NOMINATIONS: Best Looking 1950s F1 Car [Open 21/03-28/03]

[Liquid]

Rules

Nominate four cars with a photo to match each.
Don't clog up the page with lots and lots of videos; links to videos are fine.
You can change your post and your nominations right up until the closing date.

Provide any supplementary information you wish, but don't give us an 8 page essay.

The top four cars with the most nominations will go through for polling next week.

Eligibility

Now, the 1950s has several eligibility criteria due to the fluid nature of both the rules and the championship itself:

Cars which competed during the 1950-1959 Formula One seasons.
Formula Two cars which competed in the 1952-1953 seasons are eligible.

Important: Cars which only competed in non-championship races are not eligible.
Cars which competed in the 1950-1959 Indianapolis 500 are not eligible. No complaining.

If you have any quibbles about your nomination, tag me in your post and I'll get back to you.

Reasoning

If possible, please give some justification or reasoning for your nominations.
You can choose based on livery, body shape or a combination of the two. It's up to you.

---

Nominations close on the 28th March.​

 

[Furinkazen]

Rules

Nominate four cars with a photo to match each.
Don't clog up the page with lots and lots of videos; links to videos are fine.
You can change your post and your nominations right up until the closing date.

Provide any supplementary information you wish, but don't give us an 8 page essay.

The top four cars with the most nominations will go through for polling next week.

Eligibility

Now, the 1950s has several eligibility criteria due to the fluid nature of both the rules and the championship itself:

Cars which competed during the 1950-1959 Formula One seasons.
Formula Two cars which competed in the 1952-1953 seasons are eligible.

Important: Cars which only competed in non-championship races are not eligible.
Cars which competed in the 1950-1959 Indianapolis 500 are not eligible. No complaining.

If you have any quibbles about your nomination, tag me in your post and I'll get back to you.

Reasoning

If possible, please give some justification or reasoning for your nominations.
You can choose based on livery, body shape or a combination of the two. It's up to you.

---

Nominations close on the 28th March.​

Post or PM?

 

[Liquid]

Post or PM?

Post! Encourage debate and so forth. Happy nominating.

 

[Furinkazen]

MASERATI 250F:

The archetypal Grand Prix car of the 1950's. Drive to greatness by among others Juan Manuel Fangio.

Spoiler: Pictures.

 

[lxmmy]

Ferrari 555

 

[Liquid]

Don't forget, you can nominate a maximum of four cars.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Cars which competed in the 1950-1959 Indianapolis 500 are not eligible. No complaining.​

​

Is that cars which only competed in Indy 500? I guess so, just nit-picking

Nomination: Mercedes W196

​

 

[Liquid]

Three dead certs for me, I'll deliberate over a fourth one during the week.

---

1957-1958 Vanwall VW5

Engine: 2.5L Vanwall I4
Noted Drivers: Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks

A classic 1950s Frank Costin shape.

Spoiler

1954-1959 Maserati 250F

Engines: 2.5L Maserati I6 & 2.5L Maserati V12
Noted Drivers: Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Luigi Musso, Harry Schell

Nothing needs to be said, really.

Spoiler

1954-1955 Mercedes-Benz W196

Engine: 2.5L Mercedes-Benz I8
Noted Drivers: Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Piero Hans Herrmann, Karl Kling

Another icon in F1 design. Superb looking machine balanced by a lovely shade of sliver. The streamliner version has a majestic grace about it.

Spoiler

 

[[Nor]MclarenF1]

Alfa Romeo 159 Alfetta

BRM Type 15

 

[Scuderia Paul]

Thread reported due to it's pornographic content.

I have 2 definitely decided but the other 2 are causing some tension. A day of deliberation will solve that...

 

[Pupik]

Alfa Romeo 158
Mercedes-Benz W196 Streamliner
Maserati 250F

Talbot-Lago T26C:

Somewhere around 1956-1959, F1 cars started looking quite imbalanced.

 

[Dotini]

What a joyous thread! Thanks to @Liquid
I'll make my nominations one at a time, if that's acceptable

First is the 4CLT/48 "San Remo" Maserati.
http://www.grandprixhistory.org/mas4clt.htm

This iconic racer was the first car Juan Manuel Fangio raced in Europe, and was modified to the slightly lighter and more powerful 4CLT/50 for the 1950 season. Many were sold to privateers, as the car was light, swift and reliable, and served for many years in Formula 1.

