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The year was 1984. The year I passed out of school and was at my impressionable best. This was the year when the little state capital of Thiruvananthapuram got its first Yamaha RD350s. They were extremely rare to spot and when you eventually found one you’d see it in rear three-quarters position only. The RD350 is about divine proportions – perfectly balanced and relying on symmetry as if the world will stop breathing otherwise. So is the Laverda Jota 1000 from the Seventies and even more so is the Ferrari 328 GTO. The initials stood for Gran Turismo Omologato. First you hear the name, then you hear the car and then you see it in the flesh – a classic way of achieving a cardiac arrest indeed. RD, Jota, GTO… all are legendary names that do not even need introduction in the form of the name of the manufacturer – except that the GT (if not the GTO) badge is being used by more and more manufacturers - everyone from VW to the BMW you see in these pages.
Do not get me wrong. I love the way the 5 GT looks. But it is not a form that will be considered classic. Oddball? Yes. Different? Yes. Timeless? No. The issue is that the GT treads the thin line between an estate car and an SUV with its underpinnings wanting you to think that it is actually an M3 attending a masquerade party. The large lady beneath the Venetian mask, there, please raise your hand! You see, there is no hiding the girth because that is what the GT is all about. It looks rather aero from the rear three-quarters but it looks cross-eyed from the front three-quarters. And it looks hell of a lot confused when seen on profile. Trust me, you either like it or leave it – I like it and that means you will get to read more than what the GT looks like.
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