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I can't think of any car designed after the 1980s that I like the looks of

posted a year ago by MaximRecoil (4118)
48 replies | jump to latest

And I can only think of two cars designed in the 1980s that look good: 3rd generation Pontiac Firebird and 4th generation Chevrolet Corvette, but even with those, earlier designs looked better, i.e., 2nd and 3rd generation Corvettes looked better than 4th generation ones, and 1st and 2nd generation Firebirds looked better than 3rd generation ones.

To make matters worse, in addition to being ugly as homemade shoes, new or fairly new cars/trucks are missing things that I want and saddled with things that I hate. I hate electric windows and door locks, touch screens, giant wheels with rubber band tires, and automatic transmissions.

My truck is a 2001; I bought it in 2011 and now it's almost old enough to be registered as an "antique auto" in my state. I don't like its body style of course, but I do like that it has normal gauges, manual windows and door locks, 15" wheels with 235/75 tires, and best of all, a 5-speed manual transmission.

I could make it last for the rest of my life if not for that downright evil force of nature known as "rust." I'm thinking about doing everything I can to preserve what's left of it this spring/summer, such as taking an angle grinder with a wire wheel to the frame and other steel structural members and then coating it all with POR-15.

The easy thing to do would be to buy a newer truck of course, but the thought of driving around in one of those clown mobiles is downright depressing.

[–] samoanjoes (51615) a year ago

Sorry, but this is just sexy.
https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1996_dodge_viper_1636483101dbfdacc551d4IGP_8622.jpg?fit=940%2C627

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

That car is okay looking IMO, but it pales in comparison to the car's body style that inspired it:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Shelby_Daytona%2C_1964.JPG

It's kind of like the 21st century Ford GT vs. the original 1960s GT40; the latter is WAY better looking.

[–] samoanjoes (51615) a year ago

Not a bad looking design, but I always liked the curves in the 90s versions. I even like that slight indentation on the roof.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

The Viper was the best looking car design to come out of the 1990s IMO, with the Lamborghini Diablo being second. I still don't think either of them rise above okay looking though. The Countach on the other hand, was awesome looking, especially the 1970s ones before they started putting wings and a bunch of plastic crap on them in the '80s.

Best looking body style of all time for me is the 2nd generation Dodge Charger (which is a 1960s design), followed closely by the Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS (which is a 1970s design).

[–] Theman (1072) a year ago

I like the Diablo too.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

What type of truck is it?

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

Dodge Dakota 4WD, regular cab (which is another thing I like about it; even in 2001 regular cabs had become somewhat of a rarity).

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

That’s a cool truck and I would hang onto it if I were you. As you said, single cab and also 4wd will make that truck worth more in the future, if you keep it nice. The 80s trucks are worth lots of money restored these days and the 90s are not far behind them.

I’m with ya on the appeal of the older, simpler trucks. I have a 2001 Chevrolet 4x4 and a 98 Dodge 3500 Diesel as my 2 current daily drivers. My project truck is a 98 Chevy Z-71 and I just got another 98 (perfect interior) to go with it as a parts truck.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

"That’s a cool truck and I would hang onto it if I were you. As you said, single cab and also 4wd will make that truck worth more in the future, if you keep it nice."

That's the plan. I don't really care what it's worth because if I have my way, I'll have it for the rest of my life. The goal right now is just to preserve it structurally. I replaced the rusted-out out rear bumper with a new one yesterday:

https://i.imgur.com/gVzBRgJ.jpg

Amazingly, it was an easy job. I was expecting the six rusty bolts/nuts that hold the bumper brackets to the frame to put up a hell of a fight, but the impact wrench zipped them all off with ease. Then the new brackets for the new bumper lined up perfectly with the bolt holes in the frame without the need for any persuasion. It took more time messing with the wiring harness for the license plate lights than it did to remove the old bumper and install the new one.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

Yeah, when those harnesses get old and brittle they can be a bitch. I swap bumpers and tailgates on new trucks all the time and, if you haven’t done one, they are ridiculous. Every new truck has to have crash sensors and fog lights built in and even the tail gates have electric locks and back up cameras in them. It seems like in the past 20 years trucks have ceased to be trucks made for work and off road. In the 80s I’d bet the bed of most full size trucks was 60 something percent of the length of the truck. Now they have to be on average around 35 percent of its length. Beds are smaller and cabs are huge with more bells and whistles than most cars so people can use them to go to the grocery store.

