-=Rowdy=-

lol

280RX-8

The front end of that car looks goofy, like it has this huge chin or something. It's bad enough Chevy copied the PT Cruiser. Enough!, as everyone has said. I think some of the lack of originality is from a cost standpoint, since so many vehicles these days share platforms.

miater

it's the circle of life get used to it.....:-) BTW I love it. I won't buy it, but I hope I see a lot of them on the road.

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

nostalgae is a great thing, maybe now that all these retro styled cars are coming out the poor folks with 20 year project cars can give em up and get some new technology.

This Challenger would make a way nicer 'General Lee' than the new Charger.

Looks good. When I have the money to spend I would like to have a variety of cars. Not real sure that this would be one of 'em though.

Definitely make some of the folks that had a Challenger happy though.

AbusiveWombat

Completely agree! If our designers could come up with something fresh and new then I'd be all for it but as Dre pointed out, our designs have been terrible for years. Truth be told, I love some of the old designs. And shows like Overhauled makes me want a modern classic even more. I just hope that Chevy jumps on board with a '69 Camaro.

BaronVonBigmeat

retro proportions (long hood, low roofline, short trunk ) =

retro details (headlights, tail lights) =

I'd like it better if they kept the overall proportions and dimensions of the car, and styled it to be pretty modern looking otherwise, except with a subtle tip-of-the-hat to the originals. As opposed to a remake that's more like "HAY GUYZ LOOK I'M A CHALLENGER, SEE?".

But still, I can't really bring myself to dislike a RWD Hemi-powered coupe.

JRichter

It's really hard to believe that automotive stylists have ran out of design ideas.

Sure some of these concepts/cars look pretty good but it is sad that American companies have to trace ideas from 30, 40, 50 years ago. These retro cars are mainly to spark excitement to lure customers away from the import cars so they don't have to offer employee discounts/rebates/incentives just to stay out of the red.

These retro cars will die out soon enough, I don't see any long term profits from them unless they evolve into something more modern.

I don't see the up and coming next generation wanting to buy cars that look 40 years old.

Keep the basic idea - rear-wheel drive and powerful V8s - but put modern/fresh styling to it.

Back when these cars really came out they were loved because they were fresh new designs back then. Why can't the car designers do this today.

ECHO1

unfortunately, it's not really working. gm is planning on cutting about 30,000 jobs and closing several plants in the process

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Having owned a '70 Challenger, I'd have to say that one would be better served using the funds to buy an original rather than the modern version.

AbusiveWombat

Maybe you haven't heard, but Ford's production numbers for the 2005 Mustang are in the neighborhood of 190k. I'd say the numbers speak for themselves...

AbusiveWombat

Hmmm, GM hasn't come out with a retro design. The closest thing would be the revival of the GTO name.

miater

SSR and HHR aren't retro?

ECHO1

miater took the words out of my mouth, although FoMoCo isn't sitting on a bed of roses either...

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/18/news...reut/index.htm

ford is the only company that's gotten it's formula right for redesigning an icon. the comparison photo's that were posted earlier pretty much says it all. i'm not against the idea, i'm just over it.

i don't think the feelings would be similar if the next rx-7 was damn near identical to the ones that came before in the 70's, but with a turbo renesis. you can channel the past for inspiration not replication...

gnj152

2005 general Lee

Japan8

Only retro feeling, versus what people are talking about here, which is based upon some specific model. Such as the Mustang or 300. They use both the name and styling elements of the original car.

Japan8

Um... JDM companies are doing the same. The 350Z carries elements of the 280Z and the 300Z. Nissan's showcar Foria. Toyota has had several retro showcars and has made a retro luxo sedan for JDM. The S2000 is an attempt to reach back to an older model. It's happening all across the board... some do it better than others and some get faulted for everything while others praised...

TALAN7

I take back some of what I said. Although the new Challenger looks too old fashioned in the photos, the new 2005 General Lee looks great. It's retroish but it looks like it was built now. That's the key. To answer Japan8 retro is okay as long as it looks like a modern car. The HHR dosen't look modern, just ugly. There is a formula, they just have to get it right.

rx8wannahave

That summed it up for me perfectly...

How about making a "modern looking" muscle car? Remember the Vette concept Stingray back in the 90's....why oh why has GM not built that thing. It still looks like the future Vette even today.

Remember the thread I started about the next Camaro...I think I like those better, but I'm also not feeling the retro thing "too much".

It does look good but at the same time it's sad the US Auto companies have to go back into their history to get people back into their showrooms.

