By Justin Berkowitz
May 9, 2008
We've all heard the stats. Flying is safer than driving. Bicycling is safer than driving. Swimming with sharks with lasers on their heads is safer than driving. And despite Volvo's claims of an ultrasafe, fatality-free car in the next ten years, cars are destined to remain killers. You can't argue with physics. And there's always the human element: we're fallible. Not to conclude that cars will kill us all, but the risk is out there. Real hardcore motorcycle riders say to "ride the bike you want to die on." Which brings us to the question of the day: if you could know it was going to be your last drive, what would it be in? My choice is a classic 12 cylinder Ferrari, like the 275 GTB. The magnificent sound of the engine is what I'd want to hear if I was on my way out. As the Simpsons' Sideshow Bob once averred, "I shall send you to heaven before I send you to Hell."
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POWERED
May 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
A Toyota Prius, just so I would be dieing while doing good.
Just kidding. I think a 427 Chevelle would do the trick, especially if trying to corner too fast. It would make great noise in the process.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Delage D8-120 coupe.
Go out with style, baby!!!
May 9th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
1969 Camaro SS396 4-speed.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
1987 Buick GNX. Rare car with plenty of room for me in the after-life.
DT
May 9th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
1970 Jaguar E-Type convertible.
Grace and beauty in life….grace and beauty in death!
May 9th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
An Ariel Atom, with a naturally aspirated, highly-tuned Honda engine in it. Probably a B-series, for nostalgia.
I’d say a go-kart wielding a litre-bike engine if the question was suicide.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
a little morbid today…
i for one wish to live beyond my ability to properly drive a car - so I would be a passenger in said automobile…
I’ll vote for something ~ 2060 towncar [equivalent at that time]…
May 9th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Any Aston Martin.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Porsche 911 Turbo on the Autobahn. I’ve always wanted one of those cars and I’ve always wanted to drive on the Autobahn.
It would kill two birds with one stone; well, three including me.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
An ‘89 Nissan Skyline R-32 GR-R, one of my favourite 80’s Japanese sports cars period.
Or, if I didn’t want to wreck any beautiful cars, my 2000 Ford Ranger :P
May 9th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
How about a Bricklin. That’d be ironic.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
If you watch the beginning of the original “The Italian Job” that’s the car/way I’d like to go.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I’m with improvement_needed, I hope to die rich fat and happy in a 2075 CyberLexus LS6000r (the r stands for rocket car)
May 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This would be my ride of death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0fIW2iIug&feature=related
May 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Laser! Laser! LASER!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
If Michael McDowel can hit a wall almost headon at 195 mph and walk (okay, limp) away, why must we die in a 60 mph (less than 1/3 the speed Michael was going) fender bender? Could someone please explain that for me?
May 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I’d like to go in a Chrysler Sebring, just so there’s one less of those pieces of crap on the road.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
My 97 jeep wrangler on a very steep cliff.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
KatiePuckrik -
1970 Jaguar E-Type convertible.
I’m with you. There’s no better car in which to meet St. Peter than the E-type Jag.
I’d chose the Series 3, starting in ‘73 though, for the sake of the V-12.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Ah, yes, Rendezvous. Lelouche must have been the horniest Frenchman in France. Did you know that le louche is the manure scoop? How differently we’d remember him if the headlines read, “Speeding film director making film with his Ferrari kills entire family of 11.” Bastard.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Lamborghini Miura in lime green with blue interior, or there’s this.
http://www.myunusual.com/Pix/Cars%20pix/Harold%20and%20Maude%20Jaguar%20XKE%20hearse.jpg
May 9th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
The car isn’t important as long as my 40 year younger than me bride survived.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I’d rather go the way Nelson Rockefeller did.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
1959 Cadillac DeVille Sixty-Two Convertible or Sixty-Two Coupe. Somewhere on an open road, far from cities. Of old age. Please.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Howler
I hope Katie doesn’t see that.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
The clip reminds me of A Man and a Woman, French film from the ’60s, I think, with loads of scenes of the guy crossing france in a sports car (I was maybe 12 when I saw it, and I don’t remember what kind of car it was). There are also the car scenes from the graduate.
I must say though that while some of the scenes looked like they were supposed to be Paris, I can’t imagine main Parisian streets so devoid of cars at any time of day or night, and various things just didn’t look quite right.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
1987 Pontiac Grand Am would have been alright!
May 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
David Holzman, it’s the iconic film Rendezvous, and it is indeed Paris, and nothing was contrived. this was long before the day of computer animation.
