Edgy Auto Design
Cars with hard edges.
Went away in the mid to late 80's.
Everything went streamlined.
My Dad said they all looked the same.....whatever.
But then:
Started with the GM stuff....can't remember the name of their "school of thought", but the Darth Vader style Caddies are the first fruits of this labor. Hard edges look cool.
Other designers are starting to do it again.
Flat surfaces.
Look at the new Chrysler Crossfire's hood and some of its body.
Look at the upcoming 2004 Mustang.
What else is happening with hard edges?
Went away in the mid to late 80's.
Everything went streamlined.
My Dad said they all looked the same.....whatever.
But then:
Started with the GM stuff....can't remember the name of their "school of thought", but the Darth Vader style Caddies are the first fruits of this labor. Hard edges look cool.
Other designers are starting to do it again.
Flat surfaces.
Look at the new Chrysler Crossfire's hood and some of its body.
Look at the upcoming 2004 Mustang.
What else is happening with hard edges?
Comments
On the other hand, the Audi A4 has got to be one the best examples of clean modern design. It has those subtle hard edges combined with soft curves and an understated but elegant design.
These stylizations always look so forced, they lose their flavor so quickly. There are always a few good design ideas that appear timeless because you can't pinpoint what their time was. Their compositions are set by a higher order of thinking. At least we're out of the everything-has-a-Nike-schwoop-thing style.
Originally posted by BuonRotto
Typical cycle of aesthetics.
. . .
At least we're out of the everything-has-a-Nike-schwoop-thing style.
Hey. . . I own the original swoopy car.
I think the Mustang's styling is very different from the Cadillac's Art & Science design theme. Infiniti is not adding creases and such, but their design theme is big cat "animal" athleticism.
Originally posted by drewprops
Cars with hard edges.
Went away in the mid to late 80's.
Everything went streamlined.
My Dad said they all looked the same.....whatever.
The big square bathtubs from Detroits also all looked the same in seventies, sixties.
The Detroit palaces of incisive chrome debauchery also all looked the same in fifties.
I was the eccentric then, who preferred Raymond Loewy's work from Studebaker.
And don't most of those gangsters' cars from the twenties look the same?
Most designs are just copying the original ideas, as in every other trend.
The eighties and early to mid-nineties were, like the thirties, a short hiatus of curvy, sculpted flowing lines. The original ideas of that school still surpass aesthetically those we have now.
I really liked the 1983 Audi 100, among other great designs.
The latest Jaguar XJ is one of the few current designs which don't hurt my delicate senses.
Both creases amd ?sweeshes? can be used to make a fine design, but without some thoghtful style they're useless.
So most cars made today fare between uninteresting and so disturbing they should be reveiled in all motor shows and on the streets too.
But then:
Started with the GM stuff....can't remember the name of their "school of thought", but the Darth Vader style Caddies are the first fruits of this labor. Hard edges look cool.
GM is a follower here, both Ford and Renault had been offering ?over the edge? design for some years now, and had shown concept cars of that style since the mid-nineties.
GM North America does explore how far it can make a car look like it got out of the wreck compactor.
Other designers are starting to do it again.
Flat surfaces.
Look at the new Chrysler Crossfire's hood and some of its body.
Look at the upcoming 2004 Mustang.
What else is happening with hard edges?
They say it cuts the costs of aligning the panels of sheetmetal.
It also attracts attention, whether negative or negative, what matters is to catch the eye.
Like some muscial pieces (also used for moderate non-physical pressure on detainees. as seen on another thread) catch the ear with disturbing sounds, which some actually like to hear.
GM is a follower here, both Ford and Renault had been offering ?over the edge? design for some years now, and had shown concept cars of that style since the mid-nineties.
Actually, Ford was showing some "New Edge" stuff in the 90's as well.
While Cadillac was still showing rounded, if creased looks.
The current Cadillac "Art & Science" look is a riff on the late 60's models, just inverted:
They say it cuts the costs of aligning the panels of sheetmetal.
If you mean rounded, uncreased sheetmetal, you are right. You have to be a lot more precise matching sheetmetal pieces with creases in them. On the other hand, sheetmetal with very slight curves or indentations is very hard to manufacture, and drives costs up. It's why the pontiac Aztec concept went from only mildly bad:
to eye-searingly awful:
the plastic cladding was used to keep the cost of manufacture down.