Bring back those amazing pre 1980 designs!

corglass

Why don't car manufacturers simply remake the best of their pre 1980 cars*.
Take a look at some of the gems below, they'd sell like hot cakes!!


Toyota 2000GT



E Type Jag


1967 Ford Mustang


*They'd obviously need to add the absoulute minimum safety / emission controls etc.

pajo1981

These retro designs do nothing for me, but that's just me.

mike65

The lethal mix of safety laws, wind tunnel and CAD has pretty much killed of character in design. Now everything looks fat with high waist trousers!

E39MSport

Retro Mr T - Love it




Yum yum. I would - both at the same time

Good thread.

guyfo

Why would they? They all already have modern day (much better looking imo) equivalents to each of those cars.

corglass

guyfo wrote: »

Why would they? They all already have modern day (much better looking imo) equivalents to each of those cars.

Nothing Toyota has produced in recent years has come close to the 2000GT.

Jag's E type was it's pinnacle.

Ford . . . . can't think of anything that beats the '67 fastback either.

Am I missing something?

homer90

The few I can think of, The modern take on things aint so bad.

guyfo

corglass wrote: »

Nothing Toyota has produced in recent years has come close to the 2000GT.

Jag's E type was it's pinnacle.

Ford . . . . can't think of anything that beats the '67 fastback either.

Am I missing something?

GT 86 is about 100x better than the 2000GT

I find the e type to be very overrated design wise. Yea its pretty but its not that pretty.

Ford still make the mustang. Still looks basically the same but its faster, handles better, better brakes, more power and better fuel economy

E39MSport

The mustang still handles like a puddle.

guyfo

E39MSport wrote: »

The mustang still handles like a puddle.

Well yea but it is better than the original

eringobragh

Datsun 260z owned by boards member jay28 ..

WANT WANT WANT

Edit: I had planned on bringing one of these back from Australia, when I went in 2009 the AUD was 2:1 to the euro so I would have had change of 7 grand shipped back and cleared..sadly the bubble economy hit and the currency grew stronger and much like Ireland, these sort of cars increased in price (Clean ones goign for 15$k AUD) so it wasn't to be...some day

beerbaron

guyfo wrote: »

I find the e type to be very overrated design wise.

Enzo would disagree, he knew a few things about design.

pajo1981

Rose tinted glasses I think. Modern cars look more developed than the old stuff.

guyfo

beerbaron wrote: »

Enzo would disagree, he knew a few things about design.

What a ridiculous thing to say the mans been dead for 2 decades. How on earth would you know what car he would pick

beerbaron

guyfo wrote: »

What a ridiculous thing to say the mans been dead for 2 decades. How on earth would you know what car he would pick

I'd be fairly sure he'd have "The most beautiful car ever made" high up on his list

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=enzo+ferrari+most+beautiful+car+ever+made&l=1

Pique

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
That 260z is utterly beautiful to me. E-Type is gorgeous too but the pant wetting over it is a bit of a mystery to me still.
Some of the 1930s Citroens are as fine a design as anything since IMO.

guyfo

beerbaron wrote: »

I'd be fairly sure he'd have "The most beautiful car ever made" high up on his list

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=enzo+ferrari+most+beautiful+car+ever+made&l=1

Well let me get this straight.

We are talking about old pre 80s cars vs new cars.

Enzo Ferrari thought the most beautiful looking car (not best) was the e type.

Enzo died 24 years ago so therefore couldn't know anything about the design of cars a quarter century into the future.

Kintarō Hattori

guyfo wrote: »

Ford still make the mustang. Still looks basically the same but its faster, handles better, better brakes, more power and better fuel economy

The Mustang hasn't looked well for a long long time. The 2nd generation onwards have just been very boring looking cars.

I understand where the OP is coming from. A lot of older cars had great flair and character while a lot of modern cars really appear to lack soul/passion. Obviously this doesn't extend to higher performance cars but a lot of the more everyday cars do tend to look a little boring sometimes.

