In episode 3 of this latest season (15 if you’ve lost track) of Top Gear they did a small comparison between the Camaro SS and Mercedes E63 AMG. Now that’s all fine and good but what they were trying to do was compare two different cars, in the same category.
They compared them to my surprise, as muscle cars.
–noun
a flashy sports car with a large, powerful engine; a hot rod.
–noun Slang .
an automobile specially built or altered for fast acceleration and increased speed.
Origin:
1940–45, Americanism
An American performance car from the early 60's to the early 70's. They were generally an upgraded varient of a less powerful family car. Companies such as Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Dodge, and Plymouth joined the game. They all followed the same basic rules. 1.there is no replacement for displacement 2. there is no subsatute for cubic inches 3.horsepower sells motors, but torque wins races. The basic idea was to get the biggest engine and stick it in the smallest car avaliable at the time. The muscle car era was killed by inflating gas prices, emissions, and the cracking down of insurance companys.
Buick GSX, Olds 442, Chevy Nova, Plymouth Cuda, Dodge Charger etc.
See my point? I even have sources relating to the fact that no where in anyone’s right mind should a Camaro and an AMG be compared as muscle cars. Its just plain stupid to be honest. That’s right gear heads I’m calling your gods out.
A show such as Top Gear with such a pedigree should know better than to call out a muscle car comparison such as this. I’m not sure how the British reactions were (I assume confused) but come on. The Camaro is going on sale in Britain this month so with the hype around it, why not show the car? The fans are all aware of it, the people are excited, so get it out there! Just not against an easily foreseeable better car such as the E63.
As angry and distraught as I may seem by this degrading of THE American car (muscle cars, see Urban Dictionary reference) I can see the point they are trying to make, barely.
Motor Trend for one example does call Mercedes AMG’s the muscle cars of Germany. Their big, have a strong profile, an even stronger engine, and are outright monsters. I believe Top Gear might have even made that claim to and based on these facts the blokes at BBC might have seen a gap to bridge. Being the outlandish show that it is and trying to stay ahead of the pack they might have wanted to make that comparison to claim that’s where it got started. We might see YouTube videos of Mercedes racing Camaros across the great rolling hills of London (does it have hills? Pardon my ignorance and laziness to look it up).
This might work and fine and dandy for the British but I don’t think it is even suitable for American standards. We know the true muscle cars: Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, Dart, Oldsmobile. That’s only to name a few of course. Mercedes? They don’t deserve or have the heritage to be in that circle of infamous teenage wet dreams. Mercedes is ze German high class car. It has its circle with Audi and BMW not with the low muscle tuned pony’s bred of sweat and grease. It’s a tuned machine already and that’s no real fun.
So Top Gear choose your words wisely, were watching and we’ll notice these slip ups.
No comments:
Post a Comment