The F-Factor and the Q-Effect

The F-Factor

Driving a classic car is pure joy and it’s even better off if you can share it with someone.

In this context, the F-Factor celebrates the female gender, the girls with a passion for the automobile. Especially the ones who are happy to grab the wheel themselves. At the Club we are fortunate enough to have a few of them, not even counting Marie’s abilities at the wheel of the mighty Cobra-Backdraft or in elegant venue with the so chic Lancia Fulvia.

Italian connoisseurs are speaking of the “belleza” but we have never really understood if this is for the “machina” or the “signora” wearing a Deus-ex machina t-shirt.

Anyway, being driven by a lady is a pleasure when she drives with passion and this has nothing to do with another F-Factor called the Fertility-Factor.

The Q-Effect….

The frenetic search of filling all the gaps in a car manufacturer’s range and discovering new niches could possibly have a negative impact in terms of look and image for the brand.

Just think of Mini with the new 5 doors hatch, good for the kids but awful on the long run for a brand living from its posh style. Some call it the Q-Effect, Q stands for Quasimodo. This Q would probably also apply for the not so well proportionate BMW X4. And in the US, a Ford Fiesta with a boot (sedan) could be referred to as a Quasimodo car. Even the excellent Mazda 3 hatch is ruined by adding a boot at the back.

In fact, nearly all cars conceived as 3 doors hatchbacks get Quasimodized in their sedan version or by just adding two additional doors. This has to do with the proportions of the car being messed up.

In our opinion the prize for the most iconic Quasimodo goes to the previous generation of the Chevrolet Sonic sedan. For sure this car was not Hyper-Sonic and had no Quantum-Effect, poor buyers…

At The Car’tell you will never see Q-Effect cars. This is pretty much a question of style and honor.

Loud Pipes