Form or Function?

There are no two enthusiasts that think exactly alike. Oftentimes we separate our interests into cliques and clubs in order to stick with what appeals to us as a collector of suck, bang, blow machines. There is no real way to prove who is 'right' in these groups - automobile modifying, collecting, restoring, or racing offers too many examples of art and science to count. One thing that has always struck me though, in everything badass, fast, slow, or just cool that I see that calls to me in a certain way, is that dichotomy between function and form. Followers of form have given rise to some of the best eye-candy the streets have ever known, but also to some of the worst. Function-driven creators fare no better, creating some of the most technologically amazing examples of speed, honed down to it's purest form, as well as vehicles that come off as mere machines, designed with so strong a purpose as to cast out enthusiasts looking for more of a 'feeling' than a 'force'.

As is often the case, the inventors and sculptors that can marry these two ideas in the most distinctive ways are the ones that capture the perfect symbols of automotive culture. Classic designs that will always ooze speed have been brought into existence by great minds like Ferdninand Porsche with his 356 Speedster coupes and roadsters that will forever impress, and Caroll Shelby with his contributions to motorsport in epic forms like the GT40 race cars of the 1960s, and more recently by men like Horatio Pagani who designed his entire company around the ideas of form and function, and hand-built quality.

Some of the more recent exciting prospects where form and function are colliding can be seen in recent concepts like Michael Mauer's Porsche 918 design - a beautiful car on it's own, but created to exude both sports car looks and functions along with a focus on the future and hybrid technologies focused on enhancing performance even further. Details like the wind-vane look wheels that premiered on the concept version of the car provide an example of what art and technology can inspire.

Let's hope that the different grups of car enthusiasts out there can continue to agree that there is a fine grey area where some of the fastest and most beautiful cars will always exist, and let's tip our hats to the obsessive, nitpicky men and women that are led to create them.