Forza 7 Vol. 1 - the Pink and the Furious

Pink & Fast cars are ironic.

the idea here is the contrast between fast muscular cars with a color scheme that does not take itself too seriously, or too masculine.

To see a "new" Beetle in pink would not seem too out of the ordinary. One would assume an outgoing female owner. To see a modified "muscle" car in pink would result in a double take, and perhaps some head scratching. Did a boyfriend build the car for a girl? That would be a likely first conclusion. Did a girl build it for herself? A feminine grease monkey? What if it was not driven by a female? Then what? It's a masculine powerful car. Pink is the only color with gender clues to it. Gender has power implications. There are more than a few vanity plates out there that say "NOT HIS" to clear up owner/vehicle pairing. This is a many layered onion.

Ronda Rousey is ironic.

Jeffree Star is complex, but not ironic. The feminine is located away from the locus of power (at least prior to the last 50 years). A fast car is powerful. Hence: irony. Maybe it's the automotive equivalent of Ronda Rousey. A heterosexual man would be attracted to Ronda Rousey, why not be attracted to a pink car. You don't have to drive a car that represents your view of yourself. In my opinion, a black on black livery is a manly cliché. A murdered out Ram pickup is about as one-dimensional as it gets.

Pink and dangerous

This is 90 degrees from "murdered out."

I curated this collection of cars based on which look the best with this custom livery. In almost all cases, the pink has been paired up with black gloss wheels and tint. The black hints at performance prowess. It seemed this choice put the feminine and masculine in balance

2014 Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 at Road America, turns 3 & 1

What are these images?

These are cars that are featured in the racing simulation video game, Forza 7. The cars can be customized. In this case, pink paint for all! There is a "still photo" mode within the game for a player to revisit a race, already run, as a photographer, to capture stills. That is what I have done here. In most of these photos, I like a panning motion to the camera, to make the background a little blurry, to give a sense of speed. A slower shutter speed, and narrow depth of feild, also assists with this. I like to have the background simple to focus attention on the subject. In many cases I like the sun flooding the subject from behind the viewer to flatten the color shape of the car, (as shown in the first photo of this post.) Manet was know for this approach to depicting light in his paintings.

Pink Cadillacs

This all started with a series of Cadillacs. I decided to paint them pink and see if the camera would love them. Pink Cadillacs have a long standing place in automotive history. The "V" series is a performance upgrade, that has done well in racing for over 10 years. Below is a homage to the 50's pink Cadillac. Mary Kay could hand these out at the top of the pyramid scheme.

2011 Cadillac CTS-V coupe at Road America

2016 Cadillac ATS-V at Laguna Seca

2016 Cadillac CTS-V sedan at Long Beach

Pink and Lux.

Below are performance luxury coupes and sport sedans with pinkness going on. A real man doesn't care about luxury, only speed. Perhaps lux is gender neutral. These are all GT cars.

2016 Aston Martin Vantage GT12 at Sebring Florida

2017 Aston Martin DB11 at Sebring Florida

2015 Jaguar F-type coupe at Mugello Italy

2017 Bentley Continental Supersports at Road America

Paris Hilton's infamous Pink Bentley Continental GT

2010 BMW M6 coupe at Long Beach

Pink muscle - flirtin' with disaster.

A car like this might transport a stripper to work from the trailer park. This would be a Kill Bill, or DeathProof sort of car. Just the name "muscle car" has an undeniable masculine flavor. To pair that up with pink paint, could add a trashy, feminine touch. These colors could be called "Opioid rose" or "Meth magenta."

1973 Pontiac Trams Am at COTA

These cars could be a Lady Gaga accessory.

Or Kali Uchis

1989 Pontiac Trans Am at Mugello Italy

1995 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R at Mugello Italy

Form meets content

I'm trying to see if some narrative content gets overlaid onto the abstract form of the auto, by pairing certain cars with pink. All these cars in pink say different things about a driver, depending on the category, brand, and even value. Cars have no sex, but can often be described as "sexy." How important is it for a driver to feel their car matches their gender?

There are occasions when I'm driving along, and I see a car, and the driver, and I think, "What is the story there?" Whereas most people flying by in their new RAV4 or Tahoe, barely warrant a second look. 

I have a thing for beaters

I have heard that one aspect of Japanese Shintoism is the belief that all objects have their own souls or spiritual essence. (although I don't know a lot about the concept). If that is the case, what kind of battered souls do beaters have? To some extent, I DO think of cars as living things. How can you be a car lover, and NOT feel that way?

This is about beaters, generally.
I would be picky about what kind of beater I would want to drive. I like beaters with an even patina, and age, showing throughout the car.  Like selecting a pair of new jeans that are ripped... just so, and weathered to look like you've had them forever.

I did buy my own beater. (to view that post click here) I was quite picky about getting my own beater. After all, how do you approach buying a beater, that should look like a beater, when you can afford to go buy a new car? The instinct would always be to buy the best looking car for the money. There was no good reason behind the purchase (i.e. I'm getting something cheap for my 16-year-old to drive.) My criteria was: it had to be dirt cheap, look cool, and be as reliable as possible.

A gray man's beater

What makes a beater? High miles, Body damage, mismatched panels, Peeling paint, duct tape, hefty bag windows, donut wheels? In one way, I feel beaters can be cars that are not in bad condition, but rather, they are obsolete looking. Not desirable at all, even when they were new. They are the automotive equivalent of "gray man theory". Inconspicuous. The perfect private investigator car. To be driven when you want to blend in with the surroundings.

Steve Buscemi from Fargo. "tan Cutlass Ciera!"

Han from Fast Five

"A chameleon. Someone who can blend in anywhere."

If The Walking dead Zombies drove...

I would not want to own a beater with serious body damage. But I DO like to look at such cars. Not sure why. Maybe it’s like the morbid fascination of watching a train wreck happen. A train wreck that is the owners life. I mean really... how bad is your life if you’ve been driving around with caved in doors and a hefty bag window for a year, or driving around on your donut for a month?

Pretty bad.

One thing all beaters have in common, is what they say about the owner…”Struggle”

Here are some examples of cars that have a very beat up appearance, body damage, corrosion, decaying flesh, etc...

Rockin' the donut!

Real Craig's list cars for sale.

Private party sales on Craigslist say a lot about the owner. A dealer will know enough to wash the car before taking photos. Some owners don’t know or don’t care. They are not going to lift one finger to make this sale happen. These were pulled right from Craigslist ads. These photos were meant to function as "advertisement eye candy" to lure in a buyer. No attempts were made at tire shine here. Notice ad picture of car buried in snow. Helpful.

I love how telling the environment is, in some cases. A wasteland environment.

Right at home in the trailer park.

Sometimes just sticking the camera out the front door, and snapping a pic of it in the driveway, complete with garbage strewn around, and run over toys.

Sometimes the bleak environment of a deserted gas station at night.

Here is an interior shot. Don't bother to open the door, or roll down the window. I assume he owns the car, and has a key, right?

How is this photo helpful at all? They could not be bothered to clean the snow off the car for a photo? I guess it proves that there IS a car?

I’m amazed when I see photos posted that seem to be aimed at something other than the car. They could not even get the whole car in the photo.

Joe Dirt's Beater

Scale model of Dirt's beater

A hot wheels beater for sale on Ebay

Scotty Kilmer - "Why you should drive a beater car"

(Disclaimer: I own none of the cars pictured here, nor did I take any of the photos shown in this post.)