When automobiles first meandered onto the roads their designs were purely mechanical. Car bodies were designed simply to fit over the running gear and provide rudimentary protection for the passengers. Aside from some high-end European luxury cars, most automobiles were simple and bland. Henry Ford famously offered his working man's Model T in only black paint to further simplify the manufacturing process of something that was regarded as an appliance.
In America, General Motors is usually credited with being the first mainstream manufacturer to embrace the idea of 'styling' with the formation of the "Art and Colour" division, headed by a talented young man named Harley Earl. With some successes and a few flops this new department catered to the notion that, in a sea of competing brands, the implementation of attractive and unique visual impact could help sell more cars. And it did.
The pinnacle for automobile styling to me were the 1950s. Earl, Bill Mitchell, Raymond Loewy (who designed the Coca-Cola bottle) and others embraced the 'jet age' with not just tail fins but creatively creased body panels, cheerful two-tone paint schemes and lots of chrome--sometimes to excess. Even the much-maligned Edsel of 1958 showed creativity and uniqueness, but it's failure ushered in an era of more conservative styling in the 1960s.
The decade of the Corvair and Mustang still embraced styling as a means of distinguishing one car from another. Suspension and drivetrains had progressed only marginally from the preceding decade but the monocoque 'unibody' was slowly taking over from the traditional body-on-frame type of construction that harken back to the buggy era. Though some homogenization between similar brands started to take hold, the designs were still unique and few would confuse a Chevy with a Pontiac.Cars of this era today still mostly look fresh, appealing and distinctive.
The troubled 1970s brought us a flood of imports all bearing their own unique twists (or clever copies) of design. While American cars stumbled about trying to retain buyers by utilizing gimmicks such as 'opera windows' and half vinyl roofs, Japan, Inc. brought in cars like the Toyota Celica, Datsun B210 and 240Z. BMW showed us what a proper sedan should be. Volkswagen introduced us to the Rabbit, a genius take on what was called the 'hatchback'. Where the domestic designs showed desperation, the imports showed us another way to look at simplicity in design without resorting to total blandness.
Where things went wrong, in my opinion, was the 1980s. With the implementation of CAFE standards and continued emphasis on fuel economy the wind tunnel began to dictate car design. The Audi 5000 was the first of the cars that begat the Ford Taurus, a design that catered to smooth lines over attractiveness. Though these cars were highly successful I don't think most buyers bought them because they had eye appeal. The 'euro' look brought us the 1979 Mustang, a car that was ultimately successful but was the first to depart from the design elements that brand had carried from it's inception in 1964. The SN95 Mustang of 1994, though a clumsy design by today's standards, returned many of the Mustang's design cues such as the side scoops and return of the pony emblem to the grille. Most other vehicles continued as slaves to the wind tunnel, becoming ever more egg-shaped in their need to eek out another .1 mile per gallon. To distinguish one car from another designers took to creating 'brand' specific grilles. Audi and Lexus are the two most visual offenders in this, with ridiculously large air inlets that detract rather than enhance the look of their cars. Unable to crease sheet metal solely for the purpose of appearance designers now give us panels creased to work with the passing air as the primary goal. The results are rarely truly appealing and often become quickly dated.
All of this contributed to the popularity of the retro styling craze we recently enjoyed but is now sadly waning. In a sea of egg-shaped pods with side creases that swoop to oblivion the retro look stood out. The Challenger, Mustang and (to a much lesser extent) Camaro may be regarded as copies of old designs...but they were good designs that have stood the test of time. The blandness and occasional offensiveness of current automobile styling is just one factor in the demise of the car as we know it. An over-abundance of technology and sterilization of the driving experience also contribute. Though cars today may perform better than ever before I am finding it more difficult to care.
