What car designs have aged the best?

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Visually, it's the late C3's for me...

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

This thread is interesting in that the results are so conservative. No Mazda Furai, nothing from Bangle, and with one exception, nothing Italian. And those are just three examples of thousands. I'd suggest that there are a bunch of handsome cars here, but few pulse-quickening ones. 

Those ones don't tend to age well, which is what we're talking about. Very little of the Bangle era did. 

In reply to Driven5 :

It's funny as I liked the big glass rear window on the 1978 when it came out (I was 16YO) as it was a big deal for Corvette for the era but over time I grew to not like the big glass rear window.  
 

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

This thread is interesting in that the results are so conservative. No Mazda Furai, nothing from Bangle, and with one exception, nothing Italian. And those are just three examples of thousands. I'd suggest that there are a bunch of handsome cars here, but few pulse-quickening ones. 

That's an interesting point. With that said, many of the cars mentioned here are the cars I (and likely others) oogle over at my local Cars and Coffee, while paying little to no attention to the umpteen-billion dollar supercars that cost far more than my house. Maybe it has something to do with them being more attainable? Similar to acknowledging a super model is an attractive woman, but the cute girl next door with her quirky features is somehow still more attractive to you. Just a theory. 

With that said, I had to Google the Mazda Furai- I don't think concept cars count... I own a Bangle era car (E82)- and even loving the car/chassis, I've never thought it was particularly beautiful... and while some classic Italian supercars will forever be icons, in my eyes, many of them from the 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's did not age very well- i.e. they were perceived as beautiful at the time of their release, but are not as attractive by modern standards. 

Although you did remind me of a beautiful Italian car that's a good bit more attainable than a Ferrari... I've been lusting after a GTV for quite a while now: 



^^^The car is older than I am, so I'm not sure if I'm qualified to say if it's "aged well", but to my eyes, that's a damn good looking car- I would speculate that it likely looks just as good today as it did when it was launched. Maybe better. 

roninsoldier83 said:

Similar to acknowledging a super model is an attractive woman, but the cute girl next door with her quirky features is somehow still more attractive to you. Just a theory. 

I've always found this study interesting. It's honestly why we put bronze wheels on a lot of our shop cars.

https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/okcupid/themathematicsofbeauty.html

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

I actually love flying buttresses. But for me, any advantage the flying buttress has on the rear, is more than made up for by the nose and its awkward height relative the side sills. Admittedly, the 'bubble back' also only looks good with the spoiler style rear fascia. So while the 80-82 are my favorite, followed by the chrome (front and rear) bumper cars, the 78-79 combined the worst of everything. I wonder if the 74-77 rear with the 80-82 nose would look the best of all, or lose the coherence of the design.

A related thread that would be interesting is "Which cars have aged well, and which haven't?" E21s were of no interest to me new, but they kinda look good now. Fox body Mustangs got me excited back then. Now? Nope. One of my most embarassing likes was for the Ford EXP. Yikes! 928 Porsche? Way ahead of its time, and I'd love to have one now, whereas they looked like a German Pacer to my young mind.

Funny.

I and most folks I work with in the vintage car industry consider the C3 to be the MOST dated styling of all the Vettes. It is very much of its era. That car looks like bellbottoms and feathered hair to me.

In reply to Trent :

For me, how well styling has aged has little to do with how modern it manages to look. Otherwise we could say the Aztec has aged well, since it was just a CUV ahead of it's time. 

And when you say bell bottoms look dated, you've apparently not noticed their recurring revivals with variations dating to multiple eras.

The Countach doesn't look like it's 40+ years old.

It looks right at home with it's younger siblings.

Trent said:

Funny.

I and most folks I work with in the vintage car industry consider the C3 to be the MOST dated styling of all the Vettes. It is very much of its era. That car looks like bellbottoms and feathered hair to me.

I love the chrome bumper C3s. I don't like the rubber baby buggy bumper ones at all.

Clearly this is the design that has aged best.

This design is a very close second. LOL

The Shelby Cobra is now 60 years old. I'd say that's pretty timeless. 

In reply to SV reX :

That looks an awful lot like a tarted up AC Ace to me.

In reply to SV reX :

The Cobra is iconic. Not sure if that's the same. 

Funny that the original Infiniti M45 made the list.  I agree, an attractive car and rather uncommon.  

Also uncommon and attractive...I had a black '97 240sx back in the day.  Maybe the entire package wasn't top shelf, especially the lowly truck motor that they gave us in the US but to this day, I see it as attractive (and uncommon.) 

Staying with Infiniti/Nissan, the 2nd Gen Q45 was not the "most" Q45.  Not the most fastest, or expensive, or lux but I do think it was the best looking both inside and out.  A clean design that I think aged well.  

In reply to John Welsh :

I always liked the S15s best, especially the notchbacks.

This ones 30+ years old but I bet many could think it is 10

Indy - Guy said:

This design is 44 years old and still looks fresh:

I agree with you when it comes to the coupe (top image), but not for the 2+2. The lines changed just enough to ruin it.

The E-Type was first released in 1961, so the design is now 63 years old.

The pinnacle of American automotive styling. The high point by which all others will be judged.

I'm kinda old. So...

1968 Mustang coupe. They get better looking to me every year.

2004 Lexus is300.

2008 - 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. Bland but inoffensive design.

There are more floating around in the void of my cranium - I'll grab them as they pass by and edit later.