Future Icons: The Maybes
For others the jury’s still out. Richard Porter asks which of these will make the grade
NOW WE PLUNGE INTO THE METALLIC LIGHT anthracite area of cars that only could be future icons. These are models that might be flattered by the passage of time, or simply wither with age and the arrival of better things. The Abarth 695 Biposto, for example. Singular of purpose, which is good for an icon, but flawed and ridiculous too, especially once you’ve added the dog ring ’box, alloy bonnet and other gubbins that make it a fifty-grand small car. Perhaps that sheer silliness, and the resultant rarity, anoint this two-seat madness hatch as an icon-in-waiting. Maybe one day we’ll say, ‘They don’t make ’em like this anymore.’ And no one from the back will shout, ‘Good!’
Since we’re on Abarth, an honourable mention here for its version of the 124 Spider, which certainly tries to look like an icon if you spec the black bonnet, and has been weirdly
short-lived, which feels like icon behaviour. Conversely, it’s also imperfect and, you might say, a little contrived, where true icons are original. Nonetheless, the Abarthtuned Spider is unvarnished and farty fun, more than any contemporary Mazda MX-5, and perhaps that’s enough.
Although, if it’s noise you want, perhaps the icon list of the future will make room for one of the last naturally aspirated AMG V8s, ideally fitted to the smallest shell possible for full hot-rod effect. That means a C63, which was never a car to bother the best M3s for precision, but was full of exuberance and energy and sounded like the god of thunder farting underwater.
And while we’re getting misty-eyed for V8s, we might pencil onto the list an original Jag F-type R, to remind us of when a mainstream car maker was able to sell a car
that made you want to clap with excitement if only both hands weren’t permanently needed to apply corrective lock. Another flawed gem for sure, but a very, very pretty one.
Currently in the middle ground between icon and ‘I can’t believe we’re still talking about it’ is the last-generation Ford Focus RS, which brought torque-vectoring giggles to the fast hatch world, but could also be hard work if you wanted the kind of rewards a contemporary Fiesta ST would have offered at half the speed.
Speed, of course, does not buy automatic entry to icon club, and nor is lack of it a barrier, though the merely brisk VW Up GTI is still surrounded by the background thrum of hype, and history may remember its flaws more than its charms. It’s too early to tell with that one, and it’s definitely too soon to say if the new Supra will become an icon, though there’s a sense that with a bit of evolving it could become something we speak of in hushed tones. Watch this space on that one. In the meantime, consider the GT86, which is a known quantity now, flaws and all. Rather than getting bogged down in its failings like a GT86 trying to get up a shallow hill in fourth, let’s just say that this is the kind of car we’ll miss when it’s gone, and perhaps when it does disappear we’ll realise that we should have been nicer about it.
Finally, in this difficult almost-list of maybe-icons, can we consider for a moment that most tricky of subjects, the Alfa 4C. It’s often regarded as a disappointment and you never see them around, but it’s also a small, carbonfibre-bodied, midengined sports car from an Italian company for a relatively affordable price, and isn’t that something we want? If only it wasn’t a bit crap. Will we look back and see this as a problem? Should we care that it’s too wide, too expensive, too cheaply made inside and too much of a handful? Yeah, probably. Who knows? The idea of it is brilliant, despite its many failings. With this and all the cars on the maybe list it’s too soon to say. Maybe time will reveal that in the last five years we’ve actually been surrounded by icons.
‘The F-type made you want to clap with excitement, if only both hands weren’t needed to apply corrective lock’