When was the peak of automotive design?

"JR1" (type35bugatti)
08/19/2014 at 12:20 • Filed to: Discussion

I am sure this question has been asked before and I am sure it will be asked again but what do you think the peak of automotive design has been so far? It is a tough decision for me and the 20's 30's 50's and 60's spring to mind. But I want to be semi impartial so what do you think the peak was and why?

DISCUSSION (41)

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:24

In before "The best automotive era is now you're a moron if you think old cars are better in any way because technology

Kinja'd!!!

and performance are all that matter."

I'd say the late 60s/early 70s european cars for their great styling and beauty, late 80s-late 90s japanese cars for being so well built and carefully engineered (while still being attractive and interesting), and the 50s for such original/unusual american car design.

Gamecat235 > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:26

The last 25 years.

FD RX-7
Mark IV Supra
8c Competizione
V12 Zagato

Alternate answer would be pre-war cars from the 30's.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:26

Design specifically as in exterior appearance?

I'd have to say the 50's and 60's American cars.

These days they are so controlled by safety, aerodynamics, etc to really be able to build whatever they want.

EL_ULY > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:27

it would be easier concentrating it to one brand. Despite all the regulatory changes, each year had some really good looking cars. One can say that stuff started going bad in the mid 70's to early 80's but i'm sure OPPO can find a buuunch of rad cars in that year range as well

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:28

It's a harder question to answer, because different automakers had different peaks, and some had more than one. Ford, I think, peaked in the early 30s and early 60s. Cadillac, multiple peaks situated in the mid 30s, late 40s, and again in the late 50s-mid 60s (as iconic as the fuselage Caddy is, I'm not sure it's necessarily their best). Lincoln, early 40s, early 60s. Mopar, once in the late 40s, once in the early Exner period late 50s, and again in the mid 60s after it stopped the LSD. Buick, the late 30s with aftershock in the 50s, and a brief moment of brilliance in the 60s. Chevy, several hit periods in the 40s and the 70s, tri-five and Corvair notwithstanding.

A meaningful answer to the question might not in and of itself be that meaningful, because it'd have to be an average across brands.

Hammerfrog > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:28

This is tough, because while I think the late 70s and 80s European concepts (read:wedges) were some of the best looking cars ever, many of the economy cars from that era looked like garbage. I think the best era has to apply to all cars, so it has to be the 60s.

deekster_caddy > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:30

I think the 50's had the most stylish looks and the biggest and wildest looking cars. Safety regulations and fuel economy concerns began impacting vehicle styling and size in the 60's and to me that's when looks really started to get similar.

CalzoneGolem > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:30

I prefer 30's and 50's but we're all kidding ourselves if we consider them better for anything but aesthetics.

Leadbull > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:35

I say the early - mid 1970s. Cars from all over the globe were looking pretty great.

It was also the last decade before crash regulations screwed things up for the 'Murican cars.

Soloburrito > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:40

60s hands down but I am partial to a beautiful 70s wedgie.

Brian Silvestro > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:43

60's/70's.

And whenever the Stratos came out.

phenotyp > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:46

Damn this no-pics-in-reply thing. I think VW in the late 90s-early 2000s really had it nailed. Very little, before or since, can come close to the damn-near-perfection they'd achieved. Outside of VW, there was so much optimism. Not the 50s-BS optimism like nuclear-powered cars, flying shit, or extremely gaudy ornamentation. Just a pervasive belief that things were pretty good and were only gonna get better.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:48

I want to say 1967

RMudkips > JR1
08/19/2014 at 12:54

In terms of beauty, I'd go with 60's-70's. Even mundane sedans of that time are now valued for their clean shapes, and that's before you get to the Stratos and the 2000GT. I'd say that 90's-00's is a good combination of form and function if you're talking about a Rams-esque kind of design. Volvos of that era are seerely underrated, and the supercars looked minimally vicious.

Cé hé sin > JR1
08/19/2014 at 13:02

I'm going with 1966, the year the Miura - or more accurately its body - was introduced.

After that the 1930s because Bugatti Atlantic and the like.

camaroboy68ss > JR1
08/19/2014 at 13:07

from just a design stand point in the US I would say 50-60s before government regulations began to pop up limiting what the designer do because he had such and such regulation to make sure was incorporated. I think that's what lead to downfall in the 70s and 80s is because you has old school designers that didnt grow up professionally always having these in place so they did they best they could at adjusting. Today you have way better engineering to meet standards and designers that have always had to contend with regulations.

