Iconic Cars

kneemos

VW Beetle. They even remade it it was so iconic.

Core6

What about the Mercedes SL models?

All of them are iconic but in particular the early ones.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120688464#Comment_120688464

i would suggest that one useful way of defining 'iconic' could be cars which non-car people would recognise and like.

but by that measure, the two you posted are anything but iconic.

brokenbad

Ford Capri - a timeless classic

PopePalpatine

Feck, someone beat me to the Skyline. It's an icon for anyone who grew up playing GT or Need For Speed.

I'd like to mention the 240Z for being probably the first Japanese import to break the "econobox" stereotype they had.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120650024#Comment_120650024

"The Golf is a boring box on wheels...now the RAV4, that's an icon!" I suppose it was a harbinger of things to come.

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120689104#Comment_120689104

The XR3i in black with red trim looks the **** and the escort went on for another three generations so hardly killed it. But to me it's a car that epitomises the 80's aesthetic.

Man Vs ManUre

The Homer.

circadian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120649895#Comment_120649895

Hyperbole. Did he promote the cars? Sure. The engineers and designers are the ones that actually developed the technology, not Musk.

Hotblack Desiato

Nissan is the reason EVs became mainstream, not a niche manufacturer of vastly overpriced tat like Tesla.

Francis McM

The original Ford Fiesta, everyone had one back in the day. Or the original mini, (much smaller than recent ones) : instantly recognisable and paved the way for small cars.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120689346#Comment_120689346

Aye, but to people within the car industry, specifically mechanics, the non-car people haven't a clue what they're talking about! It's also a personal opinion, just some people agree with some opinions more.

Can we use movie vehicles? Like the A-Team van, Kitt, BTTF DeLorean, the General Lee, etc? Cuz I'm gonna vote for the '89 film Batmobile!

PsychoPete

The Citroën 2CV is very much iconic but there's a lot of cars that could go on that list like the VW Beetle,Aston Martin DB5, Ford GT40,Bugatti Veyron, Jag E-Type, Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Countach also the Miura and ofcourse the Mini

road_high

Bmw 3 series

kneemos

Porsche has to be in there.

Ljmscooter

Lotus Talbot sunbeam

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120692239#Comment_120692239

the bugatti veyron is the most boring supercar i could possibly think of. a case of throwing enough **** at a wall until it sticks. doesn't help the public image in that it's got nothing on the other cars in that list in terms of looks.

Hotblack Desiato

ADO16. Better known as Austin / Morris 1100 / 1300 but was sold under several other marques as well, brought Mini technology to the family car but with a lot more refinement. The best selling car in Britain for years even when newer models came along.

In 1962 this was space-age technology. Front wheel drive, hydrolastic interlinked fluid suspension, synchromesh gearbox. Fantastic and timeless styling by Pininfarina as well. One of the best looking cars ever made. Over 2 million sold.

Early Mk.I:

Late Mk.III:

Meanwhile your Ford equivalent had a crash gearbox, rear wheel drive and cart springs. And was still flogging a grossly outdated chassis in the Sierra 25 years later.

BL replaced it with the Austin Allegro which was inferior in every single respect.

AMKC

Renault 5 and the Renault 4 is Iconic too.

Both soon to be reborn :)

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120693255#Comment_120693255

The Renault 5 was a great little bus.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120650878#Comment_120650878

Two very different cars but coincidentally I've considered buying and teat drove both!

kyote00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120693315#Comment_120693315

D5F095D2-4FCE-4DD2-B041-1D31B6B52F40.jpeg

F01C42DC-07CA-459D-97C8-3FCF4A2BF9A5.jpeg

5 turbo was iconic

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120693315#Comment_120693315

Speaking of Renaults, my dad had a fuego. I thought it was the fanciest car ever. I was 5.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120696775#Comment_120696775

Sweet arse on it.

mrslancaster

.....

Hotblack Desiato

xxx FZO = late spring 1981 Dublin reg.

aero2k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T#/media/File:1925_Ford_Model_T_touring.jpg

Surely this deserves to be mentioned - the first affordable car for the masses.

Hotblack Desiato

Maybe in the US. Certainly not "affordable for the masses" on this side of the Atlantic.

aero2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708481#Comment_120708481

I wouldn't be too well up on motoring history, but I'm thinking no cars made in the early 20th century were affordable for the masses in Europe in general and Ireland in particular . Henry Ford helped his own case by paying his workers more than the going rate so they could afford to buy his cars. Also, although he didn't invent mass production he certainly adopted it very successfully.

