'Vette, Mustang, Cherokee fans, stop complaining already

[Rob]

'Vette, Mustang, Cherokee fans, stop complaining already

By Mark Phelan
Detroit Free Press Auto Critic
August 25, 2013

As new versions of the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang and Jeep Cherokee draw near, I’ve got a request for the vehicles’ purists: Stop complaining that they’re different from the old cars you revere. Close your eyes, count to 10 and get back to me after they’ve been on the road for six months.

Your whining makes my head hurt, and it’s not helping the cars you claim to love. Honestly.

“If you’re passionate about a car, you tend to see anything that’s different as a retrograde step,” said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics. “Owners of the previous model will always prefer the one they know.”

That explains why many ’Vette fans recoiled in horror when they saw the 2014 Corvette Stingray has — wait for it — square taillights! Never mind that the new ’Vette is faster, more fuel-efficient and more advanced — their Corvette has round taillights, the way God intended. Anything else is an abomination.

Full Story: Mark Phelan: 'Vette, Mustang, Cherokee fans, stop complaining already | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

 

[Dad]

Mark's bus ride to and from work must make him grouchy. Maybe he's just put off by this years new color of his Huffy.

 

[67vet]

So, is Mark saying that Corvette engineers "Drink alone, late at night, in far cheaper and less fashionable dives".

I wish guys like him would produce facts instead of going off on some BS tangent.

 

[6 Shooter]

People live to complain...

​

 

[Scottsredvette]

I keep think back to the comments when the C5 came out and just chuckle.

 

[Dad]

I keep think back to the comments when the C5 came out and just chuckle.

Pop a link up for some of the C5 comments, I'd like to see what was being said then. I ordered mine the same day I drove the C5 but as you know they were in short supply and it was a '98 when I got it. What a change over the "Flexible Flyer" I was driving then.

 

[Vettelt193]

The C5 still looks like an NSX and RX7 got it on.

The C7 tail lights are fine. the whole rear end though I'm not sure about. It just seems confusing to me. I do like the front half. The good news about the rear is there really is nothing else like it.... that is what Corvette used to do when they made a new generation. Set the styling bar. The front half did not do that because it has obvious styling cues overall to other cars.

The base C6 was blah, headlights copied from other cars.

The first new corvette I have really found unique is the C6 wide body cars. In person they really look good to me and the simple addition of the fender flares set the car apart from everything else on the road and make it look muscular.

People complained when the C4 came out. But no one was saying that it looks like something else, people thought it was just too different at the time. Those complaints are the ones you want to hear as they fade very quickly as everything else catches up.

 

[Dad]

You should have heard the complaints/jabs at the '53 when it came out. Never going to last and the Thunderbrird ran over it at first. Thunderbird, I think I saw one of those the other day, maybe not.

 

[warren s]

After seeing the C5 and C6 for the last few decades I will take "plain and familiar" over UGLY any day. The previous generations dont have bad angle on them. The rear ends are not perfect, but flow together well.

The C7 rear looks like a different group of people designed every square foot,.

The top half that's body colored has curved lines with angular tail lights, and an ugly stick on JC Whitney looking spoiler. The bottom half that's black has squared off looking panels with circular tail pipes. It just doesnt look like something that time will make look better.

 

[DGVETTE]

After seeing the C5 and C6 for the last few decades I will take "plain and familiar" over UGLY any day. The previous generations dont have bad angle on them. The rear ends are not perfect, but flow together well.

The C7 rear looks like a different group of people designed every square foot,.

The top half that's body colored has curved lines with angular tail lights, and an ugly stick on JC Whitney looking spoiler. The bottom half that's black has squared off looking panels with circular tail pipes. It just doesnt look like something that time will make look better.

I agree! And here is more on the different people design from the "white haired 'Vette owner" thread.

snipped from the referenced "Automotive News" article referring to Ed Welburn design:

That partly inspired Welburn to conduct an unprecedented global call for proposals from GM designers scattered across studios from Brazil to India to Korea.
Welburn, 62, figured that by casting such a wide net, he was more likely to end up with the exotic design he was after.
Welburn personally reviewed the hundreds of sketches that flowed into GM's global design center in suburban Detroit. Eventually, the list of candidates was whittled down to 12 scale models, and eventually to two full-sized clay models.
Then it was gut-check time. One of the finalists included the traditional round taillights; the other had a more provocative look, with squared-off taillights.
Welburn concedes that he initially was opposed to discarding the round lights that had been a signature styling cue on every 'Vette since 1963. But then he remembered the snowy-haired Corvette clubbers.


I am a white haired Vette owner and I don't like the rear end. It may not be identical twin to the Camaro rear but there is enough similarity to call them 'brothers from a different mother'. I'm not drinking the design kool-aid and I don't need the increased performance for street use. I'll use that phrase from 'Shark Tank' TV show; "So for that Reason, I'm Out" when it comes to the C7.

 

[KANE]

That's The Way It Was And We Liked It - YouTube

In times like these, I'm reminded of an SNL skit with Dana Carvey.

 

[Dad]

I like the part in the DGVETTE post where it states, "That partly inspired Welburn to conduct an unprecedented global call for proposals from GM designers scattered across studios from Brazil to India to Korea. Welburn, 62, figured that by casting such a wide net, he was more likely to end up with the exotic design he was after."

When you don't have the balls to take credit for your own design, share it with enough people that it looks like their mistake, if it is viewed that way. If not you can claim it as yours.


Retired tool, machine, and systems designer that took his share of lumps for paper mistakes that became boat anchors.:eyerole