At least it looks like something!

I chuckled to myself last week looking through the newspapers. My attention was bought to an article about some remarks made by the Chairman of Ford who feels the Ford Taurus reminds him of Homer Simpson (from the long-running Simpson's cartoon).

At least the car looks like something.

Car companies, only within the last few years, are just beginning to get out of the design duldrums they've been suffering since the 70's. Face it, the cars from my parents' youth (the 60's) were design dreams as were those made earlier. Even some cars from the early 70's (though magnificantly ugly) looked different from other cars on the road. Then came 1977.

1977 - the year the first wave of design duldrums began. This was started by GM's downsizing program on it's fullsize cars including the Chevy Caprice and others. Within a few years, almost everything on the road took on a boxy look (variations on a theme) accelerated by the companies conversion from rear-drive to front drive vehicles.

1986 - wave 2 started. The newly introduced Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable (Generation 1) created a whole new look actually introduced two years earlier by the Audi 5000 - the Jellybean. Within the next 15 years, every vehicle on the road took on a variation of this theme.

In other words, two generations of look-a-like vehicles on the nation's highways.

Only within the last few years have automakers begun to realize that cool looks sell cars. Some of the best designs of the new century have included (in my opinion): Chrysler's PT Cruiser, Pontiac's Vibe, and almost anything made by Scion (just to name a few). And others are putting new cute subtle design touches in their cars. For example, I love the original taillight design on the first front-drive Impala (the current design sucks). And I have a friend who told me her Chevy Aveo looks like a lunch-box on wheels.

Here's my point: at least the automakers are taking some chances for once in the designs of the cars being made. So what if someone feels the Ford Taurus looks like Homer Simpson. At least it get's someone's imagination rolling. Now if someone got a car out there that looked like Marge Simpson (with that tall hair) then that would be something to talk about.