It’s time for another musical edition of Car Connections! For this installment, I took three US Top 40 singles for the week ending October 2, 1976, and found ways to link to them to automobiles. Those songs are “Still the One” by Orleans (#10). “Getaway” by Earth, Wind & Fire (#13), and “You Are My Starship” by Norman Connors, featuring Michael Henderson (#39). You’ll see how I connected those songs to Mercedes-AMG, Lincoln, and Alfa Romeo, but how would you associate them with cars? Tell us in the Comments section below. (And click here for more Car Games!)
“Still the One”: The Mercedes-AMG ONE, a plug-in hybrid hypercar with a 1.6-liter turbocharged V-6, four electric motors, and an 800-volt battery developed by the same company that builds engines for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. Total output is 1,063 horsepower and transferred through a seven-speed automated manual. Flat out, the ONE can reach 124 mph in 7.0 seconds and 186 in only 15.6 seconds. According to Mercedes-AMG, those figures “are made even more powerful thanks to driver programmes for the racetrack drawn from Formula 1. In the Strat 2 programme, the active aerodynamics, the tighter chassis tuning, the lowering of the vehicle and the full performance of all its motors all operate just as in the Formula 1 qualifying.” Qualifying for a $2.7-million loan to get one of these is a completely different matter.
“Getaway”: Getaway car. Bank robbery. I can’t think of a heist without thinking of one of my favorite movies, “Heat.” This 1995 classic directed by Michael Mann pits LAPD detective Vincent Hanna against professional thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his expert crew, and shows the personal struggles all of them — and the emotionally tortured women in their lives — go through on both sides of the law. At one point in the movie, a second-generation Lincoln Town Car is used as a getaway vehicle. It was made out of steel, but ended up looking more like Swiss cheese.
“You Are My Starship”: Aliens. Flying saucers. In the early 1950s, Alfa Romeo made a small run of Carrozzeria Touring-bodied 1900 C52 (aka “Disco Volante” or “flying saucer” in English) experimental race cars.
I’d be glad if one of these abducted me because the food where they came from is delicious.
Does today’s round of Car Connections make you want to add a Mercedes-AMG, Lincoln, or Alfa Romeo to your garage? Find one on ClassicCars.com.
