Automotive design today.

[Lefty]

There is a difference between a copy and a derivation.

I couldn't help but change the look of my Ranger when I first got it. It was just a tired old truck. The designers back then in 2003 wanted a monochromatic look. Everything, except the headlights, was black. That black plastic grill was especially boring, just like an appliance.

That Ranger was definitely born out of a car culture. But it could have been. The flareside was definitely inspired, a throw back of those good old days. The idea began with the Ford Splash, suggesting that maybe the bed was meant to hold a surfboard like an old restored regular cab pickup from the fifties.

That's where I took my own inspiration, especially the old Ford T birds.

The comparison might be laughable. A Ranger is definitely not a T bird, nor is it meant to be. It is derivative, in the very same way that a '55 Belaire compares to a Ferrari.

I put in round headlights, retro, just like the flareside bed. I made an egg grate grate grill from 2 Ford Econolines and another Ranger, cutting up the two Econolines into 4 pieces and gluing them back together with epoxy and stainless steel stints, finally finishing it off with a bigger F150 emblem. The T Bird grill is short and very wide. but I adjusted as best I could by making a low black light bar to mount those fog lights. It shortens the overall appearance of the grill making it look at least a little wider.

Not at all a T bird copy, not by any means, but highly derivative. A lot of work, of course, but an inspiration. In my humble opinion, that's what's missing in cars today.

 

[Lefty]

Unfourtantly though car culture is about dead in this country and people care more about onboard wifi and infotainment then good visual design and personlized options.

Exactly. Even those old pickups. They may have been meant for farmers who would certainly work them to death, but they were more than appliances.

This is why they are still highly prized and fully restored whenever possible. They were an important part of that great American automotive dream.

 

[Josh B]

This is an important thought. Without design, the "dream" of driving is forgotten. So is the desire to own something that reflects your own personality and lifestyle. The car becomes an appliance: nothing more. It will be driven for ten or fifteen years and then recycled in the crusher.

Take, for example, the '55 Chevy. Designers copied Ferrari and gave it an egg crate grill.
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It might have been just another family car, but it was elegant in its simplicity and somehow looked ready to race. It was a lead sled, heavy, built on the cheap. But every dad wanted to have one. It was more than an appliance. It was the dream of driving. Sooner or later, it would find its way to the junk yard, of course, but the old double nickel dream never died. Years after, their sons would resurrect them, restore them, modify them, maybe even put a big block engine inside and make the dream complete.
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Good design tells us something very important. A car need not be a mere appliance. The whole is greater than its parts.

I watched that movie "Two Lane Blacktop" just a couple nights ago, it had that bottom Chevy in a grey/black color and a 454

 

[Blmpkn]

Exactly. Even those old pickups. They may have been meant for farmers who would certainly work them to death, but they were more than appliances.

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This is why they are still highly prized and fully restored whenever possible. They were an important part of that great American automotive dream.

Idk.. I'd say that those old trucks absolutely were appliances back then, for the most part anyways. That's why the survivors are so valuable now. There's hardly any left.

Back then.. very much unlike the past couple/few decades.. trucks WERE simply tools. They were worked hard, put away wet, and then worked some more until they broke in half and got scrapped or blew up and (literally) got put out to pasture with the previous old trucks... where they would just disintegrate back into the earth in the following decades.

I don't think the masses started to see pickups as anything other than tools until probably the late 80s or so.. when ford and gm blessed us with the lightning and the ss.

 

[Lefty]

Idk.. I'd say that those old trucks absolutely were appliances back then, for the most part anyways. That's why the survivors are so valuable now. There's hardly any left.

Back then.. very much unlike the past couple/few decades.. trucks WERE simply tools. They were worked hard, put away wet, and then worked some more until they broke in half and got scrapped or blew up and (literally) got put out to pasture with the previous old trucks... where they would just disintegrate back into the earth in the following decades.

I don't think the masses started to see pickups as anything other than tools until probably the late 80s or so.. when ford and gm blessed us with the lightning and the ss.

Oddly, pickup trucks seem to enjoy a proud history of nice design. We might use them and dispose of them, but design tradition continues even today.

 

[Blmpkn]

Oddly, pickup trucks seem to enjoy a proud history of nice design. We might use them and dispose of them, but design tradition continues even today.

Oh absolutely.. 50s-60s pickups especially have an incredible amount of style. I'm quite partial to 60-66 GMs myself

 

[Lefty]

Oh absolutely.. 50s-60s pickups especially have an incredible amount of style. I'm quite partial to 60-66 GMs myself

I like the way this particular design slants the top half of the cab

, making it making it look like it's going fast even when standing still.

And look at the crease just under the door handles which creates highlights and shadows, a very nice touch also found on our Rangers. Many were also pinstriped at the factory, but you can do the same. Just six dollars buys a roll of pin stripe tape. Some people notice it right away.

Some add more graphics too, especially those set up to race.

 

[Josh B]

I had a 63 Chevy like that with a newly rebuilt 327 and 4 barrel, which I removed first time I punched it and it near dried up the gas tank, I put my old 283 2 barrel in it's place. Got stuck in a mile of black dirt muck and by the time I got out the motor was toast
A guy married to one of my cousins took it and tore it down to the frame, rebuilt it 1st class, that could well be it in the photo but I think the cous did better work than that, I don't think mine was a step side tho

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Oh absolutely.. 50s-60s pickups especially have an incredible amount of style. I'm quite partial to 60-66 GMs myself

Nothing sexier or more macho then the 70's.

 

[Lefty]

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Nothing sexier or more macho then the 70's.

I love the old school billet style wheels, the white lettered tires too.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

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Nothing sexier or more macho then the 70's.

And to the inexperienced eye, they all look the same.

 

[19Walt93]

And to the inexperienced eye, they all look the same.

I'd say the inexperienced eye needs glasses.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

And to the inexperienced eye, they all look the same.

Besides the round headlights i dont see many similarities

 

[RobbieD]

Besides the round headlights i dont see many similarities

AND THEY ALL DO HAVE ROUND WHEELS, TOO!

Did I win?

 

[Josh B]

Reminds me of my high school parking lot, course I had to park my little Honda down by the bicycles so it didn't get run over, and that dam camaro with the big tires.
Then I got my 150 dollar 64 Impala with 4 doors and a 283
It wasn't terribly cool until I painted a black crinkle paint arrow scoop on the hood! soon everybody had em one
A crinkle paint scoop, NOT a 64 Impala