I think of this set as being full of very distinctive details of a particular era – yet there is crossover and overlap and transition between them. Even though the continuity is present, there’s a very clear looping back to the historical cars after the late 80s/ early 90s – at this point we see a divergence. The exotics retain the volume of recent vehicles, but gain the curves, lines and surfacing of 40-50 years prior. The mass vehicles just start looking a little melted and lose that sharp definition of the Bertone-era; where Alfa is in the present day is yet another mix of those two: more definition, larger volumes, but also more adventurous curves. As a designer, it’s interesting to see these particular details evolve and get re-referenced from other cars in their history; also to see what was kept and in doing so, signals a brand’s particular identity. Sometimes the most unusual or distinctive elements land up reused in the most unexpected places. Plenty of food for thought here… MT
This series was shot with a Nikon Z7, mostly the 24-70/4 S and my custom SOOC JPEG profiles.
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Prints from this series are available on request.
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Ming Thein | Photographer 
I don’t own or drive a car but that Bertone Carabo is still the stuff of my dreams.To describe it in one word and using a very sixties piece of vocabulary —
FABULOUS! If I was rich enough I’d buy the thing just to enjoy looking at it!
There is an oft repeated joke that Alfas look that good because you are often unable to drive them… 😛
To which I reply…I actually have a friend here in Japan who drives her family around in her Alfa, admittedly a much, much, more commercial model, but it’s been going for 25 years or so and still looks pretty much like new!
I think that may well be a cultural thing. I buy a lot of vintage objects from Japan and am always amazed in their pristine state, but the owners/sellers assure me they were used!
Yes cultural. The Japanese place tremendous value on traditional things or foreign iconic brands while at the same time embracing the modern for everyday functionality.
Some of those ‘Cuban ‘automobiles you photographed are in amazing condition too..and used and serviced regularly. I’m glad they still exist.
The actual ones in Cuba aren’t in anything close to original shape; they do the job with whatever they have to hand…
A picture is worth a thousand words. My drive since 1983………./Users/delbert/Desktop/Ferrari-02.jpg
Well, looks like I don’t know how to insert an image. One word is worth a thousand unseen pictures!
It needs to be uploaded somewhere, then you just paste the link.