Put me down for the SS. The Mustang is very uninspired. As an Industrial Design student, to many, doing something like that is just way too easy. If you want a Mustang that looks like an old one then just get the real thing. Maybe I will work on a "new" Camaro that is a diredt rip-off of a 69' Z with just some minor rounding and creasing.

 

When I see a Vette (except for the very earliest models) I see continuity. I look for the sharp crease over the front wheel, round side-by-side taillights set in a relatively flat/vertical panel, a long front hood, a very short rear deck, louvered quarters, hood scoops or mimicking depressions, flip-up headlights, and crossed flag emblems.

So the relative shape and proportions have changed between the early Stingray and the Z06 very little IMO. Technology - OH YES! Definitely. But have the other aspect really changed that much? I personally don't think so. I LIKE the way the Vette has evolved, and to me, the 2002 model has kept sufficient cues to link itself with say a '62 or '72 model fairly well.

Actually, you really have me baffled after that one Darth.
You say you don't like the new Mustang because it lacks originality, but you do like the new Vette. To me, I can see as much '68 Stingray in the new Z06 as I see '68 Mustang in the '05 concept. I don't wear glasses, but geez - am I THAT different?

 

The Mustang is an obvious attempt to look very very similar to the 67ish car...

The current Corvette , at least IMO, and that of most, I'd think, does not try to blatantly copy any particular car from it's past... rather, it carries on an abstract theme that is Corvette... but without taking the plans to the copy machine, then running it through the time machine to update it a bit...

 

Exactly, you nailed it. The current corvette carries themes, not literal styling interpretations, but similarities in design that are instantly recognizeable as "Corvette". The C5 does not resemble any one year of Corvette any more than another, aside from the fact that the basic shape is an evolution of the style that started to come together in the late 70's vettes and carried on through the C4.

The new mustang looks great IMO, but what do you do with it when it comes time to freshen it up? What about when its time for the next totally new Stang?

 

Personally i think the 2005 mustang is everything but unoriginal, uninspiring, or boring.

The car while retro looking has a very modern look to it as well. The styling is a good mix of old and new styling elements. Allot of you talk as if it's an exact copy of the 60's mustang which it's far being.

 

I think this insinuates that the team picked a particular old Mustang and tried to copy it... I don't think that's accurate. The team tried to capture what made the original so special and different. If the new styling, lines, or proportions lead YOU to think it looks like a particular model year, then that's fine. But to the next guy it may resemble a different model more.

I have seen the new concept beside/behind a '66 fastback , a '68 fastback, and a a '64 1/2 original - it resembles them all heavily, but none exactly. And the vert (which I too am less fond of at this time) has been likened to a '69 Shelby vert with the same aero-rollbar treatment. There's a difference like day and night between a '66 fastback and a '69 Shelby Vert !!! With such a wide variance, how do you feel it is "blatantly copy(ing) a particular car"?

I think were "picking nits" here. There's no more than a VERY FINE LINE between our thoughts on these issues. We just have slightly different tastes, and that's a good thing IMO.

 

imma be blatantly honest here, IM WITH THE CHEVY GUYS ON THIS ONE: ford took the easy way out, powertrain is "maybe" revolutionary er whatnot, but the second i layed eyes on even the concept i really wasnt fond of it in the least it is ridiculous,

Ive also been hearing very interesting debates about the c3-c5 era, and id thought id add my .02 cents in: I really dont think that the corvette is in the least UNORIGINAL that is just a stupid *** statement to say something like that, also if you want to be just plain basic you can say something as simple as "if it aint broke dont fix it", but id rather say something like, This car Holds an image even moreso than the mustang does to ford people, its been around longer and more people around the world are aware of it, EVER SINGLE CHANGE MADE TO THIS CAR IS MORE OF A RISK than that of the mustang, it is carefully researched and planned over an over before coming out with something that they KNOW WILL APPEAL TO THE MASSES. (I DONT EVEN WANT TO HEAR THAT IT LOOKS LIKE AN OVERWEIGHT RX-7) THE c5 IS A WORK OF ART. AS OPPOSSED to the mustang in which they even were tempted in SN95 year to CHANGE IT TO THE F*CKING PROBE!!!! but since people said they didnt like it they just made the probe its own car....HOW CAN I LIVE WITH MYSELF AS A FORD PERSON KNOWING THEY WERE GOING TO CHANGE THE MUSTANG TO A PROBE ONCE!! THATS A BIG JUMP TO SAY THE LEAST!!! chevy has taken pride in RESEARCHING CAREFUL CHANGES TO THEIR ICON AND BUILDING ACCORDINGLY AND IT SHOWS BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF CHANGES THE CORVETTE GOES THROUGH AS OPPOSSED TO THE CONSTANT (AND SOMETIMES DRASTIC [AS SEEN HERE]) changes the mustang and its powertrains suffer every 2-4 years....

