Car Asthetics.
What goes around comes around. I'm starting to see a pattern where car designers seem to flit between drawing their inspiration from circles and arcs to the lines and angles and then back again. Its like circles and arcs and lines and angles are two poles of a continuum.
The process seems to take 15 years to go from one pole to the other, and then you begin to see designs slowly striving for the other. Its why 70's cars appeared naff in the late 80's/early 90's and why 80's cars looked naff in the late 90's early 00s. Now because of this continuum effect some style essences of the late 70's early 80's cars are starting to appeal once more. For example the Austin Princess appearing in Dirk Gently. The Mark1 escort now looks great again, when in the late 80's it looked laughable, same as with the Ford cortina mk3, and Rover SD1. However, this is not a hard and fast rule, the Maxi and Marina Estate were largely compromised designs.
Personally as far as car designs go, I think we are in the midst of a hideously ugly period topped only by the 1970's.
The process seems to take 15 years to go from one pole to the other, and then you begin to see designs slowly striving for the other. Its why 70's cars appeared naff in the late 80's/early 90's and why 80's cars looked naff in the late 90's early 00s. Now because of this continuum effect some style essences of the late 70's early 80's cars are starting to appeal once more. For example the Austin Princess appearing in Dirk Gently. The Mark1 escort now looks great again, when in the late 80's it looked laughable, same as with the Ford cortina mk3, and Rover SD1. However, this is not a hard and fast rule, the Maxi and Marina Estate were largely compromised designs.
Personally as far as car designs go, I think we are in the midst of a hideously ugly period topped only by the 1970's.
Post edited by Scottie_uk on
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http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost.aspx?post=f73ac534-9b92-430e-83d1-cc33b8597db7
Edit: Oh bummer..
Datsun-badged cars in India, Indonesia and Russia -- and nowhere else.
If you see the Allegro prototype sketches it looks very much like a Alfa Romeo SZ, what came out was a compromise (from a design POV), I hear it was a dog to drive, as for the "estate" oh dear oh dear oh dear...ugliest car ever?
Agree with the Cortina MK3, too American. Tried to change it back with the Mk4 but too bland (only the 2.3 convertible girdled the loins).
Rather like the SD1, strangely, but pales into comparison with the P5 Coupe but a massive improvement over the P6.
Part of the reason for the boxy styling of earlier vehicles was the manufacturing processes involved. As materials improved and processes are better understood then 'curvier' shapes have come back.
The Princess was a decent car (in principle), my Dad had one as a company car. But like anything out of BL, quality control or lack thereof let it down hugely. The Princess (known as the "Ant-eater", apparently, inside BL) had a great deal of space inside, and it had innovative features such as concealed windscreen wipers which you find on far too few cars today (concealing the windscreen wipers also makes the car less injurous to a pedestrian it may hit, it's not just a look thing). They should have made it a hatchback though. It was shaped like one, and it would have been a better car for it. Apparently BL didn't want to cannibalize Maxi sales with the Princess, so they let Ford take the hatchback sales instead (the Maxi was truly ugly).
I'm surprised the Beeb found one that hadn't turned completely to rust. I note that the one on Dirk Gently has a valid tax disc to some time in 2012, so it did actually pass an MoT...
Still, least the steering wheel stayed where it was. . .
My dad had one in the very early 80's, here it is. If my memory serves me correctly, he did not keep it more than 2 years before replacing it with an SD1. We lived less than a mile from the Cowley works, so cheap near new BL cars were common place.
Looks a bit like the Alfa Romeo GTV6 (old old old version)
he prefered the cortina that we got as a family car in the mid 80's though, especially as he didn't have to clean up piss that the paras left in the back. :p