What started the retro fad?

It was the New Beetle, right?

I remember as a young lad the rumors that VW was bringing the Beetle back. The media was abuzz with notions of another true People'sCar, something lightweight, maybe rear engined, simple to work on, and cheap. I remember the backlash after the car was unveiled, and the world realized it was getting a heavier, less useful Golf.

Decades later, after the success of the PT Cruiser, Fiat 500, retro styled muscle cars, and the entire MINI brand, it seems like VWs decision to dress up a Golf in classic clothes was a stroke of pure genius. How silly we all were to complain that we weren't getting a stripped down air cooled pile. But that got me thinking -- did VW steal the idea from somewhere? Aside from kit cars and stuff from companies like Zimmer, were there any mainstream attempts at retro styling prior to the New Beetle?

There's always been retro. Here's​ the Excalibur from the 70s.

From a major manufacturer, I'd probably say the SN95 Mustang.

Well Nissan had that Japanese offering in 1990 or so that looked like it was from 1962. MINI's have always been retro, especially before they were bought by BMW and were still Mini.

I think the new beetle was the first production car available in the US though.

Mazda Miata. All of the romance of open air British motoring, but without the need for a Tweed cap or AAA.

In reply to Stampie:

Excalibur- so ugly that when you pull it out of the garage you'll be crowned king of poor taste

Ah yes, the Figaro! And its retro ilk. That would have been a good trial balloon for VW to have been watching, I'd forgotten about that.

scardeal wrote: From a major manufacturer, I'd probably say the SN95 Mustang.

I think you meant S197.

Other than the new Beetle there is the Audi TT and Mini Cooper plus the Ford Thunderbird. All came out in the late 90's early 00's. YOu could argue that it was Morgan as they never changed their styling and a big part of their selling point when i was growing up was already their retro style in the 70's. Then there are Caterham who once they bought the rights for the 7 off of Lotus finished up a few Series IV cars that were styled for the 70's and went back to the prior Series III cars that are still the basis of the current car. In the same theme the Classic Mini was selling on it's Retro style in the 90's based on it's 1959 design. Heck the old Beetle didn't exit production until this century and they were being imported to Europe as new classics in the 90's. In the late 80's and early 90's the 'Frogeye Car Company' was building Frogeye (or Bugeye here in the states) Sprites based off of late Midgets as retro cars. Various companies have been building Porsche 356 Speedster replicas with updated running gear as practical reto replicas since the 70's. In short I don't think the Retro thing ever started, I think it's always been there.

The "personal luxury " cars of the 70s and 80s. Chrysler Cordoba, Pontiac Gran Prix, Chevy Monte Carlo all tried a modern version of classical styling cues from earlier times. There was an 80s Cadillac with a rear that was styled to resemble the trunks of cars from the 30s or 40s. None were particularly successful at capturing the overall look that a new Beetle or MINI does though.

It was me

Adrian_Thompson wrote: In short I don't think the Retro thing ever started, I think it's always been there.

Indeed:

I was going to say tbird but google says the new beetle was 1998 and the bird was 2002.

Boring people running out of new ideas.

The same reason the fall tv schedules this year could be pulled from 1979 and the only thing that has changed are the people on them.

"What started the retro fad?"

Old men !

As long as there are old men in search of their (or somebody else's) youth, there's gonna be a desire for what once was and manufacturers will to exploit it.

Plymouth prowler beat the beetle by one year.

z31maniac wrote:

scardeal wrote: From a major manufacturer, I'd probably say the SN95 Mustang.

I think you meant S197.

Yeah I think the SN95 was the last time they made a new Mustang design. The S197 was the one where they went "LOOK, IT'S A NEW OLD MUSTANG!"

Also, I'm not sure pre BMW Minis from the 90s count as "retro". It's literally just the same car as the old one. Dodge did that with their trucks in the early 90s and everyone just thought they were being lazy.

My thought on the retro thing is that I feel like the LX cars could have been better cars if they hadn't started off being called Charger and Challenger.

As far as the trend starting with mainstream manufacturers, yes I would say the New Beetle was the beginning.

I don't think it's accurate to characterize cars like the Mini, 7, Morgans, or Old Beetle as "retro" in the same vein as the New Beetle, PT Loser, ect because they never changed in the first place. They're not 'retro', they're just ancient designs that were never really updated and achieved iconic status somewhere along the line.

The kit cars are different as well, I think, much more of a niche market and they tend to be a bit more authentic in the experience. Whereas when I think of the retro trend cars, I think modern platform and running gear and gimmicky styling.

Why do people hate Retro styling cues? Look at Neo Classical architecture. Our founding fathers were so in love with the concept of Rome they modeled much on DC on that. Mock Tudor housing. Pop art. Fashion design. Almost every thing around us has retro elements from color to form to materials etc. In some cases it's design cue only in others it's the general concept. I have no issue with it. With the New Beetle or the Mustang they successfully echo the past, but no one would actually mistake them for a 40-50 year old product. With things like the basic Morgans they are very closely reproducing the past, with their Aero series they are more like the Mustang echoing elements.

To me Retro doesn't mean lazy or old fashioned. With modern OEM's retro is using styling cues to evoke elements of brand, product line and or major success in the past.

In reply to gearheadmb:

Good call, forgot about the Prowler.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: To me Retro doesn't mean lazy or old fashioned. With modern OEM's retro is using styling cues to evoke elements of brand, product line and or major success in the past.

I agree. These cues are part of the identity of a model. Someone mentioned the SN95 Mustang earlier. That car wasn't retro, IMO. It had some elements of the 60s cars, like the side scallops and the 3 vertical headlights on the later ones, but it was still a thoroughly modern-looking car when it came out in 1994. I think it stood out because the Fox body really had zero styling cues that could identify it as a Mustang. Of course, the S197 was much more of a "retro" look from the very top, but it still works, IMO.

And while I agree that retro has always been a thing, I do think that the modern retro trend in auto design was started with the New Beetle in 1998.

What started the retro fad? I blame hipsters

Toebra wrote: What started the retro fad? I blame hipsters

They were doing it before it was cool.

Lazy stylists?

DrBoost wrote: Lazy stylists?

I'd attribute it to genius stylists, the first time around anyway. Nostalgia and name recognition are powerful drugs.

It's hard to sell the kind of risky new ideas these retro products were originally based on in a boardroom these days.

Did we need a Battleship movie? 3 reboots of Transformers? The Marvel universe in movie references was limited to side gags in Kevin Smith movies in the 90's, now look at it. Now we have Antman and a 5th(?) generation Spiderman reboot to look forward to.