Things We Love About Automotive Styling Through the Decades
As this article is being written, Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and that got us thinking about the ways that we "love" our cars. Love may seem like a strong word, but it's probably the best one to describe the way many of us feel about those old lumps of steel and aluminum that are parked in our garages, driveways, yards, etc. Otherwise, why would we do the crazy stuff we do to get them running and keep them that way?
So, with some photographic help from the Museum of American Speed, we’re taking a minute to look at a few specific things we love about old cars. Think of this as a decade-by-decade love letter to the styling and unique features that make old cars great. Here goes…
The 1900's
At this point, cars were more of a diversion for the rich. In the years following the turn of the century, what constituted a “car” was still in flux, but for the most part they were all motorized carriages. Resourceful engineers and entrepreneurs were busy coming up with creative ways to replace the horse with an engine. The results were often crude, but always clever.
This all changed in 1908 when Henry Ford introduced the Model T. You’ve heard this bedtime story before, so we’ll spare you the details. The immortal flivver really was the “car that put America on wheels.”
What we love: The Model T was viable because of its mechanical simplicity and durability. We’ve heard it said that Model T’s are “too dumb not to run.” There’s something elegant about that simplicity and the way it carries over into the car itself. There’s nothing here that doesn’t absolutely need to be, which is beautiful in its own way.
The Teens
The Model T really came into its own in the second decade of the century. And around it sprung up a burgeoning aftermarket industry to make it better, or just better suited to the tastes of its owner. While this was happening, some changes were being made at Ford Motor Company. While Henry would have been content to crank out Model T’s for the rest of eternity, his son Edsel had some ideas about how to make them beautiful as well as utilitarian. As R&D case studies, he had several speedster projects built for himself. This one was built in 1912 and features an experimental 6 cylinder.
What we love: Edsel was the man who finally pushed old Henry to strive for some aesthetic elegance in his cars. Because of him, we got the beautiful Model A’s, B’s, and on down the line. This car shows some of Edsel’s good taste long before he was able to share it with the world. Look at that short windshield and narrow cowl that smoothly transitions to the short doors. This lowdown hot rod really made a contemporary Model T look like the horseless carriage that it was.
The 20’s
Ah the roaring 20’s. If you’ll permit us, we think the car that best represents the opulence of the era is actually a 1930 Model, but the Model J is based on a design dating to 1928, so we’re going to go with it. Behold, the mighty Duesenberg.
It’s not hard to imagine a few dapper and slightly inebriated socialites roaring away from one of Jay Gatsby’s parties in this car. But what some folks miss when they look at those sweeping lines and opulent details is that this car was designed by genuine race car builders. The Duesenberg brothers started building race cars in the early 1900’s and they got pretty darned good at it. They won Indy in ’24, ’25, and ’27. They started building road cars in 1920, and their early efforts evolved into the mighty Model J that we see pictured here. These monsters cranked out 265 horsepower from a DOHC inline 8. Remember folks, this is the late 20’s. A contemporary Model A Ford made about 40 horsepower.
What we love: It’s hard not to love the concept of a no-expense-spared luxury car built by a couple racers from Indiana. Duesys pushed the limits of what a car could be, when the whole concept of the car itself was still pretty new. Styling-wise, the stretched wheelbase and low roofline makes it look like a hot rod for rich people. Cool.
The 30’s
Forgive us if this list skews a bit Ford-centric in these early days, but we’ve arrived at the moment when Edsel’s styling flourishes were finally coming to maturity. He had been president of Ford Motor Company since 1919 but had trouble persuading his persnickety father to embrace change. But his fight paid off, and we think the high-water mark was the immortal ’32 Ford. Not only did the Deuce bring us the mighty flathead V8 that really kicked the performance aftermarket into high gear, but it came in a downright beautiful package.
What we love: You could write an entire industrial design thesis on that grille shell alone. That reveal in the framerail that followed the line of the fender and running board didn’t have to be there, but it was because Edsel and Co. knew that it made the car more beautiful. The oval instrument bezel was perfect in its elegant simplicity. We could go on. It’s no wonder that 91 years later we’re still in love with these cars.
The 40’s
Aargh. More Fords, you say? We can’t help it. Just look at the lines of that ’40 coupe pictured below. Even if you're tired of hearing about blue ovals, it’s hard to argue with the beauty of that shape.
The auto industry was massively disrupted by the war effort from ’42-’45 as production lines were put to work producing the machines of war. When the country came out on the other side, revolutionary design changes started to emerge, setting the stage for the wild 1950’s. But before all of that upheaval, there were some fantastic deco-era designs.
What we love: Not only was that ’40 Ford a beautiful car, but it came with (in your author’s humble opinion) the best gauges in the history of the American automobile. Big words, but just look at that intricate deco font on the ’40 Ford Standard speedometer.