Here is a wacky concept…build something with some quality and make it look like an exotic, and I’ll bet you the sales will go through the roof.

Wouldn’t you all love a 25K V10 Lambo look alike…OHHH MAMA!

BlueEyes

There is quite a difference between modernizing an old design, and taking styling cues from a classic. I look at the boxster, which, in some ways reminds me of the 550 spyder. But, it's not a 550 spyder clone. That's good design, a new shape, which reminds you of legends of the past. Not a flat out copy, with some updated parts.

nzarnow

If they do put the challenger into production it will probably suck. Knowing Dodge and other American car companies, they will make it weigh as much as a house and only be a 4-5sp autostick. It may have some beef under the hood, but I have to believe that their only true performance car is the viper. All the other ones are aimed at trying to get people to feel badass while driving a sedan.

JRichter

I'm mainly talking about the American car market which includes only the Japanese/European cars sold here.

The 350Z would be an evolution of the Z car throughout the years. You might argue that the general sillouette of this car is similar but not really. Look at the 350Z, verses a Datsun 240Z or 280Z (sorry but the 300ZX is not really a 30/40/50 year old design yet) - nothing really close stylewise except the basic layout and the 3 guages in the center of the dash. Just like the FD RX-7 is an evolution of the original RX-7 but is definetly not retro. Remember the first concept for the new Z car that hit the shows in I believe 1999? It looked very similar to the original 240Z and was disliked by the press and public. This design was scrapped and thats when the very modern 2001 Z concept car came out which the '03 350Z is styled from.
1999 Z Concept:

2001 Z Concept:


I don't believe Toyota sells any of those retro cars in the American market.

The S2000 may be capturing some of the spirit of the S500, I believe it was called, but this little tiny convertible shares no styling cues with the very modern S2000 except the fact that they are both convertibles.



I'm not refering to design ideas or themes such as the layout or drivetrain of the car, only the retro exterior styling applied to modern platforms.

I would say the newest BMW Mini Cooper is probably the best form of modernizing an old car because it actually manages to look very modern at the same time resembling the original Mini from decades before.

I never said the sales weren't good, I said:

"These retro cars will die out soon enough, I don't see any long term profits from them unless they evolve into something more modern.

I don't see the up and coming next generation wanting to buy cars that look 40 years old"

I believe that Mustang sales will always be strong no matter what it looks like (it's a cheap V-8 powered RWD car with a long iconic history) and even though its retro and probably the best looking Mustang I doubt it will stay retro.

I'm thinking more about the hideous 2002 retro Thunderbird that flopped and quickly went out of production.

Or the Ford GT that is one hell of a supercar, but was styled (and even painted) to look just like the Le Mans winning GT40's of the late '60's (how about using this money to develop independent rear suspension for the 190k selling Mustang).

Cadillac knows what it's doing. It has a whole crop of fresh designs and does not have to rebody a '53 Eldorado to make sales. I'll take a CTS-V 6-speed with the LS6 V8 over any remake of a Charger/Challenger/Mustang anyday.

Japan8

I'll definitely agree with you on the Thunderbird. That was a bad idea. Going with a convertible... ok. Picking a styling element or two... ok. But this reto execution was bad... performance was ho hum too. Unfortunately the price was nothing to sneeze at.

The Mustang... well executed, but I too wonder what Ford will do for the next revision. I suppose they can do things like shorten the long rear-end, drop the driving lights in the grill (ewww)... maybe change the front to look more like the show car or the GT500. As far as IRS goes... I don't think we'll see it on the GT... definitely not the V6 (which is the big seller). Maybe on the next SVT car that comes after the GT500... Anyway I think this car is more along the lines of the Mini Cooper...

The 350Z? I think it is a combination of elements of all the past Z cars. In the end, I think it carries a heavier influence from the 300Z than the 240Z.

Mazda... everything they build is kinda "unique." But that's a Mazda thing...

The Ford GT... it "looks" like the old Le Mans car, but side by side... they are quite different. It retains the general shape, but not much else. The Ford GT has "edge" styling versus round "blubous". The interior is quite "show car" looking as well.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

The old muscle cars weighed "as much as a house". They needed the high horsepower V8 engines to get the exceleration that they are famous for. And in the end, the stock versions, weren't any quicker than our RX8's

TODreamer

It looks alright but a little too retro looking

SHOWOFF

Every time Detroit introduces another "retro" car it reminds me that they are completely out of new ideas.