With the new Mustang having sold like hotcakes and the Challenger and Camaro coming along to steal it's thunder a lot of people are talking about this new retro car trend and how, along with Hybrids, it may be the new direction that companies take in order to make easy money. Much like how Minivans and SUVs of the 80's and 90's were the reason that a car executives were able to snort cocaine off the breasts of 1000$ an hour whores while playing air guitar solos with the members of Guns N' Roses.
But, you know, I don't think that's what's happening. I think it's not the "retro" styling that attracts people, but simply that the cars are good looking and seem fun. It's not rocket science here.
Every time I look at new car lineups (regardless of the manufacturer) I always get the feeling that there's very little choice in the market and very little emphasis on making cars pleasurable to drive at all. Like, why couldn't they make a convertible Cobalt? Or an El Camino type Cobalt? Why couldn't they make a compact RWD car like a BMW 1 series? Or a true hardtop with no B-pillar? Where's a full size convertible? If Americans are so fat and love big cars so much, where's a big convertible??? Time and time again you see cars built by bean counters. Vehicles engineered to be the motoring equivalent of a white undershirt. Something that's as bland as possible without losing it's tenous brand identity. I mean, just look at the grey interiors of most cars. Does anyone LIKE them? No! But most people don't hate them either, so companies keep churning out that ugly ass color.
When the SUV craze started, it was because people wanted to get the hell away from the godawful boring cars of the early 90's because back then trucks were still pretty cool. Sure, they were rough around the edges to a fault, designed entirely by people who'd never heard of anything but squares, utilitarian in the same way that a trash truck is utilitarian, and could trace their roots right back to the 1970's. But that was the whole point! It gave them a bit of charm, a bit of mystique. You could drive around in them and not look like your mom or dad in their station wagon. In the 80's, the old hippies wanted to relive their VW Van years (And VW really really badly dropped the ball back then, by not offering something worth a f**k) so they bought minivans instead of station wagons and could pretend they were still flower children, then in the 90's slighly younger people didn't want to be seen in minivans (and the hippy backlash had begun as well) so they got rough and tumble suvs so they could pretend that it was 1975 all over again and they were Burt Reynolds in Deliverance or something. Nowadays I'm pretty sure that station-wagons are set to make a comeback, under the auspices of being a crossover of course, because my generation feels slightly nostalgic for wagons and SUV's are seen as gaudy and useless status symbols.
But my point is, that retro isn't so much a style as simply the reusing of a good idea. The Dodge Challenger, for example, is a hell of a nice car. It was pretty in 1970 and is still pretty today. It's not so much "retro" as merely a timeless design. It'd like saying that building a house with a peaked roof is "retro".
I mean look at the old Mini Cooper and a car like... I dunno... a Honda Fit. Which seems more fun? I bet most of you instinctively said the Cooper. But it's hardly because it's an old car. It's just pretty and looks awesome to ride around in. Plain and simple. I think that sometimes some very long lasting models like the Beetle or the Mini sell a lot less towards the end because of buyer fatigue and because there's a gazillion on the used car market and people almost think that these things will be around forever. I think that once a car has been off the market for 10-15 years, especially a popular one, a demand for it is inevitable.
Or am I totally wrong here? Thoughts?
My car makes my pants tingle.
JuggaloZeke wrote:My car makes my pants tingle.
I second this... well... not his car, mine......... ok his car makes my pants tingle too. BUT ONLY A LITTLE BIT!
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
I can't say I really like the "Muscle car" style. OTOH, I would LOVE a mini cooper (one of the old ones). I saw one on my trip to Vancouver last weekend in immaculate condition, and thought it was gorgeous. Call me crazy but I liked the style the 80s jap sports cars had. Flip up headlights, a near triangular body line to them, and they mostly packed a surprising punch (Supra-Celica, FC3S RX-7, the '87-92 supra, AE86 and AE92 corolla, Celica, and even the 80s Prelude was cool in that respect). I'd love to see something like that get built, but I doubt there are many engineers craving that kind of style anymore.