I MUCH prefer the older ones.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

"I MUCH prefer the older ones."

So do I. I hate all that luxury car garbage they put on trucks these days. I don't even want carpeting. I like heavy-duty black rubber/vinyl flooring and no headliner, which is how most trucks used to come from the factory. That's how my 1983 Ford F100 came from the factory, and that's also how my father's 1976 Chevrolet K10 came from the factory.

I was about 8 years old (1983) before I ever saw a pickup truck with an extended cab. Back then, nearly all full-size pickups had a regular cab, and usually with an 8' bed. Then new neighbors moved in and they had a 4-door Ford F250 (the rear doors were full-size too), which I thought was the weirdest looking truck I'd ever seen. It had an 8' bed too; must have been fun parking that whale in tight spots.

[–] Galactus03 (4293) a year ago

While I admit there are probably more ugly vehicles today than 30 or 40 years ago.....but if you think there have not been any good looking vehicles after the 1980's you haven't been paying attention....

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

"but if you think there have not been any good looking vehicles after the 1980's you haven't been paying attention...."

No, that's not what it means at all. It means I don't particularly like the looks of any of them, which is why I don't think there have been any good looking production vehicles designed after the 1980s. At best, there have been some "okay" looking ones, but even those are few and far between.

[–] Galactus03 (4293) a year ago

Well many would disagree with you. I love older muscle cars for example but one of the best looking muscle cars on the road today is the Dodge Challenger. It will become a future classic and it has been produced for 15 years running now. That's just one example...

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

Like I said to someone else in this thread about the modern Dodge Challenger:

That body style isn't bad but I don't consider it to be a true post '80s body style because it's essentially just a reissue of a 1970s body style (1970-74 Mopar E-body), and the original looks way better IMO (more sleek / not chunky/bloated looking, because they didn't have to build it around 21st century crash safety regulations). Here's a 1970 Dodge Challenger for example:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/ibimg/hgm/1920x1080-1/100/871/1970-dodge-hemi-challenger-r-t-se-black-ghost_100871418.jpg

And its corporate near-twin, the 3rd generation Plymouth Barracuda:

https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com/files/cars/1971-plymouth-cuda-10.jpg

"That's just one example..."

Yeah, and that one example borrowed a 1970s body style, and of course made it look worse, because of all the Big Brother regulations that designers have to work around now. Here's a picture of an original 1970s one and a 21st century one in the same shot, and you can see how chunky/bloated the newer one is in comparison:

https://i.imgur.com/38RKFF2.jpg

It looks like the old one except vertically stretched (toward the sky), like if you took a picture of an old one and enlarged it vertically but not horizontally. And where the hell did they get those cartoonishly big wheels? Off a semi truck?

[–] Galactus03 (4293) a year ago

And wtf is wrong with that????

The Mustang is another as well as the Camaro.

Hate to break this to you but Dodge will no longer be making ice challengers or Chargers. Be happy we had this nice period if American Muscle. It's all coming to an end and soon we will be all electric. Body styles will probably be worse and you will be pining for these days....

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

"And wtf is wrong with that????"

Did you read the title of this thread?

"I can't think of any car designed after the 1980s that I like the looks of"

And then you cited a reused early 1970s body style as an example of a good-looking post-1980s body style. And you don't see what's wrong with that? You don't think it's telling that the only halfway decent looking "new" body styles out there are lifted from decades-old body styles?

"Hate to break this to you but Dodge will no longer be making ice challengers or Chargers."

You "hate to break it to me"? That doesn't even make sense, since I've already made it clear that I don't like any newer vehicle in existence. If I were a billionaire, the newest car or truck I'd buy would be one that was designed in the '80s.

"Be happy we had this nice period if American Muscle."

No muscle car has been manufactured by any major car company since the 1970s. Muscle cars, by definition, are an intermediate-size 2-door car with a big block V8 engine. No major car company has even put a big block engine in a car since the 1970s, so that alone disqualifies anything from the '80s or later from being a muscle car.

The Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, and Chevrolet Camaro are all pony cars, just as the originals were. Even some of the old ones that had big block engines didn't fit the definition of muscle car because they have never been intermediates.

The 21st century Charger-in-name-only isn't a muscle car by any stretch of the imagination, because it's never been available with a big block and it's a 4-door (LOL). It makes sense as a new generation of the e.g., Dodge Monaco or St. Regis, not as a Charger.

"Body styles will probably be worse and you will be pining for these days...."