Karppi

Ford 1600e I had a G reg one in the very early 1970s A great car

New Home

Certainly iconic, but not necessarily in a good way...

Lada.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711309#Comment_120711309

Were the bonnet mirrors standard lol and were they any good?

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711505#Comment_120711505

Every Lada had the obligatory steering lock.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711512#Comment_120711512

Wing mirrors.

Most cars in the 70s had 'em but you had to pay for all sorts of things as 'extras' then. Even seat belts which were legally required were extra.

JupiterKid

If money were no object, the beautiful modernist Lamborghini Countach, produced between 1974 and 1990 and beloved of wealthy car enthusiasts everywhere, would be in my garage. 😁

Titzon Toast

This is a big one for me anyway. They're insanely priced theses days and the build quality is supposed to terrible but I still would if I could.

Karppi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711512#Comment_120711512

As far as I can remember, mine didn’t have any. ☹️

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120712199#Comment_120712199

They'd give that sort of job to the apprentice at the car dealer. So apprentice drills hole in wing, doesn't put primer or rust proofer on hole, installs mirror or radio aerial (remember the ones you had to pull up?). 2 years later you have a big rusty hole in your wing where the wing mirror or aerial used to be 🤣

Markcheese

'Iconic , regarded as a representative symbol, or worthy of veneration "

That covers a lot ... And its going to be very different things for different groups , and age groups ...

I was trying to think of an individual modern car that clearly fits that, and I'm kinda struggling ..

Potential-Monke

Modern cars look so similar none of them really stand out. I reckon this started around the late 00's, as from about 2012 on most things are meh. There's very few modern cars that will stand the test of time imo, outside of the high end stuff. Unless Hyundai release that N-Vision 74, that would immediately become iconic imo! It's been given the green light in Korea, but I doubt it will end up looking like this as standard...

magicbastarder

that appeals to people of a certain generation for its retro looks, no? it looks good not because it is looking forward, but because it is looking back.

Potential-Monke

I think it will be iconic because (imo) it will be the poster car of when combustion was truly starting to be replaced*, and it currently has a look that pays homage to both the past and the future (pun intended) yet will retain a classic look in the future to be remembered. It'll be the point where, if hydrogen takes off (and I honestly believe it should), this is the car that will wake up the masses to it, not the fugly Mirai or the SPlainUV Nexo, and won't be the hypercar Hyperion either, because I think people are starting to prefer the potentially attainable cars over the unattainable dreams again. While not everyones cup of tea, I believe there's enough in there to tick the boxes of car people in general, so will have the legend of the likes of the GT-R et al, amazing cars that nearly anyone could have, but few did.

* I really am taking liberty here with the ICE replacement, but I do think the 74 will popularise the idea at the very least, and maybe give the hydrogen market the push it needs. It's expected that hydrogen will be cheaper to produce than petrol/diesel by 2025 and the more popular it gets, the cheaper it'll become in general. Asia investing heavily is a good sign. I know it has it's own issues to overcome, production efficiency and infrastructure, but I think it's a better future than trying to recycle/dispose of EV batteries. Having both will be the near future ~20years imo. The 74 will be a poster car for it. Deliberately styled no doubt.

God, that was way more fanboy and longer than I intended. I don't care that much... just word farted.

Man Vs ManUre

I like the latest land rover defender 110.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711512#Comment_120711512

Now you know where the term wing mirror came from! Funny i remember only the fancier cars had one each side, mostly there was only one on the driver's.

The inspiration for my username..

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713719#Comment_120713719

Hyundai Velostar could have been one but instead I think it will be remembered for being odd. I really think Hyundai and Kia missed a trick with it. They could have done it as a Hyundai with five doors and a Kia with 3 doors door so there would only be 1 door each side of the Kia version and the Hyundai would have had 2 doors each side but still look sporty if you get me.

So Kia would have it as a 3 door and Hyunddo as a 5 door.

Big opportunity missed by them.

Titzon Toast

Always loved the shape of the Corrado.

Beta Ray Bill

In 1998, when this car came out, it changed everything.

You could have a really nice looking car for "Normal Money"

PsychoPete

Probably the most iconic car in Ireland

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120724669#Comment_120724669

or you could have one of these.

saabsaab

The Range Rover. Invented a new niche others have copied since.

200mg

205 T16