Looks like McLaren’s obsession with beating Ferrari is taking to the roads again, although this time with a less ambitious offering than their highly impressive F1 three-seater of yore. That’s an artist rendering you see pictured here, and although it has some of the styling cues of the F1, a lot of commenter on various message boards have slammed the car as looking derivative; some see a lot of the Porsche Carrera GT, others see various Japanese influences.

Those are just random people with opinions (in most cases) but perhaps the most damning criticism comes from within.

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This is a rarity: an American car designer working, and working successfully, for an Italian auto design company. And then building on that success by moving from noted design house, to another.

The American in question is Jason Castriota, and his first Italian design house job started at the very top: Pininfarina. The king of the World’s design studios. When your company counts Ferrari as one of its main, and lifelong clients, you’re at the top. While at Carrozziera Pininfarina, Castriota worked on some very impressive projects. The Maserati Birdcage show car as well as the Maserati GranTurismo, Ferrari’s 599 GTB Fiorano, the custom P4/5 and the Rolls-Royce Hyperion one-off, to name a few.

He had planned to open his own studio, but a funny thing happened on the way to the atelier, Bertone snatched him up.

How did House Bertone land him? They “made me an offer I couldn’t refuse”, said Jason Castriota (gotta love this kid).

At only 34, it will be Castriota’s job to lead Bertone into newer, and more lucrative directions. Now is the time, and the perfect opportunity for a talent such as his. He will lead a young design staff, and Bertone, after narrowly dodging bankruptcy, has a lot to prove, both on the show floor, and on the bottom line. Of late, Bertone is, how would I put this, a little on the, eh, barboso side of things. They had taken that folded paper concept about as far as they could (some would say too far) and for quite some time, a lot of their offerings at the Turin show were lackluster.

But now … well, a new and gifted talent at the helm, a young crew on decks, and an old, respected company with something to prove.

Interesting times for all of us.

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The great Harley Earl makes an appearance over at Oobject.

If you want to see how much cars have changed, look no further than the dash, or as Oobject chooses to call them “Classic Car User Interfaces”.

Sure, pretty much everything has improved on autos in the past 5 decades; run of the mill tires today could count as race tires from 1958. But the car’s dash is so noticeably different to the eye that it’s hard not to point out.

Look at that lovely, simply dash in the picture above, from a Porsche Speedster. Do you see much concern for safety? I sure don’t, hell, I only count 4 knobs or switches to begin with. It’s amazing to me to look at old cars through modern eyes and think something like, “Boy, smashing my head into those 26 chromed knobs on that Caddy’s radio sure would hurt,” but that thought never seemed to cross the minds of auto designers back then.

That “padded” leather dash on the Speedster is there for looks, and a notional thought of safety at best.

The other cars featured, things like 1958 Corvettes and 1957 Citroen DSs and 1947 Fords are just as stunning. Lots of Gothic details and chrome and a wide variety of Bakelite knobs, but safety? Nah, not even the ‘67 Volvo is that impressive in “Won’t Scalp You” department.

A lot of car guys pine for the days of old, and at times I am one of them. I think keeping things simple is always a good mantra to have in mind, but not when it comes to keeping my blood on the inside of my body. Think of how much safer a 2008 car is versus a 1998 car. Read on almost any car site about what readers and drivers think about modern safety features on cars. More than once I’ve read people giving sage advice against buying a car “as old and unsafe as one built in 1996.”

I wonder what peoples take would be if a new car were to come out with interiors like these.

Source: Oobject

So there’s this site, and I know I’ve mentioned them here before, called Oobject. They bill themselves as ” … Like A Billboard Chart For Gadgets,” and they ain’t lying.

They let anybody come along and rate what they think qualifies as the best “Abandoned Space Technology” or “Futuristic Ross Lovegrove Design” or “Collapsible Gadgets;” you get the idea, long on the aesthetics front, and sometimes short on practicality.

Recently, they decided to have a poll on, of all things “Most Beautiful Land Speed Record Vehicles.”

Well yee-haw!

I’ve got a real Jones for anything LSR related. When I was a kid growing up, Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove were raising the stakes on an almost weekly basis out on the Slat Flats, and that really put the hook in me.

Sure, things have calmed down a lot these days, but they still hold Bonneville Speedweeks every year, and every year, the place is (relatively) packed … well, as “packed” as a place so flat and large that you can see the curvature of the Earth with your naked eye can be.

LSR competition is probably the final frontier of motorsport. There is little to no corporate sponsorship, and there are no real established teams, just established individuals.

It’s run what ya’brung at speeds that Chuck Yeager would recognize and Rick Mears would shake his head at.

And the cars? Hell, they’re about as pure as a ground bound vehicle can get, most of them look like Century Series jet fighters with the wings clipped. Shoot, some of them ARE Century Series jet fighters with the wings clipped.

Go see.

Source: Oobject