What would a grille-less car look like today?

"IanZ - limited-slip indifferential" (ianz-limited) 05/26/2016 at 18:15 • Filed to: None

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We live in the age of the corporate grille. From Lexus’ Predator maw to Ford’s squished octa/hexagon, every car company wants to set themselves apart. I got an up-close look at an Oldsmobile Aurora the other day, a gorgeous car...

...that was then ruined, mostly by the addition of a grille.

But it got me thinking; what happened to the grille-less car? We’ve had the Porsche 911 for a while (although as a rear-engined car it doesn’t exactly count), and recently got the Model 3 (which as an electric car doesn’t exactly count). The gaping grilles on modern cars are absolutely unnecessary from a function point of view.

When you look at the previous-gen Focus, only 1/4 of the grille space is actually used to cool the engine. Those triangular vents on the sides are completely artificial, and the space where a front license plate would go is also fake; the bumper runs behind it. So the only functional space is the small area where the Ford logo is, and the areas above and below the license plate. This isn’t meant as an attack on fake grilles on cars; I know they’re there for cosmetic purposes. But the Oldsmobile Aurora proves you don’t need a grille to be beautiful, and I wish designers today would try it.

not for canada - australian in disguise > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:18

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?

dogisbadob > not for canada - australian in disguise 05/26/2016 at 18:25

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came here to say this, left satisfied

x87172 > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:26

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Not sure why, but this Oldsmobile design has always intrigued me... I get excited when I see those little rectangles in the rearview (happens probably twice per year).

HideyoshiJP > x87172 05/26/2016 at 18:35

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Theres’s a lot I did not like about that car, but I loved those headlights.

Steve in Manhattan > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:38

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I really like the 2nd gen Aurora:

HideyoshiJP > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:41

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I didn’t like a lot of mid-90s GM beige-mobiles, but those Oldsmobile Auroras were something else.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Steve in Manhattan 05/26/2016 at 18:45

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I hear they got beancounted into mediocrity though.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:47

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marshknute > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:50

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Idk, something like this?

Steve in Manhattan > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 05/26/2016 at 18:51

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Never had either one as a renter because I owned a car back then.

Future next gen S2000 owner > x87172 05/26/2016 at 18:54

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I have a soft spot in my heart for those old Cutlass Supremes, the coupe in particular.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:55

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The Aurora was both awesome and weird all at the same time. From some angles it looks like a frog face. From others the car just looks exceptionally modern. Such mixed feelings.

Even my old Lincoln’s grill is actually smaller than it looks, with plastic constricting the incoming air down.

My Focus ST makes even the normal Focus look reasonable - there’s acres of fake grille around the real intake all as part of a single “grille”, two fake intake type plastic pieces around the fog lights, and a huge “vent” that extends across the whole width of the rear bumper. At least the entire intake for the intercooler is real...

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > x87172 05/26/2016 at 18:56

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Intrigued you? I see what you did there...

Future next gen S2000 owner > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 18:57

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Grills haven’t really been necessary for almost 30 years. I don’t know why we still have them, oh wait, that’s right. They project power and speed, the bigger the grill the bigger your......whatever is.

This is the car that should have killed the grill.

Just noticed this cool tidbit, checkout the keypad entry on the dr. door. ‘85 FTW!

facw > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 19:01

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The Focus would probably look fine if they had the radiator behind the bottom section and did away with the upper grill. And of course Ford had cars without high grills (or much of them) before:

Seems like the most likely problem with current cars is that they are required to have more clearance between the hood and engine (though presumably you could also build a shorter engine), which causes high hoods without much slant, greatly increasing the space you need to fill on the front of the car.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Future next gen S2000 owner 05/26/2016 at 19:03

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The Sierra came a year earlier than the Tempo. Sold poorly compared to the traditional boxy Cortina because of its “weird” design and Ford subsequently lost its hold on UK market to Vauxhall and its Cavalier. The MKII face-lift reinstated the grille, but Ford never got that market back.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > marshknute 05/26/2016 at 19:05

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No, not like that, because the Rene Magritte’s The Lovers or Neo-in-an-interview version of “the normal look” - i.e. exactly the same but with something wrapped over it or just filled in - is disturbing.

It offends the senses to suggest that something *should* be there and then just blank it off. Olds and the 90s Fords were doing it right by trying new shapes - chaining your design to the grille that isn’t there is the worst.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 19:10

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Bring back the Sable wagon!

Under_Score > x87172 05/26/2016 at 19:12

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A teal convertible used to be at my school when I was a freshman; it rear ended my sister and I in a minor accident. No damage to the Cutlass or the Ranger, though.

Probenja > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 19:22

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Also ruined by a grille:

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > x87172 05/26/2016 at 19:41

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Pontiac did it better, but I guess theirs isn't grilleless

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Future next gen S2000 owner 05/26/2016 at 19:43

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The key coded door is the second best thing ford has ever done.

BigBlock440 > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/26/2016 at 21:02

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Don’t you know, only electric cars don’t have grilles because they don’t need cooling. Even though the model S has the same grille space as that Focus, it doesn’t need it.

x87172 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 05/26/2016 at 22:21

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Don’t you dare start with that. Before you know it, we’ll be enveloped in a Tornado of puns...

x87172 > Under_Score 05/26/2016 at 22:34

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So you’re saying an Olds hit some youths?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > BigBlock440 05/27/2016 at 01:17

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They don’t need cooling? Huh. Wonder why they have a radiator and two separate coolant systems then.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 05/27/2016 at 01:23

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For 90% of the cars out there I completely agree and personally love the look of 80's and 90's grill-free faces. However some cars do actually need those gasping maws for cooling. Current AMG’s for example have multiple oil coolers, trans coolers, standard radiator, intercoolers, and a couple even have power steering coolers. Big, powerful, tightly packed engines in small spaces need all the help they can get when it comes to cooling and they utilize most, if not all, of that perforated facial landscape.

BigBlock440 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 05/27/2016 at 07:13

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That’s my point. It’s a constantly repeated myth that electrics don’t need cooling, and the model 3 pig nose is embracing it’s electric-ness by not having a grille, and everyone that doesn’t like the pig nose is just used to seeing grilles on cars. Every time there’s an article about it.

Future next gen S2000 owner > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut 05/27/2016 at 10:16

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Did they call the Taurus the Tempo in the UK? Over on this side of the pond the Tempo was smaller than the Taurus.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Future next gen S2000 owner 05/27/2016 at 13:42

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Whoops, brainfart. UK never got the Tempo or the Taurus, the UK equivalent was the Escort and Sierra (later becoming the Mondeo), respectively.

Under_Score > x87172 05/27/2016 at 19:21

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The driver was like 16 back then. She’s probably 19 or so now. So she was a youth, too.

RT > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 06/02/2016 at 13:21

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I never thought I’d say this, but I think the pre-facelift Aurora pulls off the grille-less look much better than the Tesla.

Sadly Infiniti’s answer to the LS400 lost its look when facelifted. It went from a unique look to a very bland one just because people weren’t ready for change just yet.