Max aero, blacked out pillars, lots of glass, especially in the rear, upswept duck tails, what else am I missing? We complain about how cars all look alike today, but that isn’t exactly a new phenomena.
CC Outtake: The New Design Trends Of 1993
– Posted on April 20, 2011
It may not have always been the best car, but I liked the first iteration of that Camaro shape – a wedge with glass on top! What could be simpler? But then it got curves on the side of the body that make it so that no matter what wheels you put in there, they never look quite right.
I never saw many of that generation, but from this angle the Camaro shows a lot of Acura NSX influence with the black B pillar.
We can also say the arch of those alloy wheels. Plus the endless gray mousehair fabric interiors.
Yup! That was the beginning of the end to actual interior colors and fabric choices/styles.
The 89 Thunderbird really defined this globule styling. I’m not totally against it but in my eyes it lacked character.
Has it really been that long? These cars were two prime examples of Detroit’s supposed ’90s renaissance. I’ve always liked the first-gen LH cars, they still look fresh today. But I hated the last F-body for many reasons, although its aged better than the “Fox-4” ’94-’04 Mustang.
To me the common styling theme of the 1990’s was combining a low front with organic shapes. The Japanese did this very well, and Ford and Chrysler really got in on the act too. I look at my 1995 Mystique as it sits next to my 2006 HHR, or any other modern car for that matter, and the difference in proportions and styling is extreme. The hood on the Mystique is so low I almost feel like I could be tripped by it at the ankles! And when I am inside it the beltline feels so low that I wonder if this is how the Pope feels when he’s riding in the popemobile. Oh, and I can’t forget all the flowing, organically shaped, driver-focused interiors from that period. As interesting as some of today’s cars are from a technical and quality standpoint, I still miss seeing good design, and weather we care to admit it or not, the 1990’s did offer some interesting stuff.
I think all 3 American Manufacturers had homeruns in styling in the 1990s (I personally prefer the JA “Cloud” Sedans styling over the LH cars, especially a Stratus decked out in ES trim, The weird juxtaposition of sport and tradition that was the 1992-95 Olds 88, The Aurora, Riviera and 92-96 STS are favorites from General Motors. There’s something remarkably elegant about the original Contour and Mystique too. But I think one of the most gorgeous cars of that period was the 93-97 Mazda MX-6 Coupe. I sooo wish I could find one of those just to look at in my driveway everyday).
Yes! I’ve always admired that Mazda coupe. Nicely balanced, understated and just gorgeous, I agree. Nice to know someone else sees that too – it didn’t seems to have been a big seller.
In ’87 I got a new Celica for myself and a new Sable for the family. They both had that blacked-out C pillar with the wraparound glass look. Taurus/Sable were huge in the US and really set that circa-1990 style.
I had one of those 93 MX6… in that Ruby Red… It was a beautiful car, I always thought of it as a bargain Lexus SC300. Unfortunately I could never get it out of my head that it felt more like a Ford than a Mazda. It was a pretty car though, I miss it.
I turned my head today when a deep green one passed me going the other way. It was like a cleaner design version of the Camaro in hindsight.
Fact: You can park a 4th gen Camaro inside the wheel well of a 4th gen Camaro.
I know a guy who’s a drug runner. He used to use vans to smuggle crack into the US, but now he just sticks it under the fenders of mid-’90s domestics. He got stopped once in Texas; the cops tried to execute a search warrant but the deputy they sent in got lost so they had to give it up.
It’s not so bad now, but I really do wonder why it took Detroit 60 years to figure out that a wheel well doesn’t have to be the same size as an oil well.
Driver focused interiors are a legacy of the 1990s that’s being erased.
Witness the very lame interior of the E90 BMW 3-series compared to the driver focused interiors of the preceding E46, E36, and E30 generations. The E90’s flat dash looks like something Toyota would have produced in 1985.
Yeah remember the last of the Thunderbirds of the 1990s where the radio and climate control pod was actually tilted toward the driver? That was pretty cool and driver focused.
Definitely. Also, the Contour/Mystique had a pretty decent interior for the driver. Nothing like the abominable 1st gen Focus that succeeded them.
Is it my imagination or was this the first era when cars had almost a complete lack of Chrome on them?
The steel of this era also seems to be thinner than that which came before. It is almost like it is a mix of plastic and something else.
I had never noticed the similarities of the LH cars to the Camaro.
When asked (on Autoline After Hours, if I remember correctly) what vehicles he was most proud of during his long career, Bob Lutz singled out the LH sedans. They had concept car styling, were incredibly spacious inside, handled well and got pretty decent gas mileage. Unfortunately, they also had the quality problems typical of radical new Chryslers across the decades, including the notorious self-labotomizing four-speed automatic.
Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but I remember my brother’s Concorde having a split bench up front. It’s a shame that the current fetish for bucket seats and gigantic center consoles eliminated this option in full size cars. I’d give my left nut for a 2011 Taurus with a column shifter and a split bench seat. It would be hard to top that as a highway cruiser for six.
I distinctly remember riding in a Gen 1 Dodge Intrepid that had a split bench, so I’m sure the Concorde had one as well.