(Dearborn, MI) BlueOvalNews.com - A recent weekend saw my wife and I take to the road for a long-overdue visit with some good friends in Charleston, SC. If you maintain a steady 80 mph and don’t make any stops along the way, you’ll make the trip in just less than four hours from where we live in Atlanta. Other than a slightly confusing interchange in Columbia, the route consists of nothing other than boring two- and four-lane Interstate highway.
Having listened to virtually all of each other’s CD’s over the years, and with no satisfying radio stations to be found during much of the drive, we usually just talk. And, as she happens to be married to me, the conversation invariably lands on the topic of cars, which, being genuinely interested in the subject (although to a lesser extent than myself), she’s always quite engaging and never without a unique angle on things. This occasion saw us discussing exterior styling, the extent to which it is responsible for how well a vehicle sells, and what types of designs are popular and why. Every car that passed us by (or, in most cases, that we passed) fueled the conversation and, for once, she wasn’t suffering from “car talk burn-out.”
At one point, she asked me what I thought about the current “retro” styling craze, and why all the domestic automakers seem to be obsessed with it.
Good question, indeed. The wife and I both love the new Mustang (her first car, a ’68 Mustang convertible, currently resides at home in our garage), and I can’t say that either of us (or anyone else I’ve talked to) have had too many negative things to say about the new Chevy Camaro or Dodge Challenger concept cars recently unveiled at the North American International Auto Show. Retro, if done right, looks great, and, at least in the new Mustang’s case, it seems to sell very well, too.
Quite a few cars currently on the market use some type of “retro” design language. In some cases, it encompasses the car’s entire design. In other cases, only one or two elements are retro. Here are just a few examples:
Ford Mustang – With the possible exception of the Volkswagen New Beetle, no retro-inspired design presently for sale hearkens back to an original the way the new Mustang does. From the headlights to the fastback, the new ‘Stang is unquestionably a modern personification of the 1968 model.
Jaguar S-Type – Take a look at the grille and the profile of the Jag Saloon sedans of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. The Jaguar stylists did an excellent job incorporating these essential elements in this present-day equivalent to the original.
Mazda Miata – Probably the oldest retro design still on the market, the current model represents a gradual evolution from the original 1990 Miata; a car based on the Lotus Elan of the late 1960’s.
Chevy Monte Carlo – Whether you love it, hate it, or think it’s just another redneck hot rod, you’ve got to admit that Chevy designers captured styling elements from just about every previous generation Monte Carlo produced since the car’s inception. Some have argued that, unfortunately, they were all the “wrong” styling elements from each of those previous designs. Regardless, it’s certainly retro.
Chrysler PT Cruiser – Though it’s getting a little long in the tooth, the PT Cruiser and it’s 1930’s styling have enjoyed a great deal of success as a terrific-looking way to package a fairly drab economy/utility vehicle.
Chevrolet SSR – Though some reports from within GM say it won’t be around much longer, the SSR is indubitably retro; its styling hearkening back to the beautiful Chevy trucks of the 1950’s.
As the above list seems to indicate, the new car market has no shortage of “retro” among its present offerings. But, as my wife had asked me, why?
Though any reasoning as to the cause of this phenomenon is pure speculation, I offer the two following explanations:
#1) Retro-styling is in many ways safer and easier than something totally new. Were I an automotive design engineer, I would welcome the constraints of a retro design; knowing that the comparative freedom of a totally “clean-sheet” design could well result in something akin to the styling disaster we all know as the Pontiac Aztek. Though risk-taking is a good thing (and should be rewarded), it’s probably a lot easier to look at a car like the original Mustang, see how popular it was, realize the prices that pristine examples of the original now command, and decide that a modern iteration of this classic is a safe – and likely profitable – bet.
#2) Retro-styling is demonstrably marketable for domestic automakers right now, and it’s one of the few areas where they have a real edge over the foreign competition. Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have an extensive heritage that includes many beautiful and classic designs. The foreign competition, especially the Asian companies, lacks this almost entirely. Exploiting such a rare advantage for everything it’s worth may well be the mark of a very desperate U.S. auto industry, but for now, at least, it seems to be paying off.
Retro can’t last forever, though. My good friend in Charleston (an even bigger car nut than myself, and the owner of a ’68 Cougar) opined thusly:
“If the ’94 through ’04 Mustang was supposed to look like the ’64 ½ through ’67 Mustang, and the ’05 through whenever Mustangs are supposed to look like the ’68 through ’73 models, then is the next generation Mustang gonna be a modern re-incarnation of the Mustang II???”
My friend has a point. Retro can only last so long – there are only so many good designs worth copying.
Staying with the Mustang example for a minute, most people who see them on the street today would probably say that the ’79-’93 “Fox body” Mustangs look pretty dated. However, you’ve got to give Ford credit, as designer Jack Telnack’s 1979 original was indeed a breath of fresh air for Mustang enthusiasts who absolutely hated the ever-so-slightly disguised Pinto that comprised the ’74 – ’78 Mustang II. Though the all-new ’79 model did include a few styling cues that could be considered a throwback to earlier ‘Stangs, it was an affordable, modern-looking (at the time), sporty hatchback with clean lines and decent performance for its era. Sales skyrocketed with this new model, and it continued to sell well throughout its 14-year life cycle.
The classic car market is notorious for the bottom falling out with little or no warning when a particular “hot” genre is at its peak and prices are at their highest. By the same token, it’s certainly possible that the popularity of retro styling among new car buyers could quickly reach its zenith and decline rapidly and without much warning. Given the domestic auto industry’s relatively slow pace with regard to the introduction of new (or even updated) vehicle lines, this scenario would likely spell very bad news for the Big Three.
Ford set a bold trend with their styling in the mid-to-late 1960’s. They had a design language that was new and unique (very distinct from that of the 1950’s or early ‘60’s), relatively clean and minimalist (for the era), and that permeated every model in the division’s line up. Along with a first-rate marketing campaign (“Total Performance”) and various successful racing endeavors, these aesthetically superior automobiles made this period one of the best and most profitable ever for Ford Motor Company. Ford (and GM, and DiamlerChrysler) can do it again. But hopefully, they will look to the future, and not to the past. And hopefully, they will do it before it’s too late.