No. The only days I'll ever be pining for are decades before "these days."

[–] Galactus03 (4293) a year ago

The Dodge Challenger, while retro was still a great modern update. The Charger is a good looking 4 door car but it should have been 2 door. As you say It's not really a muscle car anymore. More of a sporty family sedan. I agree we have a lot of ugly vehicles today and that is mostly because a lot of manufacturers went SUV. So new we have rows and rows of fatass rear ended cars I parking lots and roadways. But I will say we had a LOT of ugly vehicles in the 70's and 80's. I remember people saying how ugly the vehicles were back than. Look at the Mustang 2 for instance. It was hated by Stang fans and now all of a sudden it is sought after. Same with the Fox body's same with various Station wagons like the country Squire. The problem today is we do not have any future classics EXCEPT for today's Muscle and Sports cars. We no longer have a good variety of styles. Look at the Ford Escape, Equinox, Honda CR-V etc. They look awful. Yet it's what everyone is buying.

I want to get a Challenger eventually. I drive a newer regular cab F 150 right now. It's not my favorite f 150. But a base work truck with 4x4 and 8 foot bed is a real truck and way better than the SUVS clogging the market.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

"The Dodge Challenger, while retro was still a great modern update."

I would only say it was perhaps as good as it could be considering the modern regulations they had to work around. It's way heavier than a real Mopar E-body, and as I mentioned before, it was vertically stretched, which makes it look not as sleek. I would take an original one (1970-74) over a 21st century one any day of the week. If I were worried about crash safety I'd have a full roll cage installed, and it would still be lighter than the modern porker.

"But I will say we had a LOT of ugly vehicles in the 70's and 80's."

That's why there are only two cars (and zero trucks) designed in the '80s that I like the looks of. Most new car designs started getting ugly in the early/mid 1970s. The bulky "5 MPH bumpers" that got mandated around that time didn't help. Compare a 1975 Charger to a 1968-70 for example. Even the 1971-74 Charger, while not as good looking as the 1968-70 IMO, still looked pretty good. The '75 was essentially a rebadged Chrysler Cordoba; an old man's kind of car.

While ugly cars started becoming the norm in the '70s, there were still quite a few good looking designs that came out of that decade, albeit, mostly in the first half of the decade.

When I was a kid in the early '80s, I could name just about every car I saw on the road, and now I have no idea what make/model the vast majority of cars are that I see. They are mostly "crossover SUVs" that all look practically the same to me, and are all ugly as a stump fence.

[–] Galactus03 (4293) a year ago

Yeah the SUVs do looks mostly the same. As I said they have fatass rear ends. But you know in the 50's a lot of manufacturers had the same styling cues as well. Everything had to look like a rocket ship from movies of that era. 😂

I would say the 60''s and very early 70's had the best looking vehicles ever. Late 79's and early 80's some of the worst and probably the last 8 to 10 years the very worst and most of it's due to the SUVs all becoming extremely rounded.

But I still find stuff I like. Both Ram and Ford out out great looking regular cab trucks. I won't ever buy an extended or supercab. When I was younger we called those old man trucks and you didn't see many on the road. Now you don't see regular cab all that much. I now call the extended and supers.. . FAMILY haulers. 😂 Regular cabs are the cool single guys(and ladies) trucks...

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

“No major car company has even put a big block engine in a car since the 1970s”

I think Cadillac still offered a big block in 1980, if I’m not mistaken.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

You're right, it was technically a big block, though it was drastically detuned and debored compared to the 472 (and destroked too if comparing it to the 500), or even compared to the already detuned and debored 425 that they introduced in 1977. It was only 368 c.i.d. 1981 was actually the last year for it, at least for their regular passenger cars. It remained in production until 1984 for their limousines though.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

Do you like these?
https://cdn1.mecum.com/auctions/sc0520/sc0520-413960/images/[email protected]?1582675181000

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

I liked that body style better before the early 1980s facelift. I still consider it a 1970s design though, because the 1980s facelift was pretty minor. My favorite fullsize pickup body style is the 6th generation (1972-1979) Ford F-series though.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20536) a year ago

I’ve never had that body style or built one but I do appreciate those. Real trucks right there.

My favorites are 67-72 and 73-87 full size/blazer/suburban Chevy/GMC.

