Automotive Eras

"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
07/07/2020 at 18:20 • Filed to: my opinion

I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. We all know about certain eras from history, Jurassic era, Cold War ear. We are all familiar with automotive eras as well. The best well known are Pre-War, Post-War, and Classic/Muscle Car eras.

But I don’t think that goes far enough really. Also, we are in the Modern era, per wikipedia. Which is fine until we take a leap into the next era and end up with the Modern era ending 150 years ago. Do we move into post-modern? Post-post-modern?

Also, eras need a well defined starting point. Sure some traits will bleed over from one era to the next, but there should be a clearly delineated marking as the starting point.

As always, this is my opinion and it is right.

With that background, I suggest this new naming convention:

Genesis: up to 1915

This may seem arbitrary but it isn’t really. The Cadillac Type 53 was a one year only model and was the first car to feature the standard automotive layout we still utilize today. All cars prior to 1915 weren’t consistent and went with whatever layout the engineer thought was best. Cars prior 1915 represent the origins and experimentation of a new and fledgling industry. Roofs were very much optional and people didn’t mind being in the weather. This ear is noted by its experimentation.

Pre-War: 1916 through 1945

I kept this era because I like it. Deal with it. I expanded it because I don’t think it makes sense to delineate a 1926 from a 1939. Sure, the end of the era was inspired by art-deco and streamlined design but the whole era saw was improvements in the quality and horsepower of the vehicles. Fixed roofs became the standard. This era is noted for the automobiles transition from nice to have to need for many people.

Post-War Era: 1946-1972

This era is marked by the first of the horsepower wars. These were the last of cars that were generally unrestricted in their design. Government regulations on safety and emissions meant the freedom to design whatever your heart desired. As a result we got mile high fins, big huge behemoth cars with sharp pointy objects on the hood, and horsepower and torque for days. At the end, designs weren’t nearly as daring as the early days but horsepower had increased to unprecedented levels. Modern amenities that had pioneered decades earlier where beginning to make there way into mainstream vehicles. Disc brakes, power windows, mechanical fuel injection, and others may not have been the most reliable but were available as option. This era is noted for its unrestrained design and increasing available horsepower.

Pre-Electronic: 1973-1994

This era is one marked by transition. At the beginning, vacuum lines and a good mechanic were the hallmarks of maintenance practices. Electronic fuel injection was in its infancy. On some vehicles you could spec out fuel injection versus a carburetor. ABS was becoming standard and more refined every year. ABS and EFI were ways of marketing your car as high-tech with the latest options. Digital dashes became prevalent and analog gauges typically went from real time info to carefully crafted dummy gauges, only showing a portion of actual information. Reliability went up and typical vehicle lifespan went up appreciably. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! This era is noted for clawing back performance from its early dreadful performance and quality years.

Electronic Integration: 1995-2011

This era is defined by the ever increasing electronic interface with automobiles. OBD II is standard on all car sold starting in 1995. Carbs are no longer available. Cars are sporting more sensors. Airbags, Traction Control, and Stability Control all become standard across all vehicles with a few notables exceptions - I’m looking at you, Viper. Although by the end of the era, even the Vipe was tamed a bit. Adaptive suspension reacting in real-time to driver inputs grew from novel concepts to bona-fide performance enhancing options. Decades of computer improvements allow for the start of a second horsepower war that coupled big year over year increases with enhanced driveability. There was no longer a trade-off between high horsepower and everyday driveability. Electronic control continued its march into every aspect of cars. Satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control, rear view camers, and lane keeping assist all moved from novelty to everyday options. Notable advances are the introduction of a viable hybrid vehicle. This era is notable for its reputation for the loss of the “soul” of a vehicle

Electric: 2012-?

In 2012 the Tesla Model S debuted. It marks the introduction of a long haul, electric car that is capable of staggering acceleration and road tripping across the US. Prior electric only cars had minimal range and no cache. Emission requirements have been ever increasing with the writing on the wall for a large portion of vehicle sold. Even the most diehard ICE fan would admit that EV’s appear to be the future. Regardless of whether or not you like Tesla, the Model S marks the beginning of a new era.

As always, this is my opinion and it is right.

TL:DR - Read the damn thing.

DISCUSSION (10)

lone_liberal > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/07/2020 at 18:26

The pre-pre war era is usually referred to as the “brass era” for reasons that are probably obvious.

