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Anyone know why they stopped building cars with tail fins? Did they go out of style, or were there practical reasons? I have heard tail fins help with crosswinds at highway speeds, so they're not purely ornamental.
The tail fins are worthless for stability. Who ever told you that is just a fan of them.
Tail fins and other rocket-like styling elements were driven by the fascination with the early days of the US space program.
Maybe some company will try them again. Who knows. Car fashion comes and goes.
As far as looks go - I think newer cars are as a whole less distinctive, car for car, brand for brand, than they were many decades ago. I think that is at least partially because of the importance of aerodynamics and safety restrictions (big impact to bumper designs and shapes).
Today we have a lot of different shapes and sizes - SUVs, CUVs, tiny cars, etc that didn't exist much before.
I think there are fewer outright ugly vehicles today. There are many ugly old cars (Pacer, Edsel, Pinto, TransAm (yes!), Matador, Seville, etc. But some of the cars of the past were beautiful.
As far as looks go - I think newer cars are as a whole less distinctive, car for car, brand for brand, than they were many decades ago. I think that is at least partially because of the importance of aerodynamics and safety restrictions (big impact to bumper designs and shapes).
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I thought thyat too until there was a thread here about that. Someone posted pictures of the many very similar looking cars form past decades. There were lots of sinilar looking cars in the past too, we just ignored them becasue there were so many cool looking cars. Now I think there are more similar looking cars and fewer cool looking cars, so it seems like a big change when it is really a minor change. If you ignore all the simlar looking cars, there is almost nothing left.
As far as looks go - I think newer cars are as a whole less distinctive, car for car, brand for brand, than they were many decades ago.
cars of each era looked very much like other cars of each era. THere were also fewer models per brand in the past.
For example, there are fewer differences between Fords and Chevy's of the '30s than there are between different models of the same brand today.
So where is the difference? The difference in perception comes in what era you are interested in. THAT'S the era where you, as an individual, will find the most differences between cars, as you KNOW all the differences between cars. For instance, if you are a fan of '50s cars, you will know right off what the difference is between a '51 Hudson Hornet, a '51 Lincoln Cosmopolitan and a '51 Mercury. But the average layperson will thing, at first glance (and possibly if they see all of them side by side) that they are the same car!
You know what era each car is from due to the shared styling cues OF that era, be it '30s, '40s, '50s, etc.
Now, whether a car of a certain era looks better than a car of another era is up to personal prefrence. For me, there are beautiful cars of EVERY era. And average cars aren't generally beautiful in any era. They can be cool, but not necessarily beautiful.
To me, each of these cars is equally beautiful and good looking, even though they are completely different and of completely different eras:
I voted "different." I am not sure what quantifies "better" and "worse" in design. I think there are now more obstacles to making attractive designs, due to any design needing to conform to crash standards and such. So no pointy bits, enough space around hard points for crush zones, impact safety, etc.
On the positive side, advancements in lighting, plastics, etc, have allowed designers some flexibility they did not have in years past too.
I personally hate the crop topped lowered roofs and windshields that are starting to dominate more and more car designs. But the late 70s and 80s had some pretty boxy and bland designs.
And why all the technojunk that does nothing but distract an already attention span limited driver? Watch the road, get from point A to point B, keep focused on the operation of the car.. True car enthusiasts will enjoy the driving experience. The very best drivers will sit back and find driving a relaxing experience.
I think the cars from the 30s-60s were really the best designed cars. Cars from the seventies were just ugly and useless, how do you expect to move a twenty foot coupe down the road with a V-8 that barley makes 200 hp. The 80s they might not have been some of the prettiest cars but they took a huge technological leap. In the 80s you began to see more turbos, fuel injection, four wheel disc brakes, ABS, air bags, digital dash boards, an attempt at in car hi-fi, dashboard car monitoring, etc...Trying to get back into the performance as well as safety, and fuel saving aspect of auto design. The 90s were meh as far as most cars were concerned, but towards the late 90s you could get a performance car with 300 hp that could get 20mpg. 2000s you started getting more flashy design but not to overboard with higher hp and higher mpg. Now it seems like most cars are a computer on wheels designed by a Japanese cartoonist. Sure all that technology is cool but what happens when your drive by wire controls decide to double your input and send you flying into the back of a semi.
The cars were best looking between 1955 - 1976, and especially Cadillacs... but I love Pontiac an Buick too. I'd rather drive those old ones than new modern cars - at least in the Summer. In the Winter, I prefer a newer one.
I find today's cars to be bland and forgettable in styling. I'm especially offended by the boring- looking Toyotas.
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