I had a random thought on the way to work today. If you could distil the general style behind car design for each decade into a single description, what word would you use?
Here are the ones I came up with:
1910’s - Mechanical
1920’s - Enclosed
1930’s - ? (don’t know)
1940’s - Streamlined
1950’s - ? (couldn’t think of one that fit well enough)
1960’s - Moulded (as in clay)
1970’s - Carved (as in wood)
1980’s - Constructed (as in blocks)
1990’s - Grown (as in organic)
2000’s - Sculpted (as in stone)
[size=150]Premodern Design(till the 1940s):[/size]
Form followed function and the car had clearly identifiable components. Aerodynamic principles were just coming into effect in design, examples bellow.
Citroen 11CV Traction Avant 1934
Lincoln Zephyr 1935
Citroen 2 cv 1949
VW Beetle 1938-1949
Cars became very curvy and integrated more componentes into the body, but retained the lines and had similar proportions of the prewar cars. They were long and high, they retained the fender lines, the radiator was still integrated into the hood and had little developed tails.
The cars had rounded, flowing forms and continous horizontal lines between the fenders. The tails section was more developed and contained a trunk. These shapes were better suited for easy mass production.
Studebaker Champion 1947 Chrysler Newport Town and country 1950 Alfa Romeo 1900 1950
The features of this design were inspired by racing cars. Vehicles benefited from improved aerodynamics and weight reduction; they were more compact, had clean lines and modern proportions, the radiator and hood were lower than on previous cars, had better visibility and a flowing tail.
During the Second World War the airplane developed very fast. Many engineers from a wide variety of industries were involved in that development and they fell in love with the look. This style of design took off in the 1950s when both jet travel and the space age were in their infancy and there was a wide fascination with rockets and airplanes. A variety of concept cars were produced during this period merging car with airplane and evoking outer-space.
These cars had features like domed roofs, projectile styled fronts and of course wings, fins and jet-pipes. Although these cars never went into production, they influenced the style of many cars of the era. Cars started sporting fins, bullet like front bumpers, rocket type noses and jet like tails. They also used a lot of chrome and achrylic glass.
[size=150]New Line Design late 1950s early 1960s[/size]
This design style featured cars with flatter and wider bodies and a low center of gravity, intended to improve both looks and performance. Other significant characteristics were flatter and more straight metal work, an horizontal side line cutting the body in 2 and the the side trim became an important design element. Though the trend of this design was going towards straighter lines and more geometric shapes, the lack of alternatives for the traditional round headlights meant that it had to keep a stronger link with the past.
This style of design is characteristic almost entirely to the USA of mid to late 1950s. There were no specific design rules, though some elements, like the fins, were barrowed from the Rocket Design. The obsession was for bigger, better, brighter and shinier cars. It was also a time of two tone paint jobs in bright colours.
The principles of the New Line design were adopted again but interpreted in a new way. This style was trying to project precision and funtionality by using sharp lines and orthogonal surfaces. It featured smaller double round headlights which were horizantally or vertically aligned or used rectangle headlights later on. The side was often sculpted in a V-angle and the size of the wheels was smaller so the interior could become larger.
Lancia Flaminia convertible 1961 (Boneschi body) Pontiac Grand Prix Sport Coupe 1963
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Nice!!
