I voted "I like camaros, retro camaros okay" although there have been a few Firebirds that have really caught my eye, all of them Formulas (2nd gen, 3rd gen bat mobile, 4th gen)

IMO there only needs to be one F-body, the Firebird should stay on vacation so that the money isn't split between to cars.

that said....

I agree with Red Planet, there is no tracable design lienage from 67 to 2002, the car has evolved radically over its lifetime with the only seemingly adherent being, four wheels, two doors, a sporty feel with sporty performance.

The only major divergent styling for the mustang was the fox body. all previous models echoed the basic design elements of the first car, ergo (yes! finally get to use that word in a post) mustangs are very recognizable even by non car folks.

Even though this is essentially a 4th gen site, you have what amounts to 4 different groups of people who think they know what constitutes the best looking f-body (muddied again by firebird freaks), speaking in the most general way of course.

In the mustang camp, its really only two, fox body cars and everybody else (reinforced by ford no less as witnessed by thier anthem commerical godless bastards!!!! but I digress)

 

Yes, and yes!

Well then, most of the years (not all) we have had blacked out headlight areas, hoods with some kind of vents, fender flares, GFX, the turn-up spoiler, wrap around taillights, angular but rounded lines, low aggressive stance, no slab sided BS, and fenders/quarters that round out a little with lines that slope some.

Now now RP. I question the logic of those that couldn't see some 1st and 2nd Gen in the 3rd Gens. They did it how it should be, by combining some of the looks of previous cars while having new edgy design also. *hint*

The 05 M*stang is all-out early M*stang retro inside and out. This is not what most of us are looking for in the 5th Gen. IMO, the last M*stangs were designed correctly for their fans historically, the way 3rd Gens were. You could tell it had some known M*stang cues but it was progressive and new. Similarly, they consistently sold alot of them.

 

2005 Mustang RETRO, absolutely!!
Unlike previous Mustang generations which were small evolutions from the previous generation with STRONG heritage cues, the 05 is a throwback in styling.

The thing that makes it RETRO is that it's immediately apparent that the 1967 served as a template for the 05 design. The guidelines were probably "bring this car into the 21st century".

Heritage styling on the other hand usually involves making a new car design identifiable with previous generations (rectangular grille insert with pony.....side scallops.....wheel-wells very rounded....tri-taillamp bezels).

 

Before I became educated about Camaros I was sayin the same thing when i was younger.......

 

Good post. What would you say the concept you saw looked like, progressive or retro?

 

Good points.

But the '05 Mustang is overtly retro, not simply carrying forward Mustang design themes. And maybe I'm ok with that. What ruins it abit for me on Mustang is that it seems so large. Too large.

 

Just out of curiosity......what were the 'design cues' on the 3rd gen from the first gen? (other than dual stripes on the 25th anny)

 

The looks aren't exact, they shouldn't be, but you can see influences in them.

Look at the quarters, fenders, hood, and spoiler. In the quarters you can see a slight slope and they round out-ward like the 1st Gen, but 1st's are more exaggerated. Their center side crease and round wheel wells are like 67-68's and 2nd Gens. Their flares are too. They have a broader looking body like the 1sts over the lean style of the 2nds. The hood looks almost like a big 1st Gen hood without the pronounced center crease but has similar side creases. They are also "vented". The spolier is like a smaller mix of the 1st and 2nd Gen spoiler, the top is straight like 2nds and the back is curved like 1sts. The fender going into the bumper from the side looks similar to the side of a 67-68. The 3rd body tapers inwards front and back the way 1sts do. The interior has a flat overhanging dash with 2 big round gauges and 3 separate, except they are inbetween and not in the middle of the console. There is a 3 spoke steering wheel. The early 3rd taillights are obviously like bigger 2nd Gen taillights. On and on, etc. I'm almost concerned that you wouldn't notice this kind of stuff, someone on the boards was saying something similar the other day.

 

That was over 2 years ago and all rumors point to a new front-end. I personally wouldn't mind another another styling jump between generations.

 

alrighty then.............................................. ....

 

That sounds good 02SS. Lets hope they kept that idea, but it seems like we're being pushed into M*stang retro lately. I just hope not. I really do.

 

You wouldn't believe how much of that I get from people at cruises/shows. Especially from 1st Gen owners.

 

If you put someone in a room, showed them a 69 camaro and a 92 camaro, without any badging or any car knowledge you wouldn't see a fuggin thing in common with them IMO. The same with a 70's camaro and a 3rd gen.

Take a 69 stang and a fox body, or any later 90's or new mustang, and it is a reasonable assumption that people would equate them together in the same situation.

Camaro's really don't share that much in looks, once again IMO. I think the fact that all of us here are car enthusiasts helps up see something that isn't really there sometimes.

 

I never said anything about the 69 which has completely different sides than the 67-68's and features looks that no other Camaro ever had. If you can't see similarities in the later 70's Camaro's to 3rd Gens, especially from the back, I just don't know what to tell you LOL. I look closely at cars and notice every little thing. I think you can definetly tell, in some way, no matter how little it is, that all Camaros are Camaros, even when compared to other Gens where the average person might not see certain similarites.

 

I see them, as would any other automotive enthusiast. That wasn't my point, my point was that if you took a blank slate I don't think they would see it.

The general car buying public, the ones who didn't buy camaros the last time around, do not see things the way we do, but they hold a lot of the power. I think if you saw the average person's ability to tell what a car is you would be shocked. We did a survey like this in a marketing class of mine for a project(basically for ****s and giggles, it was extra credit), and the average college student can only tell the difference between very modern cars. You go back even 5 years and people start having trouble identifying cars.

Like I said, that is just my opinion.