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Priceless Pieces of Design History

When putting together a car collection most go for some type of theme, a certain era of cars or only collect a certain make. For Justin Ross, his collection is based on some of his favorite designers and has a completely different take on what makes a car special to him. Names like Zagato, Giugiaro, and Gandini all continue to pop up when Justin explains how he built his collection. If you don’t know these names you should, they’re all designers that have influenced many of the iconic cars of the 70s, 80s and 90s and reason behind the rolling art studio that is Justin’s collection.

Justin got into cars at a young age and appreciated more of the design aspect than the performance of automobiles. No one in his family was particularly into cars but as a teenager knew that he had to have one of the most iconic 80s cars, the fabled Delorean. Of course he loved it due to Back to the Future but under all of that he, “appreciated all of the styling, something about the stance and of course all of the materials…it really looks like a spaceship and that was the appeal.” He found an interest in books relating to car design and started focusing more on iconic designers. He went to the Art Institute and studied design, reading about all of the great designers and knew a collection needed to be built. From there he was hooked and now focuses on mainly 80s and 90s cars that represents his favorite designs from the era. He could care less about the performance of the cars and in his own words, “I’m a styling nut and that’s what got me into this hobby.” The Deloran is the first car that resembles Justin’s favorite shape, the wedge, which you will find throughout the collection.

If you listened to episode 41 with Mr. Obscure you’ll hear the profound statement, “just because it’s rare, doesn't make it obscure.” Look no further than Justin’s collection to realize he not only has very rare cars but also obscure cars that 99% of you reading have never seen in person. While I’m not going to write about every car in his incredible garage (that’s what the podcast is for) I am going to highlight a few of the ultra rare and obscure cars we spoke about.

We will start with maybe the rarest car in Justin’s collection in the form of a Panther Solo 2 and if you’ve never hear of one, congrats you’re like the other 99.9% of the world who hasn’t either! Out of the 18 known cars built, Justin owns chassis number 026 and is one of potentially two cars in the United States. The Solo was a mid engined coupe made by the British automaker Panther Car Company from 1989-90. The car used relatively simple technology, had contemporary styling and was manufactured with a fibreglass body to reduce its weight. However, Toyota launched its second generation MR2 around the same time and the Solo 1 was unable to compete with its rival. A new styling design for the Solo 2 was created featuring a slightly larger 2+2 layout with a composite upper body, AWD and a mid-mounted engine from a Ford Sierra Cosworth. This would be called the "Solo 2". As Justin reports the lower body of the Solo 2 was a space frame primarily of steel with the upper body being made from aluminum honeycomb sandwiched between multiple sheets of impregnated glass fiber bonded with epoxy.

Justin really enjoys driving the car and the only problems that he has encountered are small things you would expect from a low production car. A radiator that was not big enough for the car and doors that are not rigid enough to prevent the windows from binding. Not surprising the Solo encapsulates the wedge shape he likes with the low slung front end.

My contender for most beautiful car in Justins collection is this 1997 Venturi Atlantique 300. Again, if you’ve never heard of it you aren’t the only one! Nicknamed the, “French Ferrari,” Venturi Atlantique was a mid-engined, fiberglass-bodied French sports car produced by Venturi Automobiles from 1991 to 2000. Its 3.0 V6 PRV engine was lifted from other Peugeot/Citroën models and was good for 207 hp in naturally aspirated form or 277 hp with a turbocharger. Sales of the Atlantique were extremely poor, total Venturi sales over its lifespan amounted to fewer than 700, despite praise from contemporary critics. With only 56 examples of this particular car you’ll be hard pressed to see one cruising around your town.

Anyone who is a part of the American car scene knows that the 25 year rule for importation allows us to get many of the Euro and JDM spec cars that were illegal when they were released. The Venturi is one of the few cars that Justin bought and had store overseas until it turned 25. The 90’s curves with the forest green paint and a tan interior screams class and style. When you talk about timeless beauty this is what you want. As good looking as it was in the late 90’s the styling still holds up and rivals many modern cars.

Qvale Mangusta is next, produced in limited numbers by the Italian automaker Qvale between 1999 and 2002. “It’s weird, its cool and you have to catch it at the right angle,” Justin says. It was designed to be the De Tomaso of the 90s before De Tomaso became disassociated from the project and all subsequent cars received Qvale badging. The Mangusta uses a front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and was designed by Italian automotive designer Marcello Gandini. It’s powertrain, technical basis and components were largely provided by American manufacturer Ford Motor Company. It is powered by a 4.6 L DOHC Ford modular V8 engine and was offered with either a 5-speed manual transmission supplied by Tremec, or a 4-speed automatic transmission sourced from GM. With 287 of these produced, yet again its impossible to see one of these in person. With many of the, “form over function,” design cues like the fake vent in the hood and the lower rocker panel, it is right at home in Justin’s collection.

Why does Justin like this era, for reasons like the Maserati Shamal’s windscreen spoiler, “that’s what I liked about that time, form always doesn't trump function but back in that era it had a pretty good shot.” You’ll also find that we spoke a lot about wedge design and the cars in the collection like the Lotus Esprit, Delorean, Panther Solo and Fiero all share this styling. Justin says of the newer vehicles styling, “it has to serve a very specific purpose in order to be a part of the design but there used to be stuff that had no real purpose…it was just there for the sake of style.” I 100% agree, the similar crossover shape of all cars that share the same platform with minor tweaks has turned the industry into an exercise in shareholder return instead of putting out excitement…I’m looking at you Acura! I think Justin put it the best when he said, “we have better stuff quality-wise nowadays but we lost a little bit of the naïveté of design.”

Huge thank you to Justin for taking the time to walk me through his private collection of designer cars. He doesn't do much social media but you can find him on Facebook! Better yet, go visit car shows around the Pittsburgh area, he more than likely will be there with something stunning. I’d like to go back and walk around like at a museum some time and really take in the beauty of each of these machines. Similar to Brian (episode 7) his collection is constantly changing and no doubt this will not be his last episode on the podcast. I look forward to seeing what Justin can dig up next and bring more rare cars to the Pittsburgh area!