Future next gen S2000 owner > lone_liberal
07/07/2020 at 18:31

According to me, it's the Genesis era now.

Cé hé sin > lone_liberal
07/07/2020 at 18:35

Beat me to it....

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/07/2020 at 18:35

I do agree with you for the most part, but I would say 2012+ is not the age of the electric but the age of transition. The electric and hybrid powertrain is now a widely available and widely accepted alternative, but the real electric age begins when over half of all new cars are pure battery electric.

There are some arguments to be made about not separating the interwar years but I think they represent a common theme. Good work!

camaroboy68ss > lone_liberal
07/07/2020 at 18:37

Brass era kinda cuts off at the mid to late 20's. As most cars by the late 20's and then the 30s had ditched all the brass like the cars from the teens and earlier . The 30s would be more in line with Art Deco era.

camaroboy68ss > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/07/2020 at 18:55

I would agree with most of the list and its broad enough to catch everything, but really it could be broken down more as there were big shifts in the industry within those groups that make good cases to make its own segment. The “post war” era really ends in the early 50's and replaced with the “jet-age” where design was so heavily influenced by the jet aircraft, then that gaveway to the Muscle car and Pony Cat era of the mid to late 60's.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/07/2020 at 19:27

2012+ is roughly the start of the new horsepower war and likely the end of traditional ICE vehicles as we know them. 2000+ is the start of the high safety era, with some early-2000s cars having radically-higher crash safety than anything before them, which combined with ever-stricter emissions standards, has driven almost all cars into similar low-drag shapes that happen to also provide distinctly better crash safety. By 2010 or so, there were few outlier shapes/designs in production and now we’re entering a sort of second malaise in spite of engine technology because cars are starting to gain considerable weight to keep up with safety rating demands...

The 90s were a peak in multiple cycles - they weren’t required to be extraordinarily safe, the manufacturers had enough time to learn how to implement certain regulations in an aesthetically-pleasing way, some regulations were relaxed (making designs even easier to implement), and power was adequate for the weights of the era (which were much lower than seen in modern cars).

A lot of the tech that you consider normal around 2012 wasn’t standard until about 2018 - cars expected to be built through this date began to get backup cameras as standard, which means every car needs a screen in the dash.

It’s likely that ICE will be with us for decades still, considering the low cost and high energy density of the fuel. It’s more likely that by 2035 or so many of us will use on-demand autonomous car services for most everyday transportation needs rather than a personal automobile, freeing up a huge amount of space dedicated to car parking.

Nauraushaun > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/07/2020 at 21:13

This is good list. A term like “muscle” can’t really define an era since it only applies to certain countries for the most part. But the list you’ve compiled avoids such issues.

We might end up viewing the current era as pre-electrification. Or maybe it should be named something about efficiency since that’s become a defining trend of cars regardless of fuel source.

We may also end up referring to it as the appliance era, when cars became more like disposable smartphones than ever. Maybe

Future next gen S2000 owner > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
07/07/2020 at 23:38

I don’t think on demand car services will ever replace ownership. Certain cities may see an uptick but those will be outliers.

Consider this, in 15 years the majority of us will still need to commute to work. We won’t really want to share our commute and hence we will have our own car to take us to work.

Even if we didn’t, the fleet size required to handle rush hour would be enormous leading to a large portion of the fleet experiencing little usage outside of rush hour. This leads to a lower overall fleet utilisation and higher costs. The assumption that we will all use a car service depends on high utilisation rates for every car to lower costs to the end consumer. I don’t see that happening.

Whether we get a level 5 autonomous car in the next 15 years is any bodies guess. The money associated with the R&D is enormous. The majority of the big a uto manufacturers seen to be spending more money in EVs at the moment. We’ll probably get 90% of the way the and then really struggle with that last ten percent.

That’s how I see it playing out at least.

Taylor Martin > Future next gen S2000 owner
07/08/2020 at 13:57

I’ll never forgive government regulations for taking away so many vintage styles is exchange for safety and such, but I’m happy to see car’s are getting interesting again. Growing up in the early 2000s and 2010s every common car on the road just seemed... the same... But now even Civics and Camrys are getting easier on the eyes and such (though I’m not exactly a fan of the super sporty looking Civics, that’s just overkill). And with hydrogen cells and electric coming along it’ll be interesting to see what direction the automotive world goes.

Good read though, I think you said ear instead of era once or twice, but I only point that out because the sentence “this ear is noted for its experimentation” is fun to read out of context.