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Why now..
When the exxe was in production, it was liked and appreciated by many in the motoring world. In the pages of Road & Track, it has been praised many, many times. Raced at the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges to victory in SSC by R&T and voted as one of the best sports cars for a changing world.
This kind of praise by R&T was not alone, CAR magazine gave it a good and named it a minor master piece, Autoweek made a project car out of it that resulted in a better chassis than a 911.. Even Colin Chapman purchased on for his daughter Sarah... and this list goes on..
Turn a few pages of automotive media, the exxe became the poster child for abuse. More than a few motor journalist from that later generation deemed it a total POS, under powered, rusty, un-reliable and a BIG why bother..
Having watched the history and evolution of the exxe for over thirty years, had more than a few very ugly confrontations with noted motor journalist over what they wrote about the exxe challenging them on each and every one of their assumptions and prejudices about the exxe..
Why now.
Are FCA ad dollars having an effect on motor journalist or ????
It is really a mixed thing if the "classic" or collector car market takes note of the exxe. While it might drive up the market value of the exxe and motivate car folks to preserve and enjoy them and motivate the aftermarket to make proper reproduction parts for the exxe.. it is difficult to really know if Bertone's swan song will be appreciated for the great design it has been since day one.
Bernice