Home » The First Car To Be Called A Lotus Had A Great Shocked Spider Face: Cold Start

The First Car To Be Called A Lotus Had A Great Shocked Spider Face: Cold Start

Cs Lotus3
ADVERTISEMENT

I think it’s safe to say that our brains process the front ends of cars in the same way we process faces. This isn’t just me being a goofball, professional academic goofballs have done studies that seem to prove that this is how it works. Because our brains have such specialized hardware for facial recognition, that may be why many of us can sometimes identify a car so quickly and rapidly. It’s pretty amazing! It also means that when we see “faces” in cars, that recognition spectrum can take a lot of forms. Like how sometimes, instead of anthropomorphizing the front of a car, we anachropomorphize it, as in the case of this 1951 Lotus Mark III, which seems to have a spider’s face.

Cs Lotus3 2

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

The Mark III was a really interesting car; it was the first car that Colin Chapman built that was actually called a “Lotus,” for one thing, and what’s also incredible is that this car, designed for racing under the Motor Club 750 formula, had to be Austin 7 based. That means it had to use an Austin 7 chassis and drivetrain. Remember, an Austin 7 looked like this:

Cs Austin7

Somehow, that spindly little economy-family car became that low, fast, sleek looking thing you see up there. The aluminum body only weighed 65 pounds! And look at that weird little half-dome for the carb!

ADVERTISEMENT

The shocked-spider face is unusual, but has made a bit of a legacy. Remember the new Morgan Three-Wheeler that’s coming out?

Spider Usmorgan

That’s basically the same face! Close-set shocked eyes, open mouth. That’s it. Weirdly, it’s also this, too:

3wheel Cookiemonster

It’s a strange face, but I like it. It looks appropriate to the task of driving like a maniac on a track.

ADVERTISEMENT
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
25 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Oldskool
Oldskool
1 year ago

Considering my yard is full of wolf spiders, and it’s a full time conscious effort to keep them out of the house…. That thing scared the shit outta me as I lay me down to sleep.

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 year ago

Slap an antenna on it as a good ornament and that’s Bender Bending Rodriguez right there.
Bite my shiny metal ass

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
1 year ago

I love cookie monster!

ES
ES
1 year ago
Reply to  Freelivin2713

having just discovered them, i love peacock spiders. who knew?

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago

Remind me of Rosie, the Jetson’s robot maid.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago

Deleted

Last edited 1 year ago by Canopysaurus
Chronometric
Chronometric
1 year ago

I want to live in the Spider-Verse where everyone drives a Lotus.

Cerberus
Cerberus
1 year ago

Fun add to those studies about car/facial recognition: car people tend to be worse at recognizing people, presumably because that part of their brain has been reorganized to favor car recognition over human. For myself, I’ve definitely found that to be true, though I’m also a misanthrope, so it might be more attributable to that, IDK.

W124
W124
1 year ago
Reply to  Cerberus

I just realised the same about me while reading the article: I’m basically face blind, but I have recognized different cars as long as I can remember.

Austin Vail
Austin Vail
1 year ago
Reply to  Cerberus

Meanwhile my non-car friends I don’t recognize have the most difficulty recognizing cars and it baffles me. Like how can you not tell a your Mazda 3 from a Toyota Corolla, they are very different, whoever you are.

Cuzn Ed
Cuzn Ed
1 year ago

That Morgan is trying hard to remind me of some robot from pop culture, but i can’t place it.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago
Reply to  Cuzn Ed

I could almost see Johnny 5 if you put some kind of shields on top of the headlights that look like his robot eyebrows. The mouth would be completely wrong, however. The Mahindra Jeep that they can’t call a Jeep even though they’ve had a production license for the original Jeep since WWII does look like Johnny 5 after they changed the grill to appease the lawyers.

Cuzn Ed
Cuzn Ed
1 year ago
Reply to  Rad Barchetta

The eyes are definitely similar… But i swear there’s something with that square mouth… right on the edge of my memory.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago

Paint it yellow and you have Bob the minion.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 year ago

Great. Now I can’t unsee it.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

You’re welcome!

A. Barth
A. Barth
1 year ago

instead of anthropomorphizing the front of a car, we anachropomorphize it, as in the case of this 1951 Lotus Mark III, which seems to have a spider’s face.

I believe that would be “arachnomorphize”.

But 1951 was a long time ago and so the Mark III would now be something of an anachronism, so maybe we arachno-anachro-morphize it.

Fun fact: seeing patterns or images (e.g. faces) in random stuff is called pareidolia.

Gilbert Wham
Gilbert Wham
1 year ago

Is it some weird perspective trick, or is the front track a lot wider than the rear on that thing?

Arch Duke Maxyenko
Arch Duke Maxyenko
1 year ago

The high mounted forward facing eyes suggest it’s a submerged ambush predator

10001010
10001010
1 year ago

Even with the shocked spider expression it’s got a friendlier face than today’s overly aggressive stylings. I miss friendly cars.

Lew Schiller
Lew Schiller
1 year ago
Reply to  10001010

So much

Goof
Goof
1 year ago
Reply to  10001010

Yeah, but like, my compact crossover has to be angry looking so it can properly express my dissatisfaction that my life hasn’t turned out like I’ve wanted it to!

10001010
10001010
1 year ago
Reply to  Goof

I’m not saying there can’t be some angry cars, I’m just saying they don’t all have to be angry! I mean, even the damn Miatas look suspiciously agro now!

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
1 year ago

There’s a picture of the new 3 wheeler driving in the desert at sunset, where the headlights and front look like an old man without his dentures.

25
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x