DanZman > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
08/19/2014 at 14:11

Couldn't have said it better myself

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/19/2014 at 15:15

You make a good point as do several others. By looking at a broad spectrum it is hard to pinpoint a good era. Whereas certain companies achieved their peak at separate times.

JR1 > camaroboy68ss
08/19/2014 at 15:16

That is an interesting point. I bet the old school ones did not want to adapt but obviously the younger generation was more open to a new idea

JR1 > phenotyp
08/19/2014 at 15:17

I never would have gone with VW. It is not that they had bad cars during the era I just found them to be vanilla

JR1 > EL_ULY
08/19/2014 at 15:20

Several people have said that and you are probably right and if you want a sweet car from the early 80s look no further than this:

http://static.cargurus.com/images/site/20…

Might not be the fastest but it sure was a child of the decade

JR1 > deekster_caddy
08/19/2014 at 15:21

I agree with the similarity thing. If the muscle car era didn't happen I am not sure anyone would remember the 60s that vividly (at least in the USA)

JR1 > Cé hé sin
08/19/2014 at 15:22

I never understood why so many people liked the Atlantic. It was always poorly proportioned in my eyes.

JR1 > CalzoneGolem
08/19/2014 at 15:23

They only excel in aesthetics. That is why we have restomods

JR1 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
08/19/2014 at 15:23

You have it pinned to one year? Now that is impressive

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > JR1
08/19/2014 at 15:25

In my opinion that was the only year that all new cars looked good

JR1 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
08/19/2014 at 15:29

Hard to argue with that

deekster_caddy > JR1
08/19/2014 at 15:41

Just to expand on the similarity and style thing, go to GIS and search the following (one at a time):

55 Chevy

52 Buick

58 Buick (one of my favorite grills)

58 Fairlane

54 MG (I have one of these)

54 Jaguar

Then repeat for 64 or 65 and see how things start getting similar. (substitute Fairlane w Ford) That 60's E-type Jag was one of the last unique styles.

EL_ULY > JR1
08/19/2014 at 16:29

literally, gallons upon gallons of drooool! Man I want one. My production date as well 05/86 :]

wkiernan > JR1
08/19/2014 at 17:30

I think it's 1955.

JR1 > wkiernan
08/19/2014 at 17:50

Link is broke

wkiernan > JR1
08/19/2014 at 17:55

http://carspics-db.com/data_images/mo…

JR1 > wkiernan
08/19/2014 at 18:00

Still can't but I see in the bar it is a 55 citroen DS. Quite a revolutionary car for the time

ranwhenparked > JR1
08/19/2014 at 19:12

I don't know if its possible to make a blanket statement like that, everyone has their own idea depending on personal taste.

For me, it would be somewhere around 1940.

JR1 > ranwhenparked
08/19/2014 at 19:14

Not the first person to say that today and the 40s had some beauties such as the 1940 Continental

ranwhenparked > JR1
08/19/2014 at 19:19

I tend to prefer the 1930s - it was the era when car design finally came into its own as a real profession and art form, instead of just decorating what engineers already created, and 1940 was the ultimate expression of '30s design.

JR1 > ranwhenparked
08/19/2014 at 20:40

See I always thought the peak of expression occurred in the early 30s with Duesenbergs, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Bentleys, and so on. But I will admit the Delahayes of the 40s were to die for

ranwhenparked > JR1
08/19/2014 at 20:47

Its a very personal thing, and of course its impossible to fault a Duesenberg. I'd say the whole period from around 1929/1930-1942 was brilliant. You can add in the immediate postwar cars that were really just reissues of the '42s, too.

JR1 > ranwhenparked
08/19/2014 at 20:49

They royally ruined the looks of the Continental after the war. That is a perfect example of if it ain't broke don't fix it

ranwhenparked > JR1
08/19/2014 at 20:53

The damage is most severe on the Continental, but pretty much all the postwar cars were worse looking than 1942. Everything had to look "new", and the only way they could think to accomplish that on such short notice was to just kind of throw excessive chrome all over the place.

Stef Schrader > JR1
09/01/2014 at 11:32

Kinja'd!!!

When you get it right the first time...there's not a whole lot of need to change!