Italian Cars- American Cars- who begat whom

[fay66]

Worth a read but I'm not sure I agree with the conclusions and comparisons. even if I'm biased towards Lancia.


https://www.hemmings.com/blog/index.php/2017/01/29/italian-cars-and-american-cars-who-begat-whom-some-examples-of-pre-and-postwar-influence-coincidence-and-serendipity-part-1/?refer=news



Brian
8227

[mikeC]

An interesting read, and obviously written by a patriotic American!

Some of his theories are valid, and some are far-fetched and biased; he goes to great lengths to claim the Fiat 600 is a copy of the Henry J, whereas I find it difficult to see any similarities at all! As for the Fiat 6c 1500 copying the Lincoln Zephyr, sure it does, but that conveniently overlooks the earlier Bertone experiments from which both were copied! As for the Balilla mimicing the Model A Ford, he might as well say the Model A copied a ten-year old Austin 12! All the Model A did for styling was bring the antiquated Model T up to date...

I was interested to read that the Aprilia was originally intended as a French-only car, and that the Ardennes preceded the Aprilia - did it?

The simple answer is that styling was a global matter and ideas cross-pollinated just as easily across the Atlantic (both ways) as it did between neighbouring companies in the same town; post war most European production was aimed at export markets, and America was the largest market, so of course styling was going to be appealing to the American eye.

[frankxhv773t]

The 157 word first sentence of the second paragraph left me gasping!

[fay66]

The 157 word first sentence of the second paragraph left me gasping!

Give us a clue Frank, I don't think I could plow through that again!

Brian
8227

[frankxhv773t]

Just the length of it Brian. It's a bit of an individual writing style.