With its wailing twin superchargers, elegant inboard front torsion bar suspension, many alloy components, tubular frame, hydraulic shocks, the car was technically advanced as well as achingly beautiful with fuselage shape, many louvers and red paint.

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My 2nd nomination is the slippery and elegant 1958 Lotus 16, with body by Costin, chassis by Chapman, and engine by Coventry-Climax.

No front engine GP car was so low, narrow, small and aero-efficient. It had a very advanced torsionally stiff frame, and a too-clever gearbox which crippled its performance back in the day. Developed over the years, today it competes on better than equal terms with even rear engine F1 cars of the period.

 

[lxmmy]

Ferrari 555

View attachment 528580 View attachment 528581 View attachment 528582 View attachment 528583

Adding 3 more to my nomination:

Mercedes W196.
Maserati 250F.
Alfa Romeo 159.

 

[marco89IT]

Mercedes-Benz W196

Ferrari 555 "Super squalo" ("super shark")

Aston Martin DBR4

Last entry, a strange one. Not even an F1, it raced in a GP only once, in the 1957 German GP at the Nurburgring as an F2. Often remembered as James Dean's "little bastard", in which he died, it was an iconic sports car successfully in racing as well. So nimble (less than 600 kgs) and small that Hans Herrmann was able to drive it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia.
It's just too beautiful and ahead of its times to be completely excluded from the discussion:
Porsche 550 RS

 

[-Fred-]

I've always liked the Lancia D50 and its outboard fuel tanks. They kind of look like the ancestors to today's sidepods, even though they don't serve the same purpose.

And we're going to have a lot of fun choosing only 4 cars from the 1960s...

 

[RACECAR]

Because I don't really know many cars from the 50s, I just have these two to nominate:

Cooper T51 (Because for some reason, I really dig the cooper)

Alfa Romeo 158 (Because I really just love that stance and that shape)

If one of these threads comes up with the 60s cars, I'll be easily more able to pick out what I think look great.

 

[ButtKick]

From the 50's the car I always remember is the Ferrari 500 F2 car from 52-53.

Alberto Ascari won all but one World Championship race in 1952 winning 6 straight in the process. The one race he didnt win was the Swiss Grand Prix he missed this race because he was racing in the Indianapolis 500.
Regardless Piero Taruffi drove a Ferrari 500 to victory in the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix earning his only F1 World Championship Win.

In 1952 The Ferrari 500 helped secure Ferrari's first Drivers Championship for the Scuderia and for Alberto Ascari.
The Ferrari 500 won every race in 1952's World Championship except the Indianpolis 500. Which it wasn't entered in, meaning the Ferrari 500 won 7 of 8 World Championship Races.
(For the 1952 Indy 500 Ascari was in a Ferrari 375.)

In 1953 yet again Ascari drove the Ferrari 500 to his second Drivers Championship winning 5 of the 9 world Championship races.
Nino Farina Driving a Ferrari 500 won the 1953 German Grand Prix as well as Mike Hawthorn won the 1953 French Grand Prix.

Meaning in 1953 the Ferrari 500 won all but 2 races in the World Championship. The Ferrari 500 was again not competing in the Indianapolis 500 and in the final race of the season at Monza Juan Manuel Fangio won in a Maserati.

All of that plus the fact that it's beautiful, Seriously just look at it.
Between that Scarlet paint and that epic looking exhaust, I have always had a soft spot for the Ferrari 500.

 

[Pete05]

Because I don't really know many cars from the 50s, I just have these two to nominate:

Cooper T51 (Because for some reason, I really dig the cooper)

View attachment 529126

Alfa Romeo 158 (Because I really just love that stance and that shape)

View attachment 529129


If one of these threads comes up with the 60s cars, I'll be easily more able to pick out what I think look great.

I have to second the nomination of the Cooper T51.
It was a ground breaking car for many reasons and also the first rear-engined car to win the World F1 Championship.

 

[Liquid]

I have to second the nomination of the Cooper T51.
It was a ground breaking car for many reasons and also the first rear-engined car to win the World F1 Championship.

Just to clarify, we're not looking for the most innovative or most successful car; just the best looking. Nothing more. It could be a front-runner or a tail-ender.

