The Chrysler Crossfire is not a car someone will buy because they need a car. It's actually a retro-mobile like a Mini Cooper, PT Cruiser, or New Beetle. Unlike those other cars, however, Crossfire is patterned after parts of classic French Bugattis and Talbot Lagos from the elegant pre-war period of auto design. The world's top classic car collectors can recognize the shape of the rear hatch, the curve of the fenders, and the subtly bubbled roof from designs they covet, although the Crossfire is a blend of many lines, not a copy of any particular beauty of the golden age. Chrysler says the name Crossfire is derived from the crossed lines of the front and rear body sections.On first sight the Crossfire impressed us with all this copied elegance, and we think the car looks terrific. Spectators gazed wherever we went during our test drive around San Diego. We don't think all cars should look like this, however, and we think the "speed strakes" that dimple the hood, as well as the non-functional vents behind the front wheels, are kind of cartoony. For a while after we first saw the Crossfire we kept thinking of the post-war 1959 SL Gullwing, and we kept trying to look for similar lines of this classic copied onto the Crossfire. Finally we realized that it was the custom three-piece luggage set that fits in the rear cargo area that reminded us of the Gullwings of the past. Because of the boattail shape of the rear compartment, the custom luggage is almost a necessity to make use of the tiny seven-square-foot cargo space.
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