FRESH FACE
Honda’s new Pilot showed off a sleek new look as it made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show.
One exhibit celebrates the past; the other celebrates the ultimate — or at least the most desirable. What they both have in common are heavenly bodies. Not the astrological sort, but ones crafted out of metal, curvaceous and grand or lean and built for speed and excitement.
Both Art and the Automobile, located on the 700 Level of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, and Auto Exotica, located on the 100 Level of the MTCC’s North Building, are exhibits at the 42nd annual Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS).
The Art and the Automobile exhibit, presented by the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the CBC hit TV series Murdoch Mysteries, provides show goers a rare glimpse at a number of the most visually stunning and technically interesting automotive designs from the very beginning of the horseless carriage era through to the early 1960s. Interspersed throughout the exhibit are fine art prints by internationally respected Canadian painters Ken Dallison and Jay Koka.
Each of the 19 rare, concours-quality automobiles featured in the exhibition narrates a unique historical era and represents some of the past century-and-a-half ’s greatest examples of automotive ingenuity. The cars have been sourced from private collections and museums. In addition, four vehicles on display come direct from the set of Murdoch Mysteries. These include a 1908 Reo and a 1907 Ford Model N.
Each car on display has a backdrop representing a streetscape of Toronto architecture from the same decades courtesy of the McLaughlin family, Murdoch Mysteries, Toronto Archives and the Canadian National Exhibition Archives.
“From the earliest example, a reconstructed 1867 Seth Taylor steam buggy — widely accepted to be Canada’s first automobile — through the Stutz Bearcat that epitomizes the early 20th century and is arguably one of the first sports cars, through the dramatic statements of the 1920s, the Art Deco extravagance of the 1930s, the more integrated look of the 1940s, the aircraft influence of the 1950s and the pure form of the 1960s, the display takes visitors on a historical ride that couldn’t be better complemented than by the excellent work of Koka and Dallison,” says Jason Campbell, general manager of the CIAS.
Taylor’s steam buggy is particularly interesting in that it was built at the same time Canada became a country. Steam powered, it looks like a carriage with a still bolted to the back. But more importantly, it predates Karl Benz’s internal combustion-engine car — generally considered the first automobile — by 19 years! According to the Canada Science and Technology Museum, which owns the car, a hand throttle controlled speed and a tiller controlled the car’s direction. A coal-fired boiler provided the power. There were no brakes, which explains why Taylor reportedly crashed the buggy while going down a hill.
Compare the crude buggy with the spare, stripped down simplicity of the 1912 Bearcat and the engineering precision of the 1927 Bugatti Type 37 — both progenitors of the modern sports car — followed by the grand lavishness of the likes of the 1929 Auburn Boattail Speedster and 1936 Delahaye Type 135 Court Teardrop Coupe (reportedly valued at more than $3.5 million) and the technological innovation of the 1936 Cord 810 Phaeton and ‘48 Tucker.
Among the noteworthy post-war cars are the aircraft-influenced 1953 Buick Skylark convertible and the extravagant ‘59 Cadillac Eldorado. The 1962 Jaguar XKE fixed-head coupe is still stunning. The 1963 Ford Mustang II design prototype, built after the design had been finalized for the production model, prepared consumers for what was about to come.
Other concept cars include the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone — which embodies many of the futuristic styling clichés of the ‘50s, including wraparound windshield, bubble top, huge fins and a rocket profile — and the 1962 Chrysler Turbine Car, just one of nine remaining of 50 built. The others were all destroyed following a period of testing.
For those who desire a more modern take for their automotive fantasies, Auto-Exotia showcases — with one single, notable exception — stunning high-priced machinery from Britain (Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lotus and McLaren) and Italy (Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani). Mega is the suffix to describe them all, whether it’s horsepower, speed, sybaritic luxury or price — or all four.
That one exception is the U.S.-built all-electric Tesla Model S, a car from an upstart company that is being considered the new standard of modern performance.
Those requiring an added jolt of testosterone will have more than a few cars to drool over: among them, the McLaren 650S, Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, Lamborghini Huracan and Pagani Huayra. Particularly stunning is the Maserati Alfieri Concept, created to commemorate the Italian marque’s centennial last year. The car, which takes its name from Alfieri Maserati, the most prominent of the Maserati brothers, is a classic 1950s-influenced, rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered 2+2. The best news is that a production version is “poised for reality and set to arrive” in 2016.