 

[Dotini]

• Many have offered the Maserati 250F as the best looking car from '50 to '59.
  But the 250F was raced and developed continuously from '54 to '58, and raced up til the end of the formula in 1960, and it made several major body changes, and several minor ones. It came in a lowline, an offset, a full body streamliner, a V-12, and appeared in an afterlife as a Tec-Mec. All these had sometimes radically different looks.
  
  IMO, a book could be written about the history of this classic car. I submit that we should choose or even vote which particular 250F is "the" one finally nominated.
  
  IMO the '54 version should be carefully considered, as it was the first. Many, perhaps most, may feel the '57 lightweight of the type Fangio drove to the title that year is the best looking. But in my opinion the '57 V-12 Type 2 version 2 which Behra drove at Monza looked more purposeful with its twin NACA duct inlets, double engine cover bubbles and dual side exhausts.
  
  However, my personal favorite is '58 type 3 "Piccolo" with its shrunken bodywork featuring a top radiator duct outlet and aerodynamic bubble over the gearshift lever. Below Fangio is pictured at Rheims driving the Piccolo in his final race.
  
  This car is my 3rd nomination.
  
  
  

 

[Dotini]

1960 Scarab-Offenhauser

It was intended for the 1959 2.5 liter formula one season, but did not appear until the final year of the formula in 1960. A great pity it does not seem to be eligible for the nominations!

 

[Liquid]

1960 Scarab-Offenhauser

It was intended for the 1959 2.5 liter formula one season, but did not appear until the final year of the formula in 1960. A great pity it does not seem to be eligible for the nominations!

If it raced in the 1960 season you could nominate it next time around.

Note: the Porsche 550 RS is not eligible for nomination.

 

[Dotini]

My final nomination is the Ferrari 256 Dino, which appeared late in the 1959 season.

The 256 differed from the 246 mainly by virtue of its disc brakes, rear coil springs and 5-speed gearbox. This was the last front engined F1 car to win a Grand Prix (Monza, 1960) and represented the end of an era.

It is the lowest, narrowest, most slippery and refined of all Ferraris of the eligibility period. It has a sexy combination of blisters, bulges, bubbles, scoops, slots and louvers. Body is by Fantuzzi, who brought us the bodies of the earlier Maserati 250F.

 

[Liquid]

People who have nominated at least one and still have nominations left:

@Furinkazen - 3
@NorMcLarenF1 - 2
@Pupik - 3
@marco89IT - 1
@ButtKick - 3
@Pete05 - 3
@RACECAR - 2
@Liquid - 1
@-Fred- - 3

Anyone who hasn't nominated at all can still submit 4. The thread will close at "Whatever time I wake up tomorrow", which will be roughly 09:00 GMT / 04:00 EST so best to get these final submissions in now or overnight.

 

[Furinkazen]

People who have nominated at least one and still have nominations left:

@Furinkazen - 3
@NorMcLarenF1 - 2
@Pupik - 3
@marco89IT - 1
@ButtKick - 3
@Pete05 - 3
@RACECAR - 2
@Liquid - 1
@-Fred- - 3

Anyone who hasn't nominated at all can still submit 4. The thread will close at "Whatever time I wake up tomorrow", which will be roughly 09:00 GMT / 04:00 EST so best to get these final submissions in now or overnight.

I did forget:

Vanwall VW57 (1957)

Lancia D50 (1954)

 

[Pupik]

@Liquid

I posted four, but I intentionally posted just one photo (the Lago), since the others were already mentioned.

 

[Liquid]

As much as I quite want to pick a Ferrari, I will have to go with the Talbot-Lago T26C as my final choice. Love that exhaust setup.

 

[RACECAR]

Honestly, I have no idea what else F1 car form the 50s to nominate, those are literally the only two I know of and sadly, only due to the game I found both of them in

When a thread to nominate the 60s cars comes though, look out

I did forget:

Vanwall VW57 (1957)

Lancia D50 (1954)

I had no idea Lancia had a F1 car.

 

[Clark]

250F

W196 Streamliner

246 F1

Alfa 159

Cooper T51

 

[Liquid]

I had no idea Lancia had a F1 car.

They competed in F1 only briefly, at the final race in 1954 up until mid-1955. In mid 1955 the Lancia company was sold due to the Lancia family's financial troubles. Ferrari purchased Scuderia Lancia (the F1 team) and merged it with Scuderia Ferrari and the Lancia D50 became the Lancia-Ferrari D50, Fangio using it to win the title in 1956.