CHEVY you won this round, and the SS i believe is chevy's attempt to see if there is a future in the camaro yet, they will be searching these boards i guarentee you, and from what ive seen here there is much left in it yet.


-cliff

 

Some similarities yes, but there have been major refinements between the C2 Stingray and the C5 Z06. To me the Mustang fastback looks a lot like the '68 fastback. Much more than the '03 Z06 looks like a '67 Stingray.

Shure there were variations on the late 60's Mustangs with the GT's and Shelby's. However, if you look at the new Mustang, T-bird and GT, you see so much influence from eariler models... much more than today's Vette has been influenced by yesterday's Vette... that they appear almost cartoonish representations of cars from Ford's hollowed past. Not that this is a bad thing as I think it says a lot to the fact that musclecar performance isn't dead nor is the desire for enthusiasts to own one.

However to say that it has more original styling than the SS or the Corvette??? Uh, I just don't agree with that logic.

 

Funny, I remember reading somewhere that back around the mid to late 80's, GM was considering replacing the Camaro with a slightly hopped up(meaning rear spoiler and ground effects,what did they call it, Z26?) Lumina 2 door. Never happened and they went on with the 4th gen. (Thankfully)

 

yea but they didnt go to such extent as to make some prototypes with v-8 engines and bring them around to college campuses and let people drive them and give opinions on them, did they

 

Actually it is pretty accurate. J. Mays said in yesterday's Detroit Free Press that a considerable amount of design elements were taken from the 1967 Mustang. FWIW J. Mays is also the guy who designed VW's new Beetle and the T-Bird...

 

maybe they will do a retro design of the 92 GT

 

I agree to a certain degree, as the styling is quite modern retro...so boring, I wouldnt go that far, but unoriginal I would agree with... but one thing about it I cannot stand is the interior... as it tries to give a nastalgic modernism to itself that only really works in low production vehicles(IMO)... I for one think that the setup of the interior in the new mustangs will get old really quick, as I like to have a more modern/futuristic looking interior.

 

Does it really matter where the styling cues came from? So what if Ford jacked a couple of styling ideas from the past. The 05 Mustang looks good, and at least Ford is stealing good styling ideas.

This contrasts with the with the SS, in which the car looks like the illegitimate child of a Corvette and a VW beetle/bug. Maybe the Corvette was drunk.

So the Mustang looks like the Modern-day 70 Boss Mustang. I don't care, it still looks great.

 

I think you read more into what I wrote than I was actually trying to say... I wasn't trying to compare Vette and Mustang design specs on a tit-for-tat basis - which-has-changed-more kind of thing. Your very first sentence carried all the clout I was trying to convey... SIMILARITIES. I see similarities in both new-and-old Vettes, just like I do in both new-and-old Mustangs.

Forget the new concept for a moment and just take the '02 Mustang... It has the corral and pony grill emblem, simulated side scoops, 3-vertical bar taillamps, emblems, badges, etc just like the 1st gen Mustang did - maybe even more closely resembling the 1st gen than the '03 concept. Bringing this to light, I don't see how these same conversations never took place about the '99-'02 models?

Going back, I have to throw this out... The modern Vette DEFINITELY has styling cues that are indicative of C2 models, whereas the F4 had NO cues from F1 or F2 models IMO. The Vette is here today, going strong. The F-bod... . Historically speaking, there is something to be said for staying with what works, don't you think?

And lastly, I don't recall saying "the Mustang has more original styling than the SS or the Corvette??? " I wasn't even trying to imply such an opinion - I was simply trying to demostrate a parallel between how the modern Z06 has cues found in the C2 Stingray, just like the '03 Mustang concept has cues from the 1st gen Mustangs - NOTHING MORE. Again - both the Mustang and Vette are enjoying great success today too - irony, or something predictable?