2010 Honda Fit LX
I can say that I definitely look forward to driving my 06 Mustang more than I do my 08 Sonata. Both are good cars (Sonata is much more comfortable with the higher suspension and cushy cloth seats) but on looks alone, the Mustang will always win with me, not that the Sonata needs the brown bag treatment. Like I told another person recently, if the redesigned Mustang had been called a Probe or something else, I still would have brought it because I like the way the redesign was worked in and out of the vehicle. Not to mention the Mustang is just much more fun to drive than the Sonata.
So yeah Knoxfire, I agree with what you said.
Oh and if Chevrolet offered their own roadster underneath the Cobalt nameplate, I'd probably own one. A turbo SS Cobalt 'vert would be very nice in my opinion.
When the Impala name came back, I sold cars based only on the name and heard stories about how their dad had a '62 Impala with...lalalalalala. Capturing one's youth is more powerful than you think. You need only imply heritage.
There are proportions that make cars specific to their intent. A muscle car will look like a muscle car, whenever it's built.
I would like to see a Chevy Kappa car. A delta ragtop would only compete with the more practicle G6 vert. and likely be as expensive.
Yeah, but that's nameplate recognition. I meant styling in general. Like, remember the cab forward thing that Chrysler did? Big windshields and a wheelbase as long as the car would allow? Yeah, it was modern as all hell, but it was also ugly as all hell. Made a car look like some sort of desktop paperweight. They could have called the Dodge Intrepid, the Dodge Charger and it would have sold the same amount of cars. It was just a "meh" design that was popular at first because it was different, then people got tired of needing a 5 foot long stick in order to get something that rolled down in front of the dash.
What I should simply say is that, like you've mentionned already, "retro" styling tends to take into consideration things that are pleasing to the eye, like correct proportions and wheel height vs car height and things like that. While more modern styling tends to design cars that look like aerodynamic garden sheds in order to maximize interior space. Just look at the Tata Nano. It's probably the most modern looking car in the world, it's also hideous. A long hood/short deck design with a low roof wasn't designed specifically with musclecars in mind. As a matter of fact, it was an italian thing. But it was a great look and no matter how many times people try to improve on it, they simply can't. Yes, it's impractical. Yes, it's wasteful (to a point). Yes, there's no headroom and more often than not there's also no legroom. Yes, you can't see the road in front of you. But so what? The car looks amazing!
I think people like retro looking cars for the same reason they like the Mona Lisa, it's just nice looking in any era.
Attractive Cars of pure shape are generally timeless.
What dates cars are the trend markers.
Euro tail lights.
Hood scoops.
Fender vents....and so on.
It's why Foose always hides the stereos in is projects.
what is timeless and highly appreciable and what keeps the money flowing are often two different things.
lets see......fiero, camaro, trans am, acura NSX(which is by far the most beautiful non exotic car ever made IMO), 300ZX TT, 3000GT VR4(yes I know it weighs as much as a truck but you gotta love the styling)
humans are social creatures. alot of what we do today and how we operate is based on survival algorithms from cave man times. conformity is HARD WIRED into our brains today becouse the loner cave man 30,000 years ago diddn't survive. if you introduce a product that is truly different how long will it be until either it needs to conform to other products to sell OR other products need to conform to it in order to sell.
example, the viper was revolutionary when it came out. revolutionary in the sence of style and bringing brute force to the table in a time where motors were smaller and more "refined" every year. it went to the executive ball where the ZR1 and the 911 were dressed in 3 piece armoni suits sipping chardone' wearing ripped jeans weilding a sledgehammer and walked out with all the ladies.
if this had NOT happened the viper would of either died or had to go take a more sophisticated stance
but since it LIVED corvette, porche, and anyone else who wanted to court in what is now the vipers ballroom had to up thier power and come off as more agressive to survive
*that being said, due to the sucsess of the Z06 since it came out in the C5, its not so much the vipers ballroom anymore*
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Those so naive, so hard headed, so narcissistic, that think that buy their own efforts can single handedly change the world, are always the ones that do.
NUTCASE . wrote:what is timeless and highly appreciable and what keeps the money flowing are often two different things.
lets see......fiero, camaro, trans am, acura NSX(which is by far the most beautiful non exotic car ever made IMO), 300ZX TT, 3000GT VR4
IMO most of what you listed are ugly cars.
i think u make long posts just to post.
i dont think ive evr seen less then 5 sentencs from you
/drunk
