I think car styling took a nosedive in the 1970s and has never recovered. I always prefer older shapes to modern styling. What do others think? Am I nuts or am I right?
Examples:
Old School
New School
I appreciate the design aesthetics of both... I think early 80's was a disaster though... all very square like the XD Falcon and Nissans.
I use to love the look of XD, XE, and XF falcons. When the EA came out, I was amazed, and never thought anyone would take to these new rounded shapes.
Then the AU came out, and made the EA look old. Not worse, just old.
Now, with the current models, you look at the previous ones and wonder what you were thinking.
I think your ideal car shape gets set in childhood, and then nothing ever seems as good.
Pre 80's for me, I drive a td Gemini panelvan. I don't really like any of the newer car shapes, especially the 1980-2000 period. Only car that I kinda like is an FD rx7 but needs work
Dunno if there is old and new anymore. The rounded shape in the first pic is similar to some very fairly sports cars.
Angular or curvy comes and goes, with the return to hard / sharp angular lines in the last 6-8yrs.
personally, i think 70's and 80's were the best 90's are horrid, and now they are starting to get good again. and all falcons are ugly! but thats just my opinion 
Supporting images \/
Early 70's
Also early 70's
80's this is what i have except mines not an M3 just a 325i
90's ( gross!)
00's and looking good again!
10's not too bad,
yes i like BMW's - I used them as an example because i know the model generations.
When I was a kid my Dad bought a new 1971 Holden HG Premier sedan, white roof and pillars over midnight blue, he owned it for about 10 years. Only ever good memories associated with it.
2 years ago wife number 3 took off with my VY Commodore; I looked at replacing it with a 70/71 HG Premier, of the few I found in really good nick, (and there are a few rust buckets out there), none were under $36000. Brain beat heart into submission and went and got a Holden Commodore Sportswagon instead...
I think we can blame the poor standard of car design during the 80's and 90's on the high standard of Cocaine in circulation at the time.
Years ago a very perceptive fellow I know told me a car had to have an ugly angle or two in the styling for owners to really become attached to them. I've seen a bit of truth to this but then the Ssangyong Stavic came out. Who would buy one of those? I've attempted to see what makes the owners tick by checking a few ads on Carsales.com. You've got to read between the lines, sellers always talk up cars, but for the Stavics, you can see they all are genuine regrettable sales. They'd make a great surf wagon. This one's on Gumtree, $29K, dreaming, who needs a wagon, make an offer?
Since the 80s I don't believe there have been any really beneficial technological advances in the average street legal motor vehicles except maybe ABS.
They are still running on piston/crank engines which is 100 year old technology and putting computers on top of them has not really improved them.
As for styling, it comes down to which maker at which time. The 60s saw some beautiful shapes in the British cars like Jaguar, Triumph, MG, Rover, Aston Martin and Austin Healy.
When Ford Australia made the transition from the 70s to the 80s, the X D to F series was a great improvement in styling with the XE being the pick of them.
This was an original S Pac 4 speed that I unfortunately sold for $900 about 5 years ago. It is probably worth 10 times that now.
This is an original Fairmont I bought 10 years ago for $800 and has been my daily driver ever since. I never get sick of it and it never lets me down.
The one series of Ford Australia cars from the 70s that have maintained their desireability is the X A to C coupe/fastbacks.
I believe they are a better looking muscle car than any Mustang or other American import.
The following are some of my favourite classic cars with the Shelby Cobra being my particular favourite.
can't agree....
the advances have been mind boggling.
bosch alone has completely re-invented the entire system, you don't even need keys, or wires anymore.
engine performance has been taken to a whole new level with economy.
safety has been increased 10 fold.
not to mention electric cars, cars that drive themselves, lights that turn on when it's dark, cars that park themselves, windscreen wipers that turn on when it rains etc.
+1 Gestalt
Cisco EFI alone was a massive improvement.
Trying to get a kingswood started and to idle nice on a cold winter morn was rather difficult even when well maintained and tuned. We take the ease / smoothness of modern motors for granted
) kit an extra £140-ish
)... 
)
I think you both missed my point, that being we are about 99.99% of us still driving around in piston/crank engined motor cars which is 100 year old technology.
EFI only goes so far. The mechanical losses in this type of engine are huge.
My XH panel van gives me around 10 to 11 litres/100 klm on the highway with EFI.
My XE Fairmont gives me around 12 to 13 litres/100 klm on the highway with it's standard dual throat Weber carburettor.
Around town it is a comparative exact opposite.
One of the best advancements, which appeared in the last series of Chrysler Valiants is ELB (electronic lean burn) technology.
If the Sarich engine had been fully developed and not killed for economic reasons, I am sure that is what would be powering modern cars.
+1 for massive wheels looking bad, and agree that wheels make or break the car.
in my opinion, the worst thing EVER in regards for car styling is massive chrome wheels.
i do like wheels with lots of spokes however like the ones Alpina use on all of their cars and a bit of dish never goes astray.
/\ those wheels could do with an inch less in diameter.
that is also one of my favorite cars of all time and if i could afford a decent one i would have it. i had one for a year or so, and even in its deteriorated state it was a beautiful car to drive.
on the other hand 
As much as I disagreed with Cisco he has a point. Reminiscing with a mate today, reminded of him running a 253 with no cooling system for about 5hrs in the garage, block was glowing dull red but it kept going. Shut it off and no way would it crank, it was seized. But when running it was running. Try that with modern motors with fine tolerances.
Or the newer Commodore motors. Overheating, so wanna rip out the thermostat? Nup. In every front engined car ever it has been top front (at the end of the top radiator hose). Noooo, now it is buried near the firewall and is a 4hr job, not a 15min job. Bad move for a hot country where a sticky thermostat could make you motionless halfway cross the nullabor. Cos a $10 part is inaccessable
Auto gearboxes? All computer controlled now and a nightmare for home rebuild. (Impossible)
Computer controlled interiors and dash (all linked in) is a nightmare - can't remove a globe without buggering the speedo, or a horn fuse without turning off brake lights and all that jazz. I have see a factory trained mechanic spend 6hrs tracing why a light would not work and had no idea. Days gone by, 10mins for a auto sparky with 100% success rate.
(BTW I prefer EFI to carbs, just the last 10yrs they have gone a bit too far)
