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CAR DESIGN HISTORY, a brief overview.
CAR DESIGN FROM THE 1950'S TO PRESENT DAY
Throughout
the decades of car design there have been many events and technological
advances which have helped bring about major design trend changes.
New technologies have made it possible for more complicated compound
curves and forms of a cars body to be built at a much speedier rate,
with more specific tolerances meaning a curvaceous body need not
require 100s of man hours with a skilled craftsman. Advances in
non-automotive technology and lifestyle have also had there impact
on car design. During the 1950s the jet age had arrived spawning
a whole host of memorable designs.
The jet set lifestyle had captured the hearts of the American public
and designers of the time leaped on the chance to exploit this fascination.
Normally rather mundane family cars began to sprout wings, turbines,
and after-burner tail lights. At first they were styling exercises,
the 1955 Ford Thunderbird experimented with a wrap around wind shield,
it also featured exhausts which exited through the rear valence
and small turbines up front in the grill. The 1957 Chevrolet Bel
Air had unusual bomb
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1957
Chevrolet Bel Air
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sight
ornaments laid into the bonnet although unsightly they were small
and unobtrusive and did not ruin the appeal of the car (see
the 2002 Chevrolet BelAir concept). The Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
of 1959 showed by just name the extent to which designers looked to
the skies. However this trend ended abruptly with the 1959 Cadillac.
With fins which were a full 107cm, four after-burner tail lights,
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1959
Cadillac
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wrap
around wind screen, and two fake jet engine reverse lights, this was
taking it too far after the `59 jet like appendages began to disappear.
In Europe vehicles were undergoing a less radical change, the Jet
age did not manage to whip the European public into quite such a frenzy.
Elegant designs such as the AC ACE-Bristol which was then converted
into the much better known AC Cobra appeared. Other
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Ferrari
250 GTO
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well
known cars such as the Aston Martin DB4, (James Bonds favourite mode
of transport) and Jaguar XK120 (see
Jaguar concepts here) were produced in England. Italy was responsible
for bringing the Ferrari 250 GT SWB on the scene, and Germany built
the Mercedes 300 Gullwing, Porsche 356 B and BMW 507. This is just
a small selection of vehicles in Europe at the time, however they
show this decades contribution to car design aptly, all the cars mentioned
have things in common, they are all grandfathers of well known cars
today, they all show gorgeous rounded, clean lines popular throughout
vehicles of this era, this trend was to continue and become more refined
into the next decade.
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During the 1960s a new design competition began in America this time
for power, speed and sheer engine size, they were dubbed the
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Ford
Mustang
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`pony`
cars. Ford Mustang (see
the Shelby Mustang GT500 concept car), Chevrolet Camaro and
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Chevrolet
Camaro
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Dodge
Charger R/T were some of the more famous names, vents appeared all
over these cars especially on the more powerful versions, often these
vents served no purpose whatsoever and were merely for looks. Some
however, were functional and force fed air to the giant V8s lurking
under the bonnet of these cars, the Charger for example had a capacity
of 7.2 litres. Raw power like this forced styling changes to suit
the cars power, muscular shapes, twin exhausts and go-faster stripes
were all the rage. Specialist tuners such as Shelby, Yenko and Mopar
appeared further improving vehicle performance and styling. In Europe
during these times timeless classics such as the Jaguar E-type, Porsche
911, Lamborghini miura, AC Cobra (see
the new AC Cobra concept car), Aston Martin DB5, and Ferrari 275
cars synonymous with speed and beauty appeared, alongside countless
other design greats still revered today. Sports car manufacturers
also competed on the track for sales, Le Mans became a showcase for
top marques. During this time Fords gorgeous and aerodynamic
GT40 beat the competition four years in a row removing Ferraris
strangle hold.
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DeTomaso
Pantera
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The
1970s was a decade belonging to the wedge, high profile cars like
the BMW M1,
De
Tomaso Pantera, Lamborghini
Countach, and Lotus
Esprit wore it proudly amongst many others. Concept cars of the
day such as Bertones
Stratos HF prototype of 1970, and Ital designs Manta designed
by Giorgietto Giugiaro, who interestingly also designed the Lotus
Esprit and BMW M1 the seventies also heralded in very angular boxy
lines which would be a styling trait carried over into the 1980s.
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Opulence,
over indulgence and over priced was the trend of the 1980s,
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Peugeot
205 GTi
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during
a decade of materialism style was almost forgotten. Cars like the
Audi Quattro looked purposeful, aggressive and powerful but hardly
beautiful, similarly the Ferrari
Testarossa was a break from the traditional flowing Ferrari lines,
with super wide slatted doors and lights and angular lines it was
different from the classic understated Ferrari. One of the most memorable
areas of car design in the eighties is that of the hot hatch. Cars
such as the Peugeot 205 GTi and Volkswagen Golf GTi (production started
on the Golf in 1975) found a place in the market easily and cemented
the hot hatch as a popular product, still expanding to this day. In
America at this time styling had taken a turn for the worse even the
Corvette, Americas pride and joy looked worse than it ever had before
or since. Plain shapes and black plastic every where seemed like a
good idea at the time but look dated and highly un-fashionable in
retrospect.
The early part of the 1990s saw many eighties styling traits, however
once this was forgotten much more interesting shapes appeared,
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Dodge
Viper GTS
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many
were very
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Ghia
Focus concept
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organic
the Dodge Viper had extremely rounded lines and with its muscular
haunches and powerful looks it was less like a machine and looked
more like an animal. The Italian design house Ghia took the organic
form to an extreme with the Focus of 1992 it looked more like it had
been born than made. Curious shapes covered the car from its bubble
like tail lights and front facia which looked like some sort of pre-historic
animal, to the interior which had extremely ergonomic looking seats
and dash board. Fords
GT90 concept of 1995 was almost the opposite of the Viper and
Ghia Focus it incorporated Fords new design policy which was that
of “edge design” it was the use of hard flat surfaces which intersected
each other. More recent products of this school of thought would be
cars like the Ford Focus and Ka.
During the last few years car designers have looked to product design
for ideas, and that thinking is visible on many modern cars the Smart
car is a good
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SMART
Car
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example
of this it looks more like a gadget than a vehicle. Designers have
also looked to the past and many updates done on existing vehicles
are actually revivals of previous design solutions remade for the
21st century. One of the more complicated thing about car design is
bringing getting the aesthetics and ergonomics in balance, what might
look good to the eye, might be unfeasible to drive because the driver
cannot see where he is going or the seat is uncomfortable. New technology
has helped overcome some of these boundaries, and in the future new
science will further advance what is possible. Car design is like
fashion, always changing, it can never be predicted, and often looks
to the past for answers to the future.
Furthur Information on:
sports
cars and supercars
rare
and classic sports cars
more concept
cars
Read about the future of the automobile
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