Claude Lelouche fastened a camera to the front bumper of his Ferrari and drove essentially from the center of Paris–l’Arc de Triomphe–to the edge of the city in less than nine minutes. The film is in real time, and at least he chose to do it at 0500 on a Sunday morning, but if you watch carefully, I don’t think the guy got a single green light; they’re all red. And fortunately, he missed the bus. As well as a couple of shifts, if you listen carefully.
The film was re-created in a BMW stunt a couple of years ago, in Prague, but they had bought police cooperation and the necessary streets were all tightly closed for 10 minutes early one morning.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
@Stephan Wilkinson:
One bizarre correction. The car was actually a Mercedes 450SEL 6.9! He dubbed in all the sounds of the Ferrari 275 GTB, including the times when it would have been shifting (the Benz had a 3-speed auto).
May 9th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
That’s fascinating. I’d always bought into the myth that it was his Fazzazz. I wonder whether he thought he’d be better off in the Merc if he hit crossing traffic…
May 9th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
If I have to go in a car, I’d like it to be a Maybach Exelero ’cause it looks like Darth Vader’s whip. Make of that what you will.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Ohmygod, that is exactly right. Chariot of fire.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
it’ll be in Jeff Gordon’s #24 DU PONT Chevy…at least it’ll be worth it……
May 9th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I would like to die in a red 1966 Dodge Dart GT convertible with its white vinyl seats stuffed with smuggled Mexican pot; while being chased by Federales in Jalisco; and dying in a hail of bullets along side of Salma Hayek.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
ummm.. salma hayek. if she’s in the back seat who the hell cares what kind of car it is!
May 9th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Even though I’ve heard that the ride is a Merc, my untrained ears have a really difficult time telling that this is a ‘voiceover’. Wonderful clip.
For exit music, the blat-blat of a Porsche.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Since they’re technically street-legal in the UK, a tank. Can you imagine the carnage that must take place in order to die while driving a friggin’ TANK through central London?
May 10th, 2008 at 8:47 am
A Porsche 550 Spyder. If it was good enough for James Dean, it’s good enough for me. Otherwise, a Ford GT40 at the ‘Ring. Guess I want to go old-school style…
May 10th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Katie, I can appreciate the choice of an E-type, but why a ‘70? The Feds had squeezed the life out of it by then… twin “strangleberg” carbs (down from the triple 2″ SU’s of the Series 1), open headlights, those frumpy bumpers and saggy-butt tail lights.
If you’re gonna die, die in style… hop in a Series 1 (1961-1968) E-type Jaguar! ;)
That’s how I’m going. No annoying buzz of 12 short ones, only the full luscious roar of a big-bore, long-stroke inline playing Sir William’s Sixth Symphony!
–chuck
–http://chuck.goolsbee.org
May 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Early version Pinto baby! I can save my family the $500 cremation fee, not to mention going into the afterlife as one of the “Four Horsemen”…albeit, the one in the hatchback.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:52 am
One of these:
http://www.bobbode.com/Images/FunnyCar1.jpg
May 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Rolls-Royce Phantom. Not only would I shuck my mortal coil in sybaritic splendor, but the collision would undoubtedly improve the car’s looks.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
An old VW Microbus. It’d be instantaneous–no suffering.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
911 GT2, might as well go with a car that will put up a fight.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am
I like cars, but I really, really don’t want to die in one.
May 11th, 2008 at 2:18 am
I was going to respond to this earlier in the day, but waited. Unfortunately, in that span of time, my reply has taken a more bitter turn at Altamont LeMons. But I still say a Volvo 240 Turbo.
First of all, it would take a lot make the act complete - making the inevitable that much more spectacular in its buildup… but I also think it was one of the best all-around cars made in a relatively horrible automotive era, and while I’ve found something to like in just about any car I’ve owned, that was one of the few cars I just outright loved, warts and all.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Ferrari Formula 1 race car, in Monaco, flying off the track at 200 mph+ and into the Mediterranean.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Although I love my Corvette, since we are speculating , I’ll have to go with the ENZO
May 12th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
That really is kind of tough, as with my Jeep in the Rockies, it would be easy to drive it off a cliff!
Or other then that, I just watched the movie “The Kingdom,” so how about one of those big black government SUV’s with the armor and bullet proof glass somewhere in the Middle East? Now that would be some fight! LOL