There are a lot of unfortunate trends in the automotive industry, but one of the worst has to be the current state of automotive expressions. There was a time when many cars looked happy, like the family pet. Now, many cars look like they’re fiercely pushing hard while on the toilet.
This morning, Jason pointed out how automotive typography used to look so cheerful and fun. Look no further than GM trucks. Today they’re all in your face with badging to match, but several decades ago they had a lot more fun. I’m with Taargus Taargus, we need that back again:
I do wonder if and when happiness may come back to the world of cars. Trends are cyclical right? We’re not going to forever be stuck in tough guy needs angry-faced vehicle, are we?
Wait a minute, Flyingstitch has a point here, this isn’t about taillights!:
I think Jason slipped out of the taillight bar during a round of near-fisticuffs over amber rear turn indicators, and he sneaked next door to the Badge and Crest to indulge his new obsession. We’re onto you Jason, but it’s OK. Just open up and be your authentic self.
In other news, Nissan won a court battle entitling it to a superyacht Carlos Ghosn bought with money taken from Nissan, but he’s not giving it back. Alexk98 takes an easy COTD win:
Once this whole Ghosn saga is finally done, and the history is established, Hollywood should make a flashy, dramatized movie about it. Rowan Atkinson as Carlos (Ghosn, not pictured above), the heist approximately 48 Million Dollars, His boat can be rebranded again to Eleanor, and the title, of course, “Ghosn in 60 Seconds”
Finally, we land at the person who created a battery powered rear wiper for the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Abdominal Snoman gives us a cool story about something like this could be useful for racing:
There’s another unusual use case for something like this. There was a lemons race once held in monsoon conditions, and nothing we tried could keep the windshield from fogging up. Genius teammate went to autozone, bought a rear wiper assembly from a trailblazer, and rigged it up on the inside just behind the rear view mirror. It looked super weird from the outside to see two sets of wipers going in opposite directions, but it was extremely effective.
Have a great evening, everyone!
I will celebrate this honor by defending Mazdas Nagare design language. The 3 and 5 of this era were happy-faced fun cars, and everyone seemed the trash that at the time. The 3 was a cheeky looking guy!
Long live happy cars.
The ’06 toyota sequoia is a happy SUV that I wish we saw more of today. And since my family owns one, I can tell you, it may look happy, but it can HAUL.
I never really thought of that as a happy looking car, but on second review, it does look pretty content to be where it is.
The ’06-’07 facelift (that my family owns) looks happier than pre-facelift versions. I find The Autopians lack of facelift pictures distrubing.
No, fun is for [insert word that I haven’t used since I was a dumb kid to describe someone]!! Real men are TOUGH and ANGRY!!!
Righto. As long as men have a major say in automotive purchases, corporations will keep catering to the lowest common denominator: our only acceptable emotion.
Is the word [pusillanimous]??
The “Ghosn in 60 Seconds” joke would’ve hit me harder if I hadn’t had to search to confirm that’s how you pronounce his name. I’d been mentally pronouncing it “go-sen” this whole time.
Thank you for pointing this out. TIL the actual pronunciation of his name.
That happy car Miata reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld driving Miranda Sings around in a bug eye Sprite.
JFNF