Automakers often incorporate classic design cues into the modern cars. Sometimes they’re obvious, like the quad taillights of the Nissan GT-R. Sometimes they’re obscure, like the C-pillar of the second-generation Scion tC. There are probably some that only the most die-hard otaku will notice.
What’s the most interesting JNC throwback design cue?
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your most brutal tale of JNC price inflation?”
From $48,000 Mazda RX-3s to $5,500 Fairlady Z432s, the tales of price inflation are both unsurprising and yet, somehow, shocking. However, the tale that got us thinking the most was Steve‘s out-of-the-box (or, rather, mint-in-box) thinking:
I was emailing my nephew since I had heard from his brother that he collected Hot Wheels. It dawned on me that the most brutal JNC price inflation has got to be the Hot Wheels Vintage Racing Series BRE 510: from $4.95 at Walmart at introduction to $203 on ebay last month. A 40X increase in 3~4 years!!!!
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
The reference to the old Suzuki Cervo/SC100/Whizzkid in the latest Suzuki Ignis gets my vote. The kick in the rear window line and the three non-vents behind it are the obvious one, but I think there’s more than a hint to the Cervo in the front lights and grille too, particularly with the unbroken hood line.
What’s best about it is that Suzuki can clearly reference one of its historic models without going down the unimaginative route of a full retro-inspired design. The new Ignis is a neat, eyecatching small car – just how they should be.
Maybe not production yet, but the hyped Mazda RX-vision concept had similar fighter jet headlight/taillight style as the Mazda Cosmo 110 Sport.
Thanks to the new technology led stripes the RX-Vision has similar headlight surroundings that “flow” through the car and at the tail lights Mazda put a line/stripe through the tail lights in a similar way they did on the Cosmo 110 Sport with the rear bumper.
Please, do not (never) compare the 1972 absolute beauty to the scion horror.
Unlike almost all retro designs, the SFR evokes the Sports 800 without actually looking like a poorly executed re-release. It doesn’t attempt to mimic the 800 with details like the headlights and taillights (the cheapest and most common technique with “retro” designs), but instead the overall feel and anime-like proportions. Small wheels, narrow, upright, and cute. And again, unlike most “retro” designs, it is actually basically true to its inspiration. Fiat 500s and Minis are marketed as luxury compacts. What a joke. Beetles are behemoths and drive the wrong wheels and aren’t very robust. And all these and most other “retro” designs, including the V8 American pony/muscle car reissues just look like fake plastic bullshit that tries too hard to ape an iconic design and just gets it wrong. The SFR would be a light, *minimal* FR 2-seater that doesn’t attempt to overly replicate the styling details of the Sports 800 but instead the overall picture.
I think if SFR actually can go on sale for under $15k (somewhere I saw a rumor for $12k? …yeah right?) it may be even more impactful than the NA Miata was in overthrowing the recurring “cheap sports cars are dead” sentiment that plagues the automotive world.
The first one that comes to mind for me is the shape of the side windows and the slope of the rear hatch on the EK Civic. I always thought it was quite ugly compared to the EG Civic. I wondered what inspired Honda to give it that shape. Eventually, I found their inspiration – the 2nd generation Civic! How did I not see the similarity sooner?
http://i.imgur.com/94aOkou.jpg
Neat, I never noticed that before!
Im not a fan of the crZ really but I always fount it nice that they kept the same style hatch
As did the first-generation Insight. And the second-gen actually, but the first-gen was more similar to the CRX.
It was one of the reasons I always wanted, and eventually bought, an Insight – it was a spiritual successor to the CRX, which I’d also always liked, even if the primary aim was economy rather than performance.
Not really a “throwback” since it hasn’t happened (and probably won’t) or a “styling cue” but I wish they would come out with a small, Datsun 620/Toyota RN30 sized, pickup truck.