"Every now and then somone breaks the mould though, Ford did it with the Sierra at it's launch which I believe was styled differently from cars at the time"
Re the Sierra - "Man and Machine in Perfect Harmony". It was nicknamed the jellymould at the time IIRC. A radical departure from the conservative Cortina saloon.
Re your comments on the MkI Focus, I think it still looks fresh. Much more stylish and sharper than the current model.
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And just look at what Ford did to destroy the market for its popular three-box executive saloon, the Granada: first the tolerable but not as attractive Scorpio I and then the car that no-one wanted to be seen dead in, the Scorpio II. Apparently sales held up; those can only have been company cars about which there was little choice, surely.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Granada_(Europe)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Scorpio
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I recall having my new Fiat Tipo, one of the first ones, which I thought looked futuristic with its digital dashboard and huge rear lights.
Load of people used to look and point at it.
I assumes that this was because it looked the business......................
When I see one now (which aint very often).............................
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Quote:...""O, think Honda have also done it with the new Civic. That car looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie."".......of around 1965!
Re the Ford Scorpio - we all laughed at the frontal styling then but it looks similar to some current Mercedes models.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 26/10/2008 at 14:30
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Mouldbreaking cars... hmmm...
First (1930s) Lancia Aprilia.
VW Beetle.
Any reasonably late Cord.
1947 Studebaker.
Citroen were the most innovative manufacturer from the late thirties until the fifties though, with three entries (Light 15, DS and 2CV).
All these cars except the Studebaker were mould-breaking technically as well as aesthetically.
Edited by Lud on 26/10/2008 at 16:45
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I think the Mini must have looked fresh back in 1959. Small cars then had 3 wheels and a 300cc engine, the Mini was a proper car in small diemensions. But then I suppose the Fiat 500 was similar and that was older but the engine was in the wrong place was slower and not as nice to drive.
The Siera still looks fairly fresh compared to the other 1980's saloons like the Bluebird, Montego, Cavalier MK2 etc.
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Well BMW trumped them all - first with the 7 series and later with the 5 series.....! They certainly look pretty good now - saw my first Insignia today - Vauxhall have managed to make it look interesting and conservative at the same time !
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Well BMW trumped them all - first with the 7 series and later with the 5 series.....! They certainly look pretty good now
Yep, the Bangle look has been very widely copied, especially the headlight design on the 5 Series and the boot design on the 7. The 5 especially still looks fresh, stylish and modern (to my eyes anyway!) despite the fact that in our road every other car seems to be an E60. BMW also pretty much pioneered the integrated "Infotainment" system with the original i-Drive in the 7 Series.
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I agree with Rattle about the Mini although he seems to think there were more Bond Minicars about before his day than there really were.
As for the Bangle look, it may have been groundbreaking but many will think they should have carried on digging and buried it...
:o}
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"And just look at what Ford did to destroy the market for its popular three-box executive saloon, the Granada: first the tolerable but not as attractive Scorpio I and then the car that no-one wanted to be seen dead in, the Scorpio II. Apparently sales held up; those can only have been company cars about which there was little choice, surely."
The Scorpio MkI was quite popular though - it had the added benefit of a hatch over the previous saloon. I remember seriously considering an M plate diesel Ghia hatch at one point (a 2.5 VM IIRC)
Yes the MkII had an awful front end but you still see plenty of tidy examples about to this day and the "Ultima" spec was quite swish. A nice looking car from rear and side IMO. I seem to recall reading somewhere that a lot of these cars were registered to FoMoCo management like you say.
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O think Honda have also done it with the new Civic. That car looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie.
I have said on here before that I reckon the Civic is car design by Steve Jobs and will look as out of date in 7 years time as a 2001 G3 tower or iMac does today.
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