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Feb 9, 2016
9:41:28pm
srey All-American
It's interesting to see which car generations retain their sense of style and
which generations do not age well. Of course, all cars nowadays are practically identical in terms of appearance because of safety regulations, but before the advent of crash test results and crumple zones there were some dramatic visual changes that took place between generations of various models. While there are winners and losers in terms of styling in every decade, I find the 90's to be an odd one in the overall styling themes of its cars. There were some pretty iconic models that were truly hideous in their 90's iterations. I think that the Trans Am is a fantastic example of this.

Here is a 1981 Trans Am, which was the last year of the body style made famous by Smokey and the Bandit. While the four recessed headlights are obviously a polarizing feature that you will either love or hate, the way that the body tapers down to the bottom of the rocker panels is not only timeless, it is absolutely gorgeous. This tapering is further enhanced by the exaggerated flaring of the fenders and contrasts nicely with the lines of the front air dam. It gives the car a somewhat organically athletic appearance. Sculpted would be a fitting adjective. The way that the roofline and rear deck of the car are molded seamlessly into the large wrap-around hatch window is also sufficiently masterful as to maintain the visual appeal of the car as it ages.

15816450_large.jpg

Now consider a 1994 Trans Am. I am fully aware that I am skipping an entire generation of Trans Ams by jumping into the 4th generation cars, but I feel that comparing this example to the 1981 above really illustrates how Pontiac destroyed many of the styling cues that made the older car not only more memorable, but also better equipped to handle the tumult of changing styling preferences. As you can see in the picture below, the beautiful, muscular fender flares are gone, as is the curve of the hatch lid reaching up to seamlessly fuse with the rear window. Yes, it does have a polarizing nose piece like the 1981 car, but you'll also notice that there is now a jutting spoiler on the rear that creates more discord with the C pillar lines than Donald Trump standing in line at a taco truck. The most egregious miscue, however, is ditching the stark taper from the mid-line of the doors and fenders down to the rocker panels. By flattening out the footprint in this manner I feel like Pontiac made a favorable homage to an inflatable raft. I feel like the ram air hoods and body kits of later models corrected some of these miscues, but the mid 90's Trans Ams and Camaros are good examples of poor styling that have little staying power.

1994-pontiac-trans-am-25th-anniversary-t

I don't know why I typed this up. I was searching craigslist for cars again because I love seeing what's out there. The search criteria I used was 8 cylinders, rwd, and manual transmission. One of the cars that popped up was an '81 Trans Am, and the car really resonated with me. I'm sure that the above paragraphs sound pretentious, and are probably factually incorrect. I'm not a writer, so I don't care. I like it when we have car talk on CB that isn't just centered around how lame minivans are, and which econobox is best (newsflash: they're all the same).
srey
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srey
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