Monday, September 3, 2012

Malcolm's Top Ten Cars List


There are a lot of cars in the world, and if money was not a factor you have to wonder what type of car would you choose from.  For about 3 years, my cousin Joseph and myself have been answering that question with multiple list, its only now that I have a clear focus (and some time) that I can actually sit down and put together a composite, and compelling list that would make my choices known to my readers and for everybody to know, not only what I want in my life but what I hope to achieve as well.  For its one thing that I’ve always said, that when it comes to cars, you have to have certain life goals to even dream about cars like this. 

So with that being said, I would like to discuss the top ten cars that I would choose from, starting with the first category: Travel

1. The travel car I would choose from would have to be a car that I and my wife both feel comfortable driving.  This car has to be stylish but it also has to have the upmost functional features as well.  It’s got to have room enough to accompany me and my wife but also my 3 kids as well (and possibly any nieces and/or nephews that might come along).  For this job, I can only think of the Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum.  There are a lot of reasons why I can do the Escalade ESV, its functional, it can haul stuff inside and out, and not to mention that it has 3 full rows with 3 screens and 5 wireless headphones so on those long trips I can just stick my kids in the back and shut them the hell up for most of the trip.  I think that would be the best way to go for trips in the duration of about 2-4 hours

2.  The second part of this category would be for the long haul trips.  These types of trips can be anything from going on those family bonding trips or going camping with the pathfinders or going to camp meeting (back in Michigan of course) and I can and wouldn’t want anything else but an RV, but the particular RV would be a 2012 Monaco Dynasty 45 Palace.  Now normally I would go into details about the RV but its A LOT to mention so I’m going to be lazy and just past the link for you to follow and read it there: http://www.mcmahonrv.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?sid=07078058X9K2K2012J10I43I39JPMQ6990R0&veh=2732839

The next category is the family car.
3.  The family car is a car that I would choose to ride around with the family in tow that is once again a car that both me and my wife would drive, but the difference with this car would be that it would mostly be driven around town, preferably to church, dinners and the like.  Now the car I would choose for this would most likely be the Bentley Mulsanne.  I want a car that would be easy to drive, stylish, has presence and makes a statement about the Jessup family as we roll up.  It’s also subtle enough in luxury for me to bring it to church and not feel like I’m saying too much (as long as I get it in black).  But yeah, the Bentley is what I would get to haul the wife and kids around town and it’s also a car that I would love for my wife to drive as well.

4.  A more interesting category is the Wife’s car.
Admittedly the wife’s car is very much dependent on my wife and as of typing this, my girlfriend is Krishelle Harvey and her favorite car is the Fisker Karma.  Now the Karma is a nice car, the designer penned a lot (all) of the current Aston Martin lineup, so he knows his way around the drawing board and the cars do look nice.  The other perk to it is that it is a luxury hybrid on the same principles that the Chevy Volt is on technology.  The materials used in it are more luxurious and what not but as a wife’s car, it works.  As a mother car… not so much.  If it were me just buying a car for her, I would choose the Jaguar XJ-L but that’s just me.

The next up, coming category is business and this will have 2 cars.
5.  This first would be my personal favorite, the new Cadillac XTS.  I’ve always appreciated the American luxury that Cadillac has been bringing to the table for years.  In my opinion its even gotten better now that they’ve truly gotten serious about competing with the Germans and the Japanese with their luxury cars.  The Cadillac gives me a high scale but still approachable businessman appeal to my look and persona.  It also reminds me a lot of my Cadillac that I have now, the STS (it might as well be the new STS, it pretty much is, hell my STS is even BIGGER than the XTS but that’s for another blog).
6.  The second car I would pick and it’s a car that I’ve still wanted for a while now is the Bentley Brooklands.  Now I have loved that Bentley ever since I saw it on Top Gear.  Something about a 2 door coupe` that really has me going about it.  It even has a full back seat to be a coupe`.  But the best part about the Brooklands is what’s underneath the bonnet.  A 6.75-liter V8 making 530HP and a mind boggling 760 lb./ft. of torque.  To see this car in action is just… breath taking seeing as how it’s a car that shouldn’t performe like it does due to its size and weight but it boast a 0-60 time of about 5.1 seconds and man can it handle.  If the Cadillac is the approachable, sensible businessman car, the Bentley is the business car that I pull out to impress the higher ups letting them know I’m on their level.

The next category is the “fun” or “toy” car. 
7.  For that I’ve gone ahead and picked something that would typically only be used at a track but it can be used one public roads.  It’s a bit of Italian engineering at its best, from the aerodynamics down to the aluminum space frame and even the AMG Mercedes sourced V12 engine making a musical 680HP, of Couse I’m talking about the Pagani Huayra.  The Pagani is something that I appreciate from both an artistic point of view and an engineering point of view as well.  From active aerodynamics to a musically tuned exhaust and the best (or typical depending on how you want to look at it) that Italian design and leather craftsmanship can offer.  The car is simply a work of art and its only fault would be that I would be devastated if I took it to the track (or, God forbid out on public roads) and something happened to it.

The next two vehicles are in a category that my cousin and me call “project vehicles”.  Projects are anything from restos, resto/mods, or even concepts.
8.  With that being said, the first type of car that will go onto this page will be a car that, when I saw it, I knew I would have to have it.  That would be the 2012 Concept car Cadillac Ciel.  It’s a car that would only see the light of day at car shows and at special events.  If I was to buy it GM and other car companies make it a habit of selling concept vehicles without the transmission as they are not road league to have, and thus I would make it road legal.  I mean you don’t deny a 2+2 seater convertible with a 460HP twin-turbo V6 its road privileges but it would be on my personal roads.
9.  The actual restoration car I would actually want to get my hands dirty on would be the 1935 Duesenberg SJ LaGrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton. Now if you don’t know about that car you need to copy and past that name into Google and see what comes up.  Words truly cannot express what that car does for me in terms of looks, personality and old world elegance.  To own and restore that car would mean the world to me and it would only come out during my birthday or a VERY special occasion.

The last category is one that I put on here, just to shake things up a bit, and that category is Motorcycles
10.  In the world of motorcycles, there are so many to choose from, I don’t know where I would start in the decision process that would narrow it down to what I want.  Thinking as a young man right now in his early to mid 20’s there is one bike that keeps popping into mind, and that is the 2012 Yamaha YZF-R1.  A bike that is normally used to pull apron Yamaha’s sports racing tradition in Europe and the bike is a wonderful bike to have.  The balance, and precision steering that it offers along with one of the best motors in the business.  But then I think about how old I’ll be when I want all of this to come to past, hopefully a man in his mid 40’s and I think I would then like to have a bike like the Yamaha FJR1300A.  This bike is more of a “grand tourer” bike if you will but it’s a bike and its one that I also want.

But there you have it.  A look into what I would get if (or when) I get to where I want to get.  It’s not as outlandish as I wanted it to be, but then I’m not always that flamboyant.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this little view into my fantasy’s and I hope I can give you a view on how to make your own list. 
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Till next time, I’m out.