Does anyone else think cars' design just isn't as good anymore?

Question

I have noticed that cars from say, 1920 to 1973 have great curves, and lines, but after that, they just lost their art; who agrees?

I am talking purely about aesthetics; yes, there are a lot of improvements in the safety of cars, but some of these wouldn't be necessary if they were as big as they used to be. a '46 Ford, for example, could smash an Acura as if it were tin foil. Who likes the pure aesthetics and art of older cars as opposed to modern ones?

Answer 1

your right, since the late 70's when they started using plastic, it was all down hill, love the 50's cars, my personal favourites, 1940 ford coupe, 57 & 58 ford and chev, classics now selling for a fortune.
yet as a teenager, we where buying 39 chev coupes for around $50,and fitting them with later model V8's, this made them truly dangerous, old drum brakes and high ride suspension made them roll easy, but fit ALL the safety features of todays cars, plus running gear, what a ride!!!!!!

Answer 2

I would even go as far as the 80's before cars started to lose their sense of style and originality. By the time the mid 90's came along it was as if all cars looked alike. All of the brands of minivans look the same. That is also true with the 4 door economy sedans and the sports coupes. I was happy when they made the new retro-looking mustang. Chrysler is supposed to be making a retro-style 70's baracuda in the next couple of years. With the exception of those cars and maybe a few others, every other car on the road looks like something else.

Answer 3

Oh, definitely, you're right. We have to separate aesthetics from safety engineering, though. The so called high tech glove box design of cars now are much safer than, say, a Rolls Royce chauffer model with the Rattan siding, all black. Car wrecks back then were quite serious affairs with few walking away. Now, at least, there's some margin of consideration. Ralph Nader did hit it on the head, though; " Unsafe At Any Speed ".

Answer 4

if you like the cars from the 30's AND the cars from the early 70's i would call you confused

style is a bit constricted right now due to aerodynamic ( fuel mileage ) restrictions but some companies are trying ( Chrysler )

some of the best American car designs were in the 60's when Chrome was replaced with flowing lines but there is more too it than style
early cars were hand made and then there was the mass produced era where the constraints were what they could stamp ( this got better as the presses and metals got better ) then the abyss from 1973 onwards ( bumper standards then fuel economy and crash standards ) that we are just now pulling out of

Answer 5

I agree. the personality of the carlook`s started to faint at the 70`s, and until the beginning of the 90`s, nothing of them was left.

they all started to look the same, no matter buyed you nissan, volvo, opel, saab or whatever.

I think it`s boring. That`swhy we have these "pimp my ride" success programs, because everybody knows that unless you change car`s look yourself or by the workshop dramatically, it`s just like the rest of the cars, and you`ll be lucky to find your car from a parking lot in the middle of all the other alikes.

Answer 6

Wholeheartedly!! They may be more "efficient" in design nowadays, but they SUCK in style! Even the ones I thought were ugly back in the '50's and '60's look great in comparison to the ones now which are just copycat designs. Of course, I'm referring to American made cars predominantly, but it's also true of Japanese cars and German ones, as well as Korean and anywhere-else-an. You gotta have a lot of money to buy really well designed cars nowadays, and I think Jay Leno's got most of them. God Bless you.

Answer 7

I like to see the cars from 1950 come back there was style, with the big fins on the back, today they all look alike, In those days you had to know your cars in order to name them.

Answer 8

I think the 80's and 90's were blah, but the last few years look great. The 'safe' cars now actually look good.
Years ago the MB, BMW, Volvo, etc were ugly.