why back in the years... and now...

[Nacho-RT74]

why back in the golden cars age we got every year or maybe every 2 years a design change, freshing up all the cars look, and now it takes SOOO LONG to get a refresh on the look ?

[elacruze]

why back in the golden cars age we got every year or maybe every 2 years a design change, freshing up all the cars look, and now it takes SOOO LONG to get a refresh on the look ?

It takes longer for them to find a different design that maintains aerodynamic efficiency. The Wind never changes.

[Indygenerallee]

Costs.... Everything is so inflated to make any money they have to keep the design around longer, especially DOT crap, hurdles, hoops, safety.. on and on and on....

[cdr]

cause the best has already been done 68-70 charger,so now they just build them to all look the same  i cant tell 99 % of the newer cars apart

[lloyd3]

Try finding a grey '06 Honda Civic in a large parking lot.  I need to leave breadcrumbs.

[b5blue]

Now it takes decades not years!    Most results are not worth the wait!

[charger490]

Try finding a grey '06 Honda Civic in a large parking lot.  I need to leave breadcru
use the red button on your keys   beep beep

[Fred]

I thought it was the other way around. Back then nothing much changed. Take for example Volvo's, Saab's, Beatle's (I could go on) they stayed the same for years and years as where nowadays they seem to be changing every other year.   

[Mike DC]

Back in the 1940s-70s cars used to be treated more like a style accessory than they are now.  Detroit changed the appearance constantly just on principle to keep people buying them.  Back then people didn't want to be seen in an older-looking car just like they didn't want to be seen with an outdated hairstyle or clothes. 

[doctor4766]

You all seem to get yearly updates on your cars still right? i mean, I see the Charger still gets a facelift for each new year model.
Here in Oz, the local car models look pretty much the same for 2-3 years at a time, but then we never really referred to them by their year models here, more so by their deignated model names. eg The Chrysler Valiant Charger came in VH, VJ, VK and CL models over a period of around 8 years. And with each model there were cosmetic changes.

[Cooter]

Back in the 1940s-70s cars used to be treated more like a style accessory than they are now.  Detroit changed the appearance constantly just on principle to keep people buying them.  Back then people didn't want to be seen in an older-looking car just like they didn't want to be seen with an outdated hairstyle or clothes. 

This and today people are willing to to just accept anything that is put in front of them. Plain, ol, crappy, jellybean cars are whats left, then the public figures that's better than taking the "A" train.

[JB400]

Try finding a grey '06 Honda Civic in a large parking lot.  I need to leave breadcrumbs.

What the heck are you doing with one of those things anyway?

[Cooter]

Try finding a grey '06 Honda Civic in a large parking lot.  I need to leave breadcrumbs.

What the heck are you doing with one of those things anyway?

40 plus MPG?

[JB400]

Try finding a grey '06 Honda Civic in a large parking lot.  I need to leave breadcrumbs.

What the heck are you doing with one of those things anyway?

40 plus MPG?

How many smiles per mile?  Smiles for getting there don't count.

[lloyd3]

35MPG on a bad day and it never breaks, ever. Allows me to feed my other interests.

[lloyd3]

Why do half of my posts hang-up?  Server problems?

[hatersaurusrex]

An interesting fact for Mopar fans:  The practice of facelifting cars every so often can be directly attributed to Chrysler/Dodge.   When autos became mainstream, they were still really expensive.  Also in the early 20th century, cars looked exactly the same year after year after year.   Middle class families who could afford a car usually bought one that was a few years old, and if it was in good shape, could pass it off as new.   This was especially true during the Great Depression when cash was tighter.   So in the 30's, Chrysler adopted the process of changing the grille on its cars - just a little - each year.   This prevented anyone who bought a used car from claiming it was a new one.

This explains why the '68 Charger looks so incredible.   It was of course what the designers truly envisioned, an the '69 and '70 were just required model year bumps to keep sales going

[Tilar]

Why do half of my posts hang-up?  Server problems?

With all those mpgs's your getting, it's probably killing performance everywhere.    

[XS29L]

cause the best has already been done 68-70 charger,so now they just build them to all look the same  i cant tell 99 % of the newer cars apart

AMEN to that!!!

[Green71R/T]

To most people cars are an appliance.Only car people want to see new styling every year.

[JB400]

An interesting fact for Mopar fans:  The practice of facelifting cars every so often can be directly attributed to Chrysler/Dodge.   When autos became mainstream, they were still really expensive.  Also in the early 20th century, cars looked exactly the same year after year after year.   Middle class families who could afford a car usually bought one that was a few years old, and if it was in good shape, could pass it off as new.   This was especially true during the Great Depression when cash was tighter.   So in the 30's, Chrysler adopted the process of changing the grille on its cars - just a little - each year.   This prevented anyone who bought a used car from claiming it was a new one.

This explains why the '68 Charger looks so incredible.   It was of course what the designers truly envisioned, an the '69 and '70 were just required model year bumps to keep sales going

It's called modernization.  It's how the car companies sell new stuff.  Who's going to buy the same stuff year after year.  Except maybe us.  2nd gen charger   any year charger 

[1974dodgecharger]

recouping their RanD is all it is these days it costs alot of money to make a car from pencil to actual production back then it hardly cost nothing.

Of course companies were paying the workers pennies vs now these days, but then again its all relative aint it...

[JB400]

35MPG on a bad day and it never breaks, ever. Allows me to feed my other interests.

I'll agree. I drive a 00 Cougar. 28 mpg  I can drive 3 weeks on a full tank. $45 fill up $3.50 a gallon

[Brock Lee]

What is interesting to me is most 1980's cars debuted in the very late 70's-very early 80's and ran into the mid 90's. 10-15 years out of a body was pretty common. Mustangs, GM F bodies, The boxy GM's, Cavaliers, etc..they all had body designs that lasted a decade plus.

[Tilar]

That's why you can't sell one for what it cost to rebuild a 440.