What makes a design "timeless?"

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform) 05/31/2015 at 18:31 • Filed to: car design, acura nsx

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Watching Mr. Regular’s review on the NSX made me think about what exactly makes a car design timeless.

There can be several criteria to achieve timelessness, but I think Mr. Regular got it spot-on. Using the NSX as an example, it has to have a certain “wow” factor even after its death. This makes me think of the first time I ever saw an NSX in person.

I was little. Probably 5 or 6-years old. We had just gone to a big Iranian festival in Sacramento. As we were piling back into our Odyssey, I saw it. A cherry-red Acura NSX. It was riding the camber of the road, so it was kind of tilted as it drove past, showing off its beautiful rear-end to my young eyes. The low, wide stance, those huge alloy wheels. It was an experience I will never forget.

What think you? What makes a car design timeless?

CB > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:34

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It has to be clean and not busy. Elegance is usually simplicity.

jkm7680 > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:35

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Something starts it’s life ahead of it’s time and unique. The NSX is a pretty good example, it’s a stretch but the design of guess what car has been called timeless by others before?

AM > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:39

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I think one aspect of a timeless design is it has to have a more simple yet elegant shape. Another aspect is that it has to be something completely different than what the norm is (the norm currently being big grilles, LEDS and lots of swoops)

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:41

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It has that special thing that you can feel but can’t put into words. It makes you excited even if it’s standing still. It makes you want one for a reason that defies logic. You remember that time you saw that one that was _____ in color and was going down _____ road like your example. It’s styling isn’t boring but isn’t too crazy either. It has to be more than the sum of it’s parts. It has to convey emotion.

AJ Feldman (alecmets2011) > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:42

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The NSX popup headlights make it less timeless, but I still love them

This is timeless

jariten1781 > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:49

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Very restrained use of whatever period specific design fads are in at the time.

TheHondaBro > AJ Feldman (alecmets2011) 05/31/2015 at 18:52

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Very true. I just texted my sister asking what year she thinks the car was built. Haven’t gotten a response yet.

TheHondaBro > CB 05/31/2015 at 18:53

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Like the Mercedes of old.

1111111111111111111111 > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 18:55

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The NSX has it. But I guess it’s like porn...you know it when you see it.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 19:04

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Yes. Old Mercedes. Why can’t they still look like this?

TheHondaBro > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/31/2015 at 19:08

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They left them in the oven too long.

DoYouEvenShift > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 19:10

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I think if a car doesnt follow the design trends of the decade.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 19:11

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Yes they did.

kanadanmajava1 > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 05/31/2015 at 19:13

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How about the big brother? The 600 spent quite long in production (longest besides G-series?)

Maybe the hardest and most expensive M-B the keep operating but it looks very good parked besides anything.

MultiplaOrgasms > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 19:30

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Everytime someone asks about timeless design, I have to bring up the Ro 80.

Maybe a design becomes timeless when it doesn’t differ much from todays cars. Many of the R0 80s ingredients are still found in modern cars, the long wheelbase, the distinctive wedge shape and the mix of soft curves and sharp creases and edges. People often praise the DS as a timeless classic, but to me it shows that the DS was conceived some 70 years ago. Long hood with slightly protruding headights and a very short rear end, all traits of many late 1930s and 1940s cars. It is still futuristic in its own right, but in a very art deco way. I would even argue that the CX is a more timeless design than the DS. The Ro 80 shape on the other hand is still very much found in current cars, most notably perhaps its direct successor, the Audi A6.

Sam > AJ Feldman (alecmets2011) 05/31/2015 at 19:39

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The F1 3/4th view is timeless. The rear, on the other hand...

It looks kinda... funky.

Toyota Sucks Lots Of Sausages > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 19:40

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My pick of a timeless design

AJ Feldman (alecmets2011) > Sam 05/31/2015 at 19:45

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It’s the taillights. They’re one of two bits of the car that give away its age.

The other are the windows, which only half goes down, like a countach

dogisbadob > TheHondaBro 05/31/2015 at 20:13

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The Cutlass Ciera is a timeless design

Sneaky Pete > TheHondaBro 06/01/2015 at 01:51

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Hard to pinpoint exactly what constitutes timeless design, but it’s easy to identify...NSX is timeless. Supra is not.

Berang > TheHondaBro 06/01/2015 at 02:29

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I think being above (or at least beyond) styling trends is the main key. There are plenty of ugly cars which are timeless, like say the 2cv.

Compare for instance a 1960 Plymouth Fury to a 1960 Studebaker Lark.

The Studebaker looks old. It’s not really timeless - but - it avoids almost all late fifties styling fads. Then look at a 1960 Fury which uses almost every late fifties styling fad...

It’s not simply dated in the way the Lark is - it’s dated to a very specific era of automotive styling. The lark looks old in a vague, general way. The Fury looks old in many very specific ways. And the more our tastes have moved on from that the sillier it starts to look. The other thing is relatively speaking the Lark is more in step with current tastes whereas the Fury embodies things that would look patently silly on any modern car.

So there’s being unique enough to not be tied to whatever details were popular when the car was made, and there is having styling that continues to satisfy tastes in later eras. If a design does both then it is essentially timeless.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > TheHondaBro 06/01/2015 at 06:39

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As far as I can tell, cars whose design is considered timeless now were considered to be handsome but rather dull/restrained back when they were new.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Berang 06/01/2015 at 07:25

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whereas the Fury embodies things that would look patently silly on any modern car.

You mean like pointless swoops in the sheetmetal and angry eyebrows over the headlights?

Admittedly, that shit looks silly on modern cars, too.