The most famous moment in the Matrix, if not one of the most famous clips in modern movie history, is the “Red Pill or Blue Pill” scene. In the movie, programmer and hacker Neo finds himself baffled at his discoveries of something called a Matrix. Later, he is given a choice by Morpheus, the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar and a public figure of the city of Zion. In the movies, the real world is run by sentient machines and humans are more or less farmed to be used as batteries while their minds are trapped in a computer simulation.
Neo is at a crossroads. If Neo takes the blue pill, he’ll wake up at home in the Matrix and his life continues as it did before. If Neo takes the red pill, then he’ll be shown the world for what it really is. I love the way 10001010 reformulated this scene for the last Shitbox Showdown between a Mercedes-Benz SL 500 and a 2003 Ford Mustang GT:
This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue black car, the story ends, you wake up on a sidewalk in a crowd of people and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red car, you stay in Wonderland and tie a sweater around your shoulders and take money from rich widows for “tennis lessons.”
The world of transportation, be it cars, motorcycles, aviation, or beyond, is often seen as a space dominated by men. Thankfully, it’s awesome to see a greater variety of people nowadays. Mary Barra has held the CEO position at General Motors since 2014 and all-around badass Ralph Gilles was CEO of SRT until that brand folded. Today, he’s still Chief Design Officer. A quick search shows all kinds of awesome people of all stripes taking on all kinds of positions.
Today, the Bishop illustrated the work by Marilena Corvasce, the only woman found at Ghia from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. As the Bishop and DysLexus note, people like Corvasce have the potential to inspire new generations of car lovers:
Thank you for this research on Marilena Corvasce and the brilliant work on the Stallion project. Several months ago I asked if there were many female car designers since I knew of none.
Having 2 artistic daughters who also love cars I appreciate it.
Finally, let’s take a stop at this week’s Holy Grail, the Pontiac Tojan. My favorite comment comes from A. Barth and it has nothing to do with the car at hand:
I noticed something in the recent bylines.
Mercedes Streeter May 14, 2024 4:42 pm
Jason Torchinsky May 14, 2024 3:56 pm
Thomas Hundal May 14, 2024 3:04 pm
Matt Hardigree May 14, 2024 1:44 pm
The posting times are all car model designators: Oldmobile 442; Porsche 356; Peugeot 304; and Volvo 144.
Trust me, we’re not nearly as well coordinated to pull something like this off. Barring any secret shenanigans by the editors, you’ve just witnessed one heck of a coincidence. Have a great evening!
The BMW E89 Z4 was completely designed by a couple of female designers, Juliane Blasi (exterior) and Nadya Arnaout (interior). This model Z4 won the 2009 International Design Excellence Award.
Here’s a bit more with Juliane: https://www.bmwblog.com/2011/04/16/video-designers-perspective-z4-with-juliane-blasi/
I hear RoaringKitty is back on the socials so I expect an influx of meme stock “investors” looking for patterns in everything to be all over this.
Edit: And for any such people reading this post, I have it on good authority that the Autopian membership is going TO THE MOON!!!1 Buy now before it’s too late!
o.O
Mercedes, How you keep finding great odd stuff to write about is amazing.
Thank you
Red car or black car? Just like most modern automobiles there’s many shades of gray.