay Roberts, owner of Chicago`s City Garden floral shop, recently bought a red Alfa Romeo Quadrofolio Spider convertible (which comes with a hard top for the winter). ”Absolutely, I do feel sexier in it,” she says. ”I feel a freedom of spirit.”
”Do I feel more sexy in a convertible?” muses Richar, Chicago`s celebrity interior designer who is trading in his hardtop jet-black Ferrari 400i for a convertible, a new scarlet Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet.
”I don`t even think about sex,” he says. ”I get more aggressive.”
And Joe Marchetti, president of Como Inn Corp., speaks with authoritative passion on the subject. Well-known internationally as il capo of American Ferraristi, and sponsor of the internationally recognized Ferrari Fantasia, a concours d`elegance held every June 5 at his Montefiore estate in Lemont, he describes the sexiest convertible he knows: the Short Wheelbase California Ferrari from the early 1960s.
”The rake of the body, the flow of the lines-it looks very competitive,” he says. ”It`s a mix of beauty with raw power.”
Pressed to the wall, designers of convertibles admit they deliberately engineer erotic appeal into the automotive form-one factor in the powerful
`80s renaissance of the convertible.
”We feel, as stylists, that we can generate these kinds of emotions,”
says John Cafaro, chief designer for the long, low, svelte Corvette.
”I think sculptural is the word you want to use. That`s what gets the blood going,” says Cafaro, who attended the Pratt Institute of Design and describes himself as ”the classic example of the kid who got into trouble drawing cars in English class.”
”As a male speaking, when we do a Corvette, it is like a woman`s body,” he says. ”That`s what we`re looking for, a sensually flowing shape, lean but muscular.”
Is it any wonder that 85 to 90 percent of all Corvette buyers are male?
Each curve of every car is deliberately engineered to evoke certain emotions, which is why a Volkswagen Bug convertible evokes different feelings than a `Vette does.
”We certainly don`t want the Corvette to be `cute,` ” Cafaro says, as the Bug convert is perceived to be. ”We make it serious. You can do a rounded car without what we call `tension` in the line. A Corvette is round, but there`s tension. It is like a man`s arm when he flexes a muscle. A VW has nice, sweet, huggable curves; there`s not a lot of tension in a VW.
”With a Ferrari, there`s a lot of tension,” Cafaro adds.
And, apart from the curves, there`s the added allure of going topless.
”I think driving a Corvette convertible,” Cafaro says, ”is like running down a beach with your shirt off, exposed to the sun and elements.”
Having the top down says the owner is ”concerned with the more sensual aspects of driving,” adds David McLellan, chief engineer of the `88 Corvette, considered by many convertible-lovers to be the sexiest car on American roads. ”I have a Rolls Royce of my own, but the Daytona is my favorite car to drive,” says Kathy Leventhal.
Following is a list of some of the most memorable convertibles with provocative curves, vintage and present, voted on by car buffs, automotive editors and impassioned convertible observers.
In vintage, the same four came up again and again: the 1972 Ferrari Daytona, the Porsche 356, the VW Bug convertible and the Mercedes 300 SL.
So sexy and sought-after is the 1972 Ferrari Daytona that Ben Rose, Chicago car collector, calls it ”the most expensive convertible I can think of.”
The 1972 Daytona goes for $560,000 today, says Marchetti, owner of International Auto Ltd.
Michael Leventhal, the owner of Ronsley Florist in Chicago and a passionate collector of sportscars-he owns 14-describes his `72 Daytona Spyder as ”the ultimate convertible in the world.” Asked about the driving experience, he insists: ”It is pure sex . . . it is excitement, power and perfect balance.”
George Levy, former editor of AutoWeek magazine, nominated a round little car that evokes a definite raciness-”the quintessential little roadster,”
the Porsche 356.
”That car has become part of the fabric of American culture,” Levy says. ”In `Coming Home,` Jane Fonda drove one. Eddie Murphy drove one in `48 Hours.` It is almost a generic symbol for the foreign roadster of its era,”
Levy says.
In a class by itself is the VW Bug convertible.
Though not originally a costly car, the Bug convertible is considered by pundits to be a classic and highly collectible. The last one was made in 1979. What cost about $3,000 in 1974 can go for $6,000 to $12,000 now, depending on condition.
Several car aficionados expressed the feeling that the Mercedes Benz 300 SL roadster is ”too old-ladyish” in its lines to be truly exciting, but other auto experts find it elegant and named it as one of the top four vintage greats. Made from `57 to `63, drivable ones are $70,000 to $80,000; those in mint condition go for $135,000.
Among new cars, the `88 Chevrolet Corvette convertible was voted the sexiest. ”An open-top rocket ship,” Levy calls it. Considered America`s best production-line sportscar, it is ballyhooed as more powerful than ever this year. Built long and low, with a new wide, blunt rear end, ”It is kind of stiff riding, but it is fast,” Levy says.
Another entry is the Saab 900 Turbo convertible, which Levy calls ”a tremendous amount of fun. You feel the most out in the open. It`s a great four-passenger vehicle-a bathtub, but not in a bad way.”
The Mazda RX-7 convertible is so hot it is said to sell straight through the winter. ”It is the prettiest” of the convertibles, says Bill Jacobs, Chicago-area car dealership owner, collector and racer. One special feature is the three-position cabriolet top. Put down all the way, it disappears below the body line of the car.
The `88 Mustang convertible comes in two versions, the GT, a real head-turner on the street, and the LX. Demand exceeds supply 3 to 1, salesmen say. Both versions come in sharp, sexy colors. Rod Sieb, assistant manager of public relations for the Ford Motor Co., says that according to vehicle registration figures, the Mustang was the best-selling convertible in `87.
The Chryser LeBaron is the car that started the convertible renaissance back in the early `80s. A sporty car, it has the class of a fashion model, rather than the blatant sexuality of an Italian sex-symbol. Sales have nearly tripled since it was introduced in 1982, Chrysler says.
One problem with some new cars, many of them computerized, is they can be very ”touchy” mechanically.
One customer traded in her early Chrysler LeBaron model, which she says was more ”primitive,” for the `88. She reports that the noise level has dropped, and she likes the new top and its lining. But, she reports, if her husband shorts out the cigarette lighter-which he does with dismaying frequency-”everything goes, and you head for the nearest repair shop.” –
