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"Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito" (breakfast-burrito) 08/20/2013 at 18:16 • Filed to: None

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Blondude > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/20/2013 at 18:20

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And don't even get started on the tailfins from the late 50s.

Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito > Blondude 08/20/2013 at 18:25

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Exactly! Who's to say someone copied the tailfins? Tailfins were just part of the design that defined the 50s. The 2000s and 2010s will just be the "Catfish" generation. Strangely, I'm ok with this.

Mikeado > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/20/2013 at 18:28

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I get what you're saying about fashion trends within car design, but that shape of grille is so strongly synonymous with Aston Martin that people will naturally see it when they see a new Ford with horizontal silver slats in its big grille.

The thing is, did they actually get it from Aston Martin? I mean, why do that AFTER selling them? To spite them like an ex-wife getting your TV in the divorce?

I reckon they just took the European arm's Kinetic Design and swipped the upper and lower grilles around. Check it:

2011 Mondeo facelift and 2013/4 Fusiondeo

Ford Focus Mk.II ST225 (2008 facelift) and 2012/3 Focus Mk.III ST250

J. Walter Weatherman > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/20/2013 at 18:38

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Holy shit that Charger looks good in blue. Excuse me, I seem to be experiencing... a... um... pants situation...

Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito > J. Walter Weatherman 08/20/2013 at 18:47

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B5 blue really is a wonderful shade.

Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito > Mikeado 08/20/2013 at 18:53

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Wow, I never thought of it before, but you're probably onto something with the last-gen Euro Ford grills. Another reason why I never really thought Ford was copying Aston is because of the shape of each grill.

Aston grills always seem to have that distinct "S" swoop from the widest part of the grill to the top. They also always are flat on the bottom. Ford's by contrast lack the "S" and come to a point on the sides. The bottom of their grills are also relatively curved.

Mikeado > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/20/2013 at 19:01

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While I thank you for agreeing on where their inspiration actually came from, if they were going to copy the AM grille they wouldn't do it down to the curve. They're not Chinese! The Fusion's and current Aston grilles are so similar that finer details of the shape need to be highlighted to tell the differences. Generally speaking, that's too similar. But here it could well be coincidence, as the Focus and Fiesta's new fish mouths are more different.

Pessimippopotamus > Mikeado 08/20/2013 at 20:02

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Yup. The Mondeo (and the Iosis concept that heralded the new-look Fords) was the missing link in Ford's design evolution for the American consumers.

While it's not much of a change from the old Mondeo to the new One (I think the new one's much larger, isn't it?), you have to understand that we Yanks had come from these recycled old things to the new Fords.

crown victor victoria > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/20/2013 at 20:06

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I just think it's all very hilarious that people are blaming Ford for somehow sullying Aston's virgin grille when AM themselves have allowed it to be super-glued to A GOD DAM TOYOTA CITY CAR

How these styling purists are even capable of making a defensible position here is totally outside of any reality I am willing to accept. And this is to say nothing of what a blatant cash grab the Cygnet program is. If people aren't still lining up to speak ill of that 4-wheeled shame then they have no basis for accusing Ford of stealing anything.

If nothing else they should just be happy that someone is putting a similar shaped hole on the front of some halfway decent cars instead of the equivalent of a Prada-branded toothbrush.

FFS.

Mikeado > Pessimippopotamus 08/20/2013 at 20:07

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I don't see how that affects my point, to be honest. It's nothing about change, it's about why their new grille looks a bit Aston-y.

crown victor victoria > Mikeado 08/20/2013 at 23:27

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I think he's just saying we never got the Euro designs that precursored the current ones, and if we had, the shift to Aston Grilles would make a lot more sense stylistically.

Mikeado > crown victor victoria 08/21/2013 at 04:17

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I still think that's largely irrelevant. You still look at that grille and think Aston Martin. You don't look at them and think "oh, they've just swapped the grilles round." It's not something I realised straight away, it took a while.

meccapanzer > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/23/2013 at 13:39

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Well I remember the MR2 and the Pontia c Fiero getting flack for being Ferrari rip-offs but no one really cared except to point it out.

I think the second gen maybe even got it a bit more than the first... I can't remember.

SpeedSix > Breakfast Burrito: The True Resident Burrito 08/23/2013 at 19:37

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Minor spelling nitpicks:
Ford Galaxy —> Ford Galaxie
AMC Javlin —> AMC Javelin

Otherwise, neat article! I never particularly thought about these styling criticisms, but I'd like to ask: Did Aston Martin get much criticism for the 1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage's similarity to Ford Mustangs and other pony/muscle cars?