A brand new vintage car: “the spirit of the 1960s”
Imagine sitting down and designing your own dream sports car. That, said Alex Robbins in The Daily Telegraph, was what Dubai-based Frenchman Anthony Jannarelly set out to do when he teamed up with the racing boat maker Frédéric Juillot. Their ambition was to create a vehicle with “the spirit of a 1960s sports car, but the underlying mechanicals” of a reliable 21st century one. From the outside, they seem to have succeeded: the car has beautiful, “cartoonish” proportions. But is it really possible to have a “vintage feel, without the drawbacks of a classic car”?
The set-up inside is certainly “bracingly old-fashioned”, said Jason Barlow in Top Gear. There is a USB port and a decent sound system, but apart from that it has just a simple instrument cluster and an array of switches, including the flick-up toggle for the ignition. There aren’t even any airbags, let alone any other modern safety features. There’s also precious little room – though on the plus side, the pedal box is adjustable.
The 3.5-litre Nissan V6 engine produces 325bhp and fires with a “crisp bark”, said Andrew Frankel in Autocar. At full throttle, it’s as “spectacularly loud” as you’d hope a vintage car would be, and the unassisted steering has a “terrific feel”. The traction is also excellent, even in bad weather, and the manual gearbox (automatic is also available) has “delightful precision”. All in all, this really is a car that “puts you in touch with the simple, delightful business of driving”. While Jannarelly only plans to make 499 Design-1s, a second model is in the works. I think “we’re going to be hearing a whole lot more from him in the future”.