“Why are you so argumentative?” she said.
“Me?” me said.
“Yeah you”
“I’m not argumentative”
“Yes you are”
“No I’m not”
“Then why can’t you shut up?”
“Why don’t you shut up?”
“I’m leaving”
“Good bye”
“Good bye and don’t call me again”
“Whatever you say sweetheart”

That’s the last conversation I had with my former girlfriend. Explains the former part pretty well doesn’t it? My father says ‘Flaws give you character’. Can’t help but agree with him. All great men have had their flaws. Napoleon wasn’t exactly someone you would call built like a tree. Wasn’t even as tall as a shrub and probably weighed in at ten and a half kilos. But he made General didn’t he? There is something about greatness that attracts imperfection. Now I am not saying I’m great or anything, but that is debatable. The point is not just having flaws, the point is to have flaws and live with them. Work around them or work with them. Being great is just a bonus.

So is the case with cars. Take for example the 911 Carrera. Who in the right minds would put an engine in the boot when people had been putting theirs in the hood? Not many I say. But that didn’t stop it from becoming an instant success and a legend we know it as today. It put the fear of god into the hearts of those who drove it on track. It needed a brave soul to drive it to its limits. At the end of the race, drivers were not smiling because they won, it was because they were in one piece. Go into a turn too fast and you better know all your prayers. Lift off mid corner and the under-steer would take you off track and in the 60s and 70s it was a pretty strong case for a visit to the emergency room. Going in too slow? Well don’t turn too hard as you put the throttle to the floor, otherwise it’ll show you how a dog wags his tail when shown a big juicy stake. Mid 70s was when the lunatics at Porsche bolt on a turbo to the already manic drive. Great straight line speed, but not so great in corners it was. The way to tackle corners was ‘Slow In, Fast Out’. Technology has now caught up with the physics of building a rear engined car. Try as you might you can’t have it loosing its rear anymore. You can have all the fun without killing yourself. But in the good old days of long sideburns and bell-bottoms, it took a real man to drive a Carrera.

Another example of this breed of flawed characters is the Lamborghini Diablo. In the words of one Mr. Jeremy Clarkson it was “…a chest of drawers with a rocket engine…” Pathetic build quality, non-existent grip levels, neck snapping power, rock hard clutch, shoulder dislocating steering. Heck you got a proper workout while you drove it. It was the fastest production car in the world for some time. It got its genes from its predecessors the Miura and the Countach. The Lamborhini V12 was the closest thing to god, and still is. It evolved over the years and reached the capacity of six liters and a maximum output of 543bhp in the Diablo VT. That by the way is 500cc per cylinder. It cost as much as a house in Golf Links way back in 2001. For that kind of money you got no rear visibility, minimal forward visibility, back breaking ride and you had to be a contortionist to get in and out of it. To reverse the damn thing was as hilarious as it was dangerous. You open the door, butt on the door sill half hanging out of the car looking back while trying to turn the steering and working the clutch and accelerator. But you also got second, third and fourth glances every where you went, superman status among the women folk, bragging rights at the pub and you also got to win all the traffic light drag races you inadvertently entered.

Talking of Italians, Fiat recently launched the 500. The spiritual successor to the old car. The old cinquocento was a popular car and you can ask the Italians. But in those days when your friends in America could buy a Mustang with a small block V8 with an auto transmission you in Italy were buying a 500cc, twin cylinder, two-door, two-seat piece of sheet metal. I havn’t even started about the cumbersome gearbox. Really? A 4-speed auto versus a precisely timed manual? All this while you had to watch out for the truck coming up behind you. I think not. But who am I to stop it from being the cutest car of all times. People loved its looks and the fact that it was cheap, easy to maintain. It was the first car of many a young men and women. People passed it on to their children and grand children. No wonder then the new car has been so well received.

For all their faults, all these cars are undoubtedly legends in their own right. From adorning the walls of the bedroom of a teenager to being driven on the roads, these cars have their own flaws which gave them character and made people respect them, fear them and most of all love them and accept them with all their blemishes. And nothing can take that away from them. Now if only I can learn to keep my mouth shut, maybe I’ll be able to keep a girlfriend for more than a couple of weeks.

This article was a user contribution which was submitted under ‘Aspire & Become Motoring Journalist’ contest.