Sleek Smart Cabrio

Here's a couple of pictures of the Smart Car Cabrio model, spotted on a visit to London in 2003. The design looks sleeker than the coupe - the headlights have been reshaped into a more aggressive form and the taillights have a cool wrap around treatment. The single color frame and body panel treatment really unify the design and the gradually upward sloping crease along the side accentuate the wedge shape. Not sure why they bothered with that lower little vestigial scribed line on the door though.

Smart in London

Smart Cars were hard to miss when I visited England for Christmas 2002. Here's a particularly handsome example in metallic silver and grey. The subtle contrast between the body panels make the car appear more sophisticated and upscale. The quality of the design sets it apart from the crowd. No one makes jokes about the original Swatch watch lineage anymore.

Not So Smart

Spotted this somewhere in Paris. I have no idea what it is, but it's not Smart. It appears to be a little longer than the Smart Car but doesn't have the design refinement and and flair. The quality of construction also seems dramatically sub par. That strange dent  and crease in the rear is actually a designed in style feature of some kind.

Smart in Paris

The futurist design of the Smart really set it apart in Paris when I visited in 1999. This was the first generation Smart Car, back one there was just a single version of the car. Later they named this model the "ForTwo" indicating the number of seats, to help differentiate it from the bigger "ForFour" four-seater model that never really caught on. From the beginning they made a big deal of the contrasting color "Tridion Safety Cell" to emphasize the safety feature of such a small vehicle, shown here in silver.

Original Smart

I spotted my first Smart Car near the Sacre Coeur in Paris back in 1999. Even in France where the streets are crawling with tiny hatchbacks this car stood out. It's unusual proportions and futuristic shape were enough to draw attention away from the local architectural attractions. More than a few foreign tourists were snapping pictures of the car.