Growing up I had dreams of being a car designer. It is an art form that seldom gets any notice by the general public. Here's a sample.



The older I got the more I realized I did not have the imagination needed to look into the future. The styling of sports car from across the Atlantic fascinated me much more than anything from American manufacturers. It wasn't until 1963 that the Vette nailed it for me and I bought one.



Of course I didn't have the split window coupe. It had great lines and proportions but to be honest it didn't handle as well as my 1962 Triumph Spitfire.

To my eyes coupes almost always look better than a roadster (i.e. Jaguar XKE) but nothing tops wind in your face for driving enjoyment.

It must be terrible to be an auto designer today with all the limitations. They all look alike and I can't tell one vehicle from another when it comes to cars and SUVs. Trucks have some interesting macho features but they all look the same these days except for the really stupid Tesla joke. Designers seem limited today to endless front and rear headlight designs, wheel designs, and interior designs. Boring.

It seems off road vehicles are only thing a designer has some options that haven't been killed by lawyers yet.

Any thoughts on the topic?

 

Yeah, we were all lied to about how awesome and streamlined the cars of the future would be. I'll bet no one envisioned this many suv & crossovers on the roads. Sad. I miss cars, so very few of them being made now, or even being designed.

 

Maybe this is why there are so many CUVs and SUVs. As soon as someone does something new and unique like a Tesla Truck, it gets dumped on and called a joke. 20yrs from now, it will be called ahead of its time. Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of any Tesla other than the original roadster, which was a Lotus Elise or the original Model S which I thought was a great looking sedan. Fickle bunch we are.

 

I was at the Cleveland Auto Show this week and the lack of car was noticeable. The vintage section was loaded with them but the new displays were quite lacking.

 

Europe has many cars being built and sold, and driven on the road, I don't recall seeing pick-up trucks there last summer ? If they have pick-ups I did not see any. They have SUV's though. Fuel is very expensive there, people want small fuel efficient cars.

 

Is it just me or does anyone else think that the Plymouth design from 1960 looks a lot like a elongated Studebaker Avanti that was introduced two years later at the New York Car Show two years later in 1962.

Any thoughts?

 

 

^^^^^ Is that a 1936 Bugatti? I am referring to the car not the female.

 

Unfortunately, design is a slave to engineering and manufacturing.

 

otherwise it is simply called art.