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Car Design History - a brief overview
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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