The 50’s
We know what you’re expecting to see here…
Oh the fins. They became symbols of the forward looking, jet age inspired designs of the 50’s, and by the end of the decade, some of them were downright outrageous. This was a decade where the country shook off its wartime funk and looked with eager eyes toward a future where anything was possible. Cars had taillights that looked like jet afterburners, fins that looked like airfoils, and miles of chrome trim. Some, like that ’57 Chevy, became American icons. Others were just plain ugly. But one thing’s for sure, no two cars looked alike. This detail is made even more clear if you look around a little in the current era of cookie-cutter automotive design.
What we love: We love the ’57 Chevy, really we do. But we would like to rewind a couple years to the origin of the Tri-Five species. The ’55 Chevy represented a huge leap forward for Chevy in both styling as well as the nuts and bolts below the sheet metal (hello, small block Chevy). But there’s one little detail that is just so perfect that we’re going to dwell on it here. That simple egg-crate grille is one of those “just right” flourishes that Harley Earl’s GM styling studio was known for. We’ve heard it said that it was inspired by a Ferrari, so we went to our archives for the photographic evidence.
Pictured above is a 1953 (when designs were surely on the drawing board for the new Chevy) Ferrari 375 MM Pininfarina Spyder. It’s hard not to see where the GM styling crew might have taken their inspiration.
Finally, any automotive styling article would be incomplete without a note that the Corvette was born in '53. We'll just leave you with the image of a '57 below to bask in the early 'Vette greatness. (It's also a fun exercise to compare it to the Ferrari above...)
The 60’s
For those of us who are obsessed with power and speed, the 60’s belonged to the muscle car. Some say it all started in 1964, but the horsepower arms race was already well underway long before that. The 60’s gave us the cars, too many to name, that still haunt our dreams and star in stories told of long-ago juvenile delinquency.
What we love: If you’re looking for a single moment, it’s hard not to go straight to the ’63-’67 Corvette. Even if you don’t like them, it’s hard not to see how ridiculously beautiful they are. Let’s call that honorable mention here.
BUT. If we’re looking for a design vocabulary that really captures what the decade was all about, we’re going to tip our hat to Mopar and all the outrageous cars, ads, and mechanical mayhem that they created in the 60’s. Ads with wild cartoon characters that ended up festooned on the flanks of Hemi-powered fire breathers, wild wing cars, colors with crazy and slightly inappropriate names. Ma Mopar had it figured out.
The 70’s
Oof. The 70’s. Things were not going well for American automakers in the 70’s for reasons that we’ve all read about in the history books. But thankfully, some designs and trim packages that were created at the height of the muscle car wars carried over into the 70’s and continued to fuel gearhead dreams, even if they were down on compression and laden with smog hardware. There were enough Z28, Cobra, and Flaming Chicken decal packages to carry us through until things got better under the hood again.
What we love: You might have seen this one coming. At the risk of being obvious, we’re going to call out the ‘70 ½ redesign of the Camaro. GM really hit a stylistic long ball with this one, and the basic platform carried them into the 80’s. That long nose, clean egg-crate grille (more Ferrari inspiration?) and aggressive fastback roofline made for a mean looking muscle car, even if some of the muscle went missing as the years went on.
The 80’s
We’ve heard reference to a “pendulum” of automotive design that swings from graceful curvy shapes being fashionable then back to more squared-off shapes with sharp edges. The 80’s was the decade of the sharp edge, led in large part by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s “folded paper” design vocabulary (think Volkswagen Rabbit and then every American car that followed for ten years or so). While this might not be what most of us think of when we’re imagining the ideal performance car, we think the squared-off aesthetic perfectly suits the cars that started to drag us out of the malaise era by introducing some new-age performance tech. Computers and fuel injection goosed the American auto industry back into the performance business, and we love these cars for making us go fast again.
What we love: We’ll let you pick your winner here. What’s really important is what was going on under the hood in cars like the Fox Mustang, C4 Corvette, GM G-Body, and 3rd-Gen F Body. They may all look a little dated when parked next to older or newer versions of themselves, but with the benefit of 40 years of hindsight, we’re starting to love the retro funk.
The 90’s
90’s muscle picked up where the 80’s left off and set the stage for the modern muscle car wars. That tech that began to permeate the performance landscape in the previous decade evolved into advanced systems that made big power from big V8’s. Real performance was back, and automotive design started to belie the horsepower underneath.
What we love: When the 4th-gen redesign of the F-body dropped in ’93, your author was 11 years old and totally enthralled. 275 horsepower was pretty darned good at the time, and the high-tech LT1 was wrapped up in that aggressive, wedge-shaped sheet metal. I clipped the Camaro “first drive” review from the local newspaper and pinned it up on the wall of my room. But then, when that newfangled LS engine dropped in ’98 and the bodywork got a facelift, I was genuinely in love. In high school art class, I made a painting of that sinister Trans Am Firebird with those evil-looking snorkels in the hood. I still have dreams about these cars, so we’re calling that Trans Am out as a high water mark for 90’s muscle.
This list is not meant to be a definitive one. Instead, we hope it starts a conversation. There are infinite additions that can be made here based on your unique perspective and personal preference. What are your favorites? Let us know on the Facebook conversation happening now!