60年來10大最丑轎車
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????還記得1958年嗎？當時的美國總統是艾森豪威爾；若望二十三世在那一年加冕為羅馬教宗；14歲的鮑比?費舍爾在那一年贏得了美國國際象棋冠軍；貓王在那一年應征入伍。 ????也就是在同一年里，美國汽車廠商生產出了過去60年里外觀最丑的轎車。它們都有著船形的車身和巨大的尾鰭，車身包裹著花哨的裝飾，大量使用了電鍍元素。當時設計師們一直想在設計上有所突破，結果卻與現實漸行漸遠。 ????克萊斯勒公司（Chrysler Corp.）1957年取消了原有的產品計劃，匆匆上馬了一條新生產線，生產了一款大尾鰭、車身三色調涂漆的新車，從而在競爭中占得先機。當時這種設計風格被稱為“新潮外觀”。通用（General Motors）、福特（Ford）和其它美國廠商紛紛仿效，于是“新潮外觀”的轎車越來越泛濫。許多車型的造型改變對車輛質量產生的影響是可以預見的，首當其沖的就是克萊斯勒。 ????大多數顧客并不喜歡這種款式。隨著造型更為內斂的外國車紛紛搶灘登陸，再加上艾森豪威爾時代的經濟蕭條令人們囊中羞澀，因此才剛到1960年，“新潮外觀”就成了昨日黃花。大尾鰭不見了，讓汽車看起來像一臺老式唱片機的巴洛克式鑲邊也不見了。 ????1958年的故事可以給今天的汽車廠商們提個醒：千萬不要盲目跟風。如今的汽車廠商也是爭先恐后地把各種時尚的款式創意雜糅到自己的量產車型里，比如四門轎跑、LED燈、車身防擦條等等。不過新穎的東西很快就會成為大路貨，然后就會被人們用濫了——由此導致的結果就是廉價出售。 ????在此謹為大家列出來自那個被遺忘的年代的10款最“雷”的轎車。可以看出的當時設計師有多么天馬行空，而且當時美國人對汽車的品味也達到了戰后的最低點。 |
????Remember 1958? Eisenhower was president, Pope John XXIII was crowned pontiff, 14-year-old Bobby Fischer won the U.S. chess championship, and Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army. ????It was also the year American automakers produced the worst looking cars of the last 60 years: great tail-finned land barges draped in ornamentation and dripping in chrome. Designers had been trying to outdo themselves for so long, they'd lost touch with reality. ????Chrysler Corp. got a jump on the competition in 1957 by tearing up its product plans and rushing out a line of cars with big tail fins and three-tone paint jobs. It was called the "Forward Look." General Motors, Ford, and American Motors hurried to compete. Excess was piled on excess. So many design changes had a predictable effect on quality, with Chrysler suffering the most of all. ????Customers stayed away in droves. Tastes were changing as more restrained foreign cars made inroads and the paycheck-pinching Eisenhower recession took hold. By 1960 it was all over. Fins were all but gone, along with all the baroque frills that produced cars like rolling jukeboxes. ????1958 should serve as a caution to today's automakers as they rush faddish styling ideas -- like four-door coupes, LED lights, or body side molding -- into production. Novelty quickly leads to the commonplace, and then to overuse -- with concomitant results for sales. ????Herewith, ten egregious design examples from that forgotten year when designers ran wild, and American motoring taste hit a post-war low. |
