What Was the Best Year for Car Design?
Perhaps it can be seen in the decadent tail fins of a 1957 Chevrolet. Or the streamlined modernity of the 1936-37 Cord. There’s even a case for the over-the-top engineering of the 2019 McLaren Senna, as beauty comes in many forms. So its now time for us to ask you, member of the Hagerty Community, what was the best year for car design?
I have a curveball to throw you, and here’s my rationale for doing so: Cars can be beautiful, functional, and affordable. Sometimes we get really lucky and one car hits the trifecta, becoming a combination of all three.
Yes, my suggestion is initially half-hearted, but becomes stronger the more I marinate on the concept. Cars in the 1990s came in unique sizes, shapes, and colors (i.e. not just black, white, silver, gray, and the occasional red and blue), and their implementation of computer-assisted design and plastics ensured better performance and superior reliability.
The Dodge Neon is one of those sweet spots that covered the aforementioned trifecta. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the Neon was able to appeal to a variety of needs in a fun-to-drive package. The last bit is actually an understatement, as the Neon’s career in SCCA races should not be summed up in just a handful of words.
And the Neon was awfully functional, with plenty of room with its cab-forward design. The $12,000 starting price meant it was great design available to every motorist, but 15 grand got you a Neon that provided performance (ABS brakes, fully independent suspensions) and luxuries (power everything, sport bucket seats with multi-function console, etc.) that vehicles from previous generations would absolutely kill to possess.
With the debut of the Neon and its successful execution of a truly holistic automotive offering, 1995 is the year I’ve chosen for this thought experiment. There are other, perhaps less dark-horse choices (just about any year in the 1960s, for example), though there are plenty of moments across the history of the automobile that could make a good case. With that, what say you, and why?
What Was The Best Year For Car Design?
Wow, seven pages of comments! Well done Sajeev! PS. 1969 for domestic US styling.
We did it! Mission Accomplished!
For me I vote for 1959 as the best modern daily driver car model year, as far as design only goes in North America. That batwing 59 impala, the canted wing Oldsmobile’s, That 59 Cadillac, has been an Icon for years. The 1959 Mopars, including the last great Desoto, even the 1959 Volkswagen was cute. The only looser in this would be the 59 Fords, 57 was a much better year for them, the 59 Fords were fugly in my opinion.
The Best Design year for American cars was, without any doubt, 1959!
There is no comparison to any other year.
Look at the 8’s 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78 and on… each one of those years have one of a kind of advance body styling and contain major advancements all one of a kind, with little resemblance to the previous year and the next year but with invocations that lasted till the next major changes till the next 8.
I like first year stuff i don’t no why? 49 Chev’s and Fords,60 Falcon’s Valiant’s and Corvairs 62 Chevy Nova’s 64 GTO’s and 1/2 Mustangs Chevelle’s too.
I’m gonna cheat a little and pick a calendar year…1964. That way we get ‘64 and ‘65 models.
The obvious ones are GTO and Mustang. The Sting Ray was being perfected. Gen 2 Corvair was a styling masterpiece. Barracuda debuted as a pre-pony car. ‘64 Galaxie and ‘65 Impala were the pinnacle of full size design. Olds 4-4-2. The beautiful Gen 1 Riviera. And lastly, the 2nd and final year of the Avanti. No matter if you wanted fast, stylish, plush or all three….1964 had it.
Anybody that’s responding with years in the mid 1960s is probably on target if you have to pick just one year.
But trying to zero in on one year is unfair and impossible, I say.
1955 to 1972 were, respectively, the beginning and the end of Detroit’s Golden Age of Design, with this asterisk–’53 and ’54 Corvette.
Artistic design only; the 1960 and 61 Chrysler 300, front end of the 1958 New Yorker, the Chrysler Pacifica concept ( which hangs in the Chrysler museum in Auburn Hills ), the 1952 Lincoln Capri 2 door post less, and the 1953 Packard Carribean convertible. I would add the 1954 Studebaker coup by Ramond L. Another car that raises my pulse rate is the 1953 Hudson Hornet. This car exhudes function-over-form with its step-down design and a jewel like instrument panel and classie interior. Maybe the most beautiful of all is the e-type Jag with it’s compound curves and the 1955 Kaiser Manhattan with it’s big protruding tail lights, concave grill and unique windshield from the studios of Dutch Darin.
Many 50s and 60s were great looking, thats if you don’t care about stopping, steering, handling, performance or dependability, right?
That part would be early 2000s to around 2018. Crappy motors and “too many speed” transmissions have put a BIG dent in that deal.
Very limiting, a SINGLE year.. For a real discussion, begin with the best car(s) for each decade (maximum of 2), put together a list of those (26-28 maximum), then choose a ‘winner’ (or ‘winners’) from those. To further enhance this, you might even expand the listing – overall, performance, economy, design, engineering, or even just plain ‘curb appeal’ – this would expand the list considerably, by the categories selected..
All input from the readers, would take a minimum of several weeks, or maybe even months to go through it all, and when narrowed down to the ‘select few’ in those categories, who knows what might ‘float to the top’?
Would be interesting, and keep readers totally involved..
1961 is the year…”The Most Beautiful Car In The World”…The Jaguar E-Type…Enzo Ferrari said that when he first saw it at it’s introduction in Geneva…Are any of all the cars mentioned above in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC?…The E-Type is because it is the most beautiful car design…end of story…
IMO 1969 was overall the pinnacle year of design across the ‘big 3 and AMC. Charger, Mustang, Camaro, AMX, Coronet Super Bee / R/T, Chevelle, Road Runner/GTX all the best looking of their series in my eyes!
I totally agree. I have a ’55 Chevy and a 63 Ford Econoline truck. So, if they had asked what was the best decade, it would have been the 60’s for me. The early 60s Corvettes and then the Mustang and Camaro debut coupled with the GTO and what about the ’61 Lincoln Continental and the Falcon? Jeep Wagoneer and the ’63 Buick Riviera! Same for some cool foreign cars as well. The Jag XKE, Austin Mini, Lambo Muira. The 60s were changing car designs in a big way. But picking 1 year is hard. ’67 might be it.
The mid-fifties. They changed the style each year. Compare the Chevys in 1954, versus 1955 (1956 not a significant change), 1957 enjoyed a complete makeover (classic) and 1958 was completely redone again(only the Impala looked good in 1958 by the way), 1959 was a complete change from 1958,etc. New models were introduced on a particular date in September or early October. The showrooms were full of people getting a glance of the new models. You could actually identify a car from a block away because each brand had a unique style. We have morphed into selling cars based on the size of the screen. Nothing to look at here!
58 Belair sport coupe…Mmm no.
OK i like the post cars better.
Cars of the fifties, probably 1957 was the bests. Cars of the sixties, probably 1965. Cars of the seventies, probably 1972!
Certainly the Euro cars of the late 1930’s were pretty spectacular, Bugatti Type 57 Atlantique, the 8C 2900 Alfas and the Mercedes 500K & 540K, the Frenchies Delage and Delahay’s. But each of the new decades brought special designs, 50’s to 60, 60’s to 70’s were all quite amazing in my opinion. Those late fifties /early 60’s Enzo era Ferrari’s were… well you know! I know my 70 Boss 302 is easy on the eyes as is the 70 280SL. SO many beautiful cars to choose from, hard to nail that one down!