What is soul...?

Soul, character... Usually that's the dark spot in the driveway under your car...

Dom

 

Obviously an impossible question to answer, so here goes:

I think a car has soul when the hand of its maker is apparent when you look at/drive the car.

E.g., the steering wheels of the pre-airbag Ferraris tell you everything you need to know. Ditto the great old Jag steering wheels. Borrani wire road wheels. Smiths gauges. Gauges lettered in Italian. Gated shifter, signature Ferrari. Engine sounds - 356/911 are definitive Porsche (prior to 996); Ferraris sound like Ferraris.

If you can't tell what car it is by listening to the engine at idle, it won't make the soul list.

Things that suck the soul out of cars: platform sharing; obvious legislated bits like motorized mouse seat belts, airbags; derivative designs; mass production; CAD/CAM; F1 gearboxes; digital displays; molded plastic interior parts; etc.

 

But isn't it the sharing of souls that makes it soulfull?


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder isn't it? Then soul is a percieved connection or sharing with the desires and ideals of the makers.

 

About an hour ago I briefly thought about selling my 73 Carrera RS. Then I drove it. In two words. No way!


I'm just pissed that I didn't get a good Dino when they were $35K.


It's the driver/owner that will determine soul.

 

Nope, has to be an item on my list.

 

Ha ha ha. I love you Bullfighter.

 

I wouldn't say so. But if I had to respond in a snap, these would be my two F-Cars cars:

F40
250 GTO


....and there's also Herbie!

 

IMO soul in its best sense is a primative thing.


Just give me the direct feed !!!

 

soul is driving your car where no-one can see you on a deserted road which has the car feeding back information that makes you feel great and communicative together ..... some cars will do this maybe once in a lifetime of ownership, Ferraris and selected others do this ALL the time

 

The haven't lost soul because they are safer. But the ways in which government has dictated car design haven't helped.

Seeing the bolts holding the steering wheel in place, or seeing the metal dash in the Speedster with its chromed emblem, put you in touch with the manufacture of the car. The paint on the 356 dash is the 'skin' of the car. The bolts in your Momo steering wheel are a visible sign of how it was built.

A raised plastic 'SRS Airbag' embossed on a plastic, simulated leather grain wheel hub makes me think 'Volvo' and 'NHTSA'.

With regard to electronics, I think that moving a lever to select gears reminds you constantly that you are in a machine. Automatics and computer-assisted paddle systems can get the job done better, but if the topic is 'soul' then I think we'd all agree a machined metal shift gate and chromed rod are celebrations of the gearbox - whereas most modern cars isolate us from all things mechanical.

 

A soul is something I personally do not have.............but my 348 has plenty!!

 

soul

is like love between a living entity and either another or non-living entity that appears to have life.

it's when you start to merge the personalities.

when you drive the car or swing that club, you can feel it's addition to you and you can feel it's existance.

it will grow even more if it incorporates many elements: steel, iron, wood, smell, taste, touch.

--- [wow, this is getting drippy] -- outa here...I've exposed my sole soul

PS: Think the Veyon lacks great soul, has a fun element and some 'features' but, seems so capsulated. I'd have more fun in a Model T pickup [gotta get another, those has soul even if only 15 mph]

 

A car that makes even your balls tingle! not just heart pounding excitement!

 

That means the Arial Atom is soulfull.

 

2005 Ferrari F430
F1 Coupe, Rosso Corsa (Red) w/ Tan leather, daytona seats, electrically operated seats, scuderia shields, red calipers, rear leather shelf, ball polished wheels, only 3k miles...
asking- $237,995


Car = $137,995
Soul = $100,000

 

"SOUL" is totally subjective (except in the case of James Brown)

The car that connects with one person might not connect with another.

I know that the car I recently sold is the favorite of many on this board..but it didnt do it for me..didnt feel a connection.

Having said that I do believe , as a general rule, that the more control is taken from the driver via computers and active systems the less 'soul' cars will have.

I still say my '89 CRX Si had WAY more soul to me than even modern day exotics, including the ones I currently own.

 

Here's some Ferrari soul for ya!!
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Very well said Bullfighter.

 

Damn Pap. I've never seen one look like that. That's soulfull!

 

Nothing beats you......a Ferrari..............and an open road!!!
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i agree largely with Bullfighter's poetic assessment.

and it got me to thinking of a spectrum-of-soul, using a train as a scale of comparison:

you have the Victorian Age steam train with it's luxurious appointments in the dining and sleeper cars, the giant engine boiler and hundreds of mechanical parts moving in concert down the rails in a kinetic sculptural form. a sight to behold in grand majesty and curiosity, commanding a presence.

then you have the glass fiber white monorail tram at the airport that shuttles passengers from concourse to concourse in an electrically sterile fashion, lacking all inspiration and intrigue, a utilitarian box or tube drawing little attention to it's functions as possible. the people get in, stand or sit, do nothing but wait, then get out, often in silent detachment to one another and the experience.

the removal of tactility and visual connection with the machine's controls and sounds removes the soul from that machine, becoming more akin to an appliance.

when a car becomes more like an appliance it lacks a certain appeal to emotion and aesthetic, is soulless. many cars today are chomping at the bit to become the next super-appliance.

god speed.

 

100% agree, it is in how it is made. Somehow the sweat and skill of the tradesman give it a life of it's own. A soul. A friend of mine had a big WWII universal vice on their milling machine, it had Nazi Swastikas forged into it and on the heads of the bolts, that vice had such a menicing presents he had to throw it out! When you see it it says something to you, it seems larger than life. This is the best I can decribe it. Sadly no new cars have it.