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

I like the look of the 6th generation Ford F-series the best because of its older body style elements that go back to at least the 1950s, such as the hood that curves down into the fender area, the wrap-around windshield, the slant of the rear of the upper portion of the cab (not sure what that part is called on a pickup truck; on a car it's the C-pillar); plus I like the slant of the grille and that big grooved body line that goes down the side (I hate when that groove is covered up with trim molding though, hiding one of its best body style elements).

For my second favorite fullsize pickup body style it's a tossup between 1973–87 GMs and 1972–93 Dodges. They both got a minor facelift in the early 1980s, and in both cases I prefer the 1970s version. The 1970s Dodge had an awesome looking hood - https://www.ramchargercentral.com/attachments/judge-45-jpg.56089/ - that they ditched in the 1980s in favor of a rather generic looking hood, and the 1970s GMs were true to their modern nickname "square bodies."

People call the facelifted ones square bodies too, but in reality, their nose curves down just as much as the 1988 redesigned model's nose does. The main body change they made in 1988 was the removal of the prominent body lines on the sides. That seemingly minor thing gave it a drastically different look though (and not for the better IMO); made it look more curved, but it really wasn't. If you look at one alongside a 1988, with both of them as blackened silhouettes, they look practically identical, including the amount of downward curve of the nose.

[–] tcrum (29907) a year ago

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.bf36fbe86970dbd122fb3a5ea749d8ab?rik=T31sZGRzu60R9w&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

[–] Daft_Munks (4151) a year ago

I want

[–] ItsGood2BeRight (3879) a year ago

This car in any style will get me wet. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

https://i.postimg.cc/VkDc66R1/mw0py5o0yqez.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/zvc0Msws/354419-xcitefun-dodge-challenger-srt-3.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/FF3g3CBC/19469475443-4b0dc0e117-b.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Pxmpp95m/2016-dodge-challenger-hellcat-2k-mile-bat-59.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/hjZKy0vX/6eac0c012a3917e3debbd3d16631c39c.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/CxJv3rCL/Used-2019-Dodge-Challenger-SRT-Hellcat-Redeye-e1571116430505-1030x512.jpg

[–] MaximRecoil (4118) a year ago

That body style isn't bad but I don't consider it to be a true post '80s body style because it's essentially just a reissue of a 1970s body style (1970-74 Mopar E-body), and the original looks way better IMO (more sleek / not chunky/bloated looking, because they didn't have to build it around 21st century crash safety regulations). Here's a 1970 Dodge Challenger for example:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/ibimg/hgm/1920x1080-1/100/871/1970-dodge-hemi-challenger-r-t-se-black-ghost_100871418.jpg

And its corporate near-twin, the 3rd generation Plymouth Barracuda:

https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com/files/cars/1971-plymouth-cuda-10.jpg

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

yeah new cars are gay as fuck. rather have a fleet of used machines than one deprecating shiny piece of new metal

and yes they looks super gay because of pedestrian rights organizations forcing soft bubbly corners. creating gay look to all the new cars

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

YOU SAID GAY THREE TIMES.😐

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

our countries forefathers died fighting the British so I can say any word I like, as many times as I like! USA USA USA!!!!!

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

THIS IS TRUE...BUT EVEN THEY WOULD DICK PUNCH AN IRRITATING LITTLE SHIT.

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

naw the founding father were a bunch of weed smoking, gun slinging, ho pimpin thugs who were too busy living it up to pay that gay ass british kangz taxes. they wouldnt be on a sjw libturds side when it comes to "offensive language"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhyKEK-CDg

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

KEEP YOUR POLITICS IN YOUR POCKET.

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

keep ur libturd comments in your pocket

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

NO POLITICS HERE,CHONGO.

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

then stop being a social justice warrior hombre

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

THIS IS GENERAL DISCUSSION...NO POLITICS...PERIOD.

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

ur the gay social justice warrior getting political not me buddy boy...

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

CHECK AGAIN,DONGMASTER...I ONLY POINTED OUT THAT YOU REPEATEDLY SAID GAY...THEN YOU STARTED RANTING.

[–] DMT (3894) a year ago

ur super gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay drum roll....... gay

[–] Kowalski (60191) a year ago

THAT ISN'T A PUTDOWN...YOU ARE A WEIRD LITTLE BOY.

[–] chilone (17310) a year ago

I'm a huge BMW fan and owner and I like SO many of them from the early ones up to today. I have an '87, an '04 and a '07 and they're all fantastic cars, but to address your point, I think the new, Corvette is the best looking Vette ever and an awesome car.

https://www.ihwanburhan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2022-Chevrolet-Corvette-Exterior.png