MadsL

Some best forgotten....








and the mother of them all...the AMC Pacer

MadsL

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

The Mustang hasn't looked well for a long long time. The 2nd generation onwards have just been very boring looking cars.

I understand where the OP is coming from. A lot of older cars had great flair and character while a lot of modern cars really appear to lack soul/passion. Obviously this doesn't extend to higher performance cars but a lot of the more everyday cars do tend to look a little boring sometimes.

Yeah, boring...5.4L Supercharged 4V Ti-VCT V-8 Engine, 550hp @ 6,200 revs, 0-60 4.1 sec..

Yawn.

Kintarō Hattori

MadsL wrote: »

Yeah, boring...5.4L Supercharged 4V Ti-VCT V-8 Engine, 550hp @ 6,200 revs, 0-60 4.1 sec..

Yawn.

Sure it's damned powerful but the OP was talking about style. I stand by what I said. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Mustangs looked tame. The 5th is certainly better than those that preceded it.

RandomAccess

The Camaro does a pretty good job I think,

http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro-zl1-sports-car/

Matt Simis

I find it amusing that 4 of the cars mentioned as rebuttals to the OPs retro love are retro refreshes themselves (Camaro, Mustang, Mini and to a lesser extent GT86). Lets throw in the New Beetle there too and make it 5 hypocritical arguments.

OP, I know what you mean, you have put up images of cars penned by artists and been met by mental people that apparently do find something attractive in the modern boxes such as the Tiida, the Camry, the Avensis, Ssangyong anything etc.

As noted though, they cannot reintroduce such cars due to safety (pedestrian safety in particular) and economic concerns.

MadsL

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Sure it's damned powerful but the OP was talking about style. I stand by what I said. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Mustangs looked tame. The 5th is certainly better than those that preceded it.

I think you need to google 'muscle car'. Very different to 'sports car'.

Plus -just look at the Shelby ffs!

Stripes. Stripes. STRIPES!!!!!!!

mike65

MadsL wrote: »

Some best forgotten....

Don't diss the Matra Rancho, great car for its day and quite innovative (basically its a people carrier-SUV hybrid)

MadsL

Reminds me of this though....

dr.fuzzenstein

Just look at this:










Now THAT'S style!
Having said that, car design has improved over the last few years, modern Citroens are really nice right now and I'd have one of them any day.
80's where a very mixed bag.

But, and this is important to me, ALL of the 90's cars where COMPLETE dogs!

E39MSport

Beg to differ



And the E34 although technically is was 1988 however predominant in 90's

Here's a great decade straddler

dr.fuzzenstein

The 850's are nice, ok not ALL 90's cars where vile, but most.
But those pics are for a seperate thread.
Still, 70's design wins it for me:



(So the 850's where nice because they where a knockoff of a classic 70's design)

wendell borton

Pontiac GTO '66

Must US cars since the 1970's look ****.

Mycroft H

30 replies and no mention of the 900? For shame

Nissan doctor

Retro is already the new cool though, Fiat 500, Mini, Ford GT, Merc SLS, Ford Mustang, Dodge charger and challanger, Chevy camero, VW beetle etc etc etc.

I'm sure there are more I can't think of...

monkeypants

When I was growing up, I always liked the look on the MkIII Cortina and the Capri. There was also an Opel that I liked, but I can't recall the model.

ghogie91

I would sell my house and granny for a body like this and a 1.5 VTI belly with some launch control and big deep dish shoes

Forget about compatibility... I WANT :pac: :pac: :pac: :pac:

dr.fuzzenstein

monkeypants wrote: »

When I was growing up, I always liked the look on the MkIII Cortina and the Capri. There was also an Opel that I liked, but I can't recall the model.

Could only be the Opel GT, only one worth having.



Other than that, I might go for a Manta A.



With you on the MKIII Cortina, lovely design, but a complete dog to drive, at anything over 120 km/h you'd need nappies and that on a car with a 2 litre engine!

no1beemerfan

These two sum up the 80's for me.