Originally Posted by sonoronos
I don't know chuck, I mean, I know part of the design is a nostalgia trip, but is it possible that certain shapes have lasting beauty or just plain "get it right"?
And in my opinion it follows some of the same design elements, for example, the flared wheel arches with aerodynamic curves, along with design equivalents of "shoulders" and "hips".
I guess I'm one of those people that believe in "classical beauty" for what it's worth. So it's hard for me to be so reductionist about judging car design. A car may have a ridiculously long wheelbase, but as a whole there may just be something "right" about it. And so in the end, certain shapes can't be judged simply by when they were popular, so couldn't attractiveness be objective and not simply a look back at "the good old days"?
Good post sonoronos, you're absolutly right. Certain shapes and proper proportions do have a lasting beauty and please the eye.
I own two books, one is Speed Style and Beauty, cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection that was an exhibition at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and Curves of Steel, an exibition at the Phoenix Art Museum. Both books are excellent examples of the point that you make. Another is the exhibit that the Peterson Automotive Museum had back in 2005 intitled French Curves: The Automobile as Sculpture.
The opening paragraph in the write up of the Peterson exhibit:
"Few vehicles evoke emotion as strongly as those bodied with the voluptuous, yet sleek designs of the streamlined French school of the 1930's This was an era when a new appretiation for aerodynamics in concert with elegant, creative expression - amidst great social and political turbulence - pushed the limits of automotive achievement."
From Curves of Steel:
"Streamline design flourished from the late 1920's through 1939 and still affects the way automobiles look today."
Here's the links to the exhibits, I hope you enjoy them.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n2849103.shtml
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.a...=15&subkey=500
http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?docid=1028