Today's Cars Look too Much Alike?

[henk4]

Fleet, I am stepping out of this discussion. If it is too difficult for you to acknowledge that for OTHER, NON AMERICAN people it is not easy to tell apart US-made cars, because we rarely get to see them in real life, then we have problem.
It may be easy for you to tell them apart, but it is apparently not in your mindset to acknowledge that what is easy for you is not automatically easy for the rest of the world.

[clutch-monkey]

The taillights also looked different. Also the front ends. And in most cases, the bumpers. In some cases, the overall shape...

amazingly the same can be said for most current cars..?

[Commodore GS/E]

@ Fleet: The year was 71 (at least I think so).

But really: is the one person in this forum that couldn't tell a modern Mercedes from a modern BMW? Or a Fiat from a Lancia?
You can still recognize the majority of the brands for what they are. The only things that have changed are the prefered forms ad designs. The shapes of modern cars aren't exchangeable, they simply follow the current preferances in design which limit the styling efforts- I don't think that many people would buy a Cadillac CTS with fins today.

[LeonOfTheDead]

All cars I posted (the old American cars I mean) were 1959 models. At least that was the year I wrote in my query.

I won't even bother to post the same shots about a Ford Focus, a VW Golf, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and an Opel Astra. I know Fleet wouldn't see the differences.

[Fleet 500]

amazingly the same can be said for most current cars..?

Not necessarily. Just the headlight arrangement alone of old cars varied. Stacked headlights, for instance, like on my '66 Plymouth. Now, almost all headlights have that bug-eyed look, in the same place.

Now see below. My '69 Cadillac, seen in the back, is easily identified as a Cadillac. The black Volvo in the foreground looks like any number of European or Japanese cars. I only knew it was a Volvo when Kitdy identified it for me...

[Fleet 500]

All cars I posted (the old American cars I mean) were 1959 models. At least that was the year I wrote in my query.

I won't even bother to post the same shots about a Ford Focus, a VW Golf, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and an Opel Astra. I know Fleet wouldn't see the differences.

Of course I wouldn't know the difference... hard to tell one blob- or egg-shaped car from another!

[Fleet 500]

Fleet, I am stepping out of this discussion. If it is too difficult for you to acknowledge that for OTHER, NON AMERICAN people it is not easy to tell apart US-made cars, because we rarely get to see them in real life, then we have problem.
It may be easy for you to tell them apart, but it is apparently not in your mindset to acknowledge that what is easy for you is not automatically easy for the rest of the world.

Well, okay, henk, if you think that today's lookalike cars (of which about 90% of do) are easier to identify, I don't think anything I post will convince you otherwise.

In the meantime, I will enjoy identifying the easy-to-spot cars like these...

[Fleet 500]

@ Fleet: The year was 71 (at least I think so).

Wait a minute... what about 1971?

But really: is the one person in this forum that couldn't tell a modern Mercedes from a modern BMW? Or a Fiat from a Lancia?
You can still recognize the majority of the brands for what they are. The only things that have changed are the prefered forms ad designs. The shapes of modern cars aren't exchangeable, they simply follow the current preferances in design which limit the styling efforts- I don't think that many people would buy a Cadillac CTS with fins today.

With or without reading the nameplate/emblems on the car?

[pimento]

Now see below. My '69 Cadillac, seen in the back, is easily identified as a Cadillac. The black Volvo in the foreground looks like any number of European or Japanese cars. I only knew it was a Volvo when Kitdy identified it for me...

If someone told me that that Caddy was a Lincoln, I'd believe them. If someone told me that was anything other than a Volvo, I'd correct them.

[Fleet 500]

If someone told me that that Caddy was a Lincoln, I'd believe them. If someone told me that was anything other than a Volvo, I'd correct them.

All that means is some 14-year-old kids (the ones I outlined a few posts back) know more about '60s and '70s cars than you do.

I wonder how a typical, non car-enthusiast would do? After all, Cadillacs are well known and have been around for a long time.

[henk4]

Well, okay, henk, if you think that today's lookalike cars (of which about 90% of do) are easier to identify, I don't think anything I post will convince you otherwise.

In the meantime, I will enjoy identifying the easy-to-spot cars like these...

as usual you are twisting the argument. I never said that modern cars don't look alike, but the point was that for somebody who did not grow up around them, US cars from the 60-ties or seventies are not so easy to tell apart.

For you they are, for others less so. I could post european cars here from that period which for me are easy to identify, but I am sure you would have some difficulties in doing so, simply because you might not even know the brand.

[Cobrafan427]

Not necessarily. Just the headlight arrangement alone of old cars varied. Stacked headlights, for instance, like on my '66 Plymouth. Now, almost all headlights have that bug-eyed look, in the same place.

Now see below. My '69 Cadillac, seen in the back, is easily identified as a Cadillac. The black Volvo in the foreground looks like any number of European or Japanese cars. I only knew it was a Volvo when Kitdy identified it for me...

I'm not siding with Fleet here because i think he's being narrow-minded (no offense) but initial reaction to the picture told me BMW M3. That is my complaint about newer cars, you really have to get closer to them to tell them apart, once i read the post and enlarged the picture, then i could tell it was a Volvo. But Henk i know exactly where you're coming from, i can tell the difference between '60s American cars but some '60s European cars are difficult because i hardly see them here

[Commodore GS/E]

I'm not siding with Fleet here because i think he's being narrow-minded (no offense) but initial reaction to the picture told me BMW M3. That is my complaint about newer cars, you really have to get closer to them to tell them apart, once i read the post and enlarged the picture, then i could tell it was a Volvo. But Henk i know exactly where you're coming from, i can tell the difference between '60s American cars but some '60s European cars are difficult because i hardly see them here

... which is the reason why this disussion is becoming stupid. The answer to the question of the thread is a simple "no". It only depends on your age, your specific preferences related to automotive periods of time and where you're from if you can differenciate car models from a period or not.

I'm out of this discussion now, too. Wasted words.

[pimento]

All that means is some 14-year-old kids (the ones I outlined a few posts back) know more about '60s and '70s cars than you do.

I wonder how a typical, non car-enthusiast would do? After all, Cadillacs are well known and have been around for a long time.

In America. We rest of the world peoples have possibly never even seen one in person.

[ScionDriver]

I didn't mean for this to spin so much out of control. I guess it does just depend on your age and the cars you're most familiar with.

We can all agree to disagree, eh?