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Sometimes cars are just hunks of metal and plastic, thrown together to transport you from home to the workplace. And sometimes cars are alive with a romantic, adventurous spirit which transcends the petty concerns of mobility and efficiency. Via Jalopnik comes this four-part Shell Documentary on the 1958 Coupe Des Alpes. While you’re watching Alfas, Triumphs, Porsches and Benzes battle it out over the passes and switchbacks of the French and Italian alps, you may find yourself wondering if this really was the peak of vehicular romanticism. You may also find yourself out of a job if you watch all four parts at work. Which would be worth it. You can always find another job. Tip o’ the hat to Mr Paul Niedermeyer.
18 Comments on “Do Cars Get Any More Romantic Than This?...”
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!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a different, and far more romantic world. I’m going to have to go back and finish watching later. But I loved watching that Volvo dogging the Anglia. And the sounds!
This is it, the years that fed decades of enthusiasm over cars …
Thanks!
Incredible footage. Very little bling. Also makes understandable how the european cars developed size and handling characteristics they did. The 300SL looks huge compared to the others.
Imagine making that drive in a 1958 Chevy Impala with a V8 and powerglide transmission.
Imagine Carlos Sainz backing and filling to make it around a hairpin…how things change. And to think that Paddy Hopkirk was at the time thought–with good reason–to be a real shoe.
What a hoot to watch…thank you very much!
I say its the roads not the cars or the time. Take those roads in a modern car and its probably better.
WOW! Sunbeam Rapier, Triumph TR-2, Ford Zepher mkII, Alfa 1900 saloon, Volvo PV444, Austin-Healy
100-6, Citroen ID19 among others. Love watching those old road races. Used to show them on Speed. In one old film, I saw a big old BMW 502 V8 following a Mini on a switchback road. The 502 could not keep up. Got passed by a Saab 96 driven by two ladies. Those were the days!!
Many thanks for that link. What a feat to finish there.
Vintage racer PC game based on GTR2:
http://www.gtlw.co.uk/
(sorta related)
That was beautiful. Flat-out racing in deathtraps with minimal safety equipment: that’s the can-do spirit of the post-war era. The camerawork is excellent, the countryside is stunning, the narration, music, and classic car sounds take you back to a much simpler time.
Thank you!
Great film, it is not for nothing that I regard 1955-1970 as the Golden Age.
@Davey49
For watching this stuff, it’s both the roads and the cars. They have much more character than modern cars. But if I had a choice of driving it in a modern car or an old car, I’d probably choose to drive it in the modern car.
Actually, what I’d give to take that drive in a Peugeot 404.
What I’d give to take that drive in any Alfa…
Svelte little cars, fun to drive but not tearing up the road like today’s RS6. Thanks for posting.
Add to TTAC Hall of Fame !
Fantastic, wonderful, fun footage. Thanks, Ed!
I’m gonna have to drive that route one of these days…
Superb footage, must get my MGB back going again.
Hopkirk was a goer
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3AQCFoWSXEU
thank you thank you thank you.
what a wonderful clip! it does speak of simpler times, tho i suspect that spectators got run over alot! And running at speed over the mountain passes! no guardrail! wow.
it was great, thanks.
“They have much more character than modern cars.”
Do they? or is it just nostalgia/”good old days” talk
I think 50 years from now people will say that about today’s cars.