When the British magazine Car came out, it did beautiful photography of cars. Of course, this was way prior to digital and in fiscally more healthy times.
I eventually bought a book of its collected pictures that I have to this day. Later issues seemed to have been hit by both money, as in lack of, and less real imagination. That's going back some years too, as I stopped buying or looking for it.
Part of the problem, visually, is the birth of the upturned bathtub design paradigm that I first noticed with the Ford Sierra (what was called that in the UK) that took design into high anodyne.
My current Fiesta, tiny car, scares me every time I am forced into a situation where I have to reverse it anywhere. I see no corners. Function and design relationships?
My son temporarily owned a VW Golf and found exactly the same problem. I remember large cars from up to the late 70s that presented no such problems, because their outer limits were visible; one knew exactly where one was, so to speak.
Car design used to be my favourite version of contemporary sculpture with the added bonus of practical value thrown in for free!
Hi Rob!
Car absolutely did have some wonderful imagery, and even if you don't find it as good as it used to be, I think the UK pubs in general still blow our stuff on tis side of the pond into the weeds. I'd say
Evo is the current gold standard, and has been for awhile. Their content is genuinely tuned to the true enthusiast, and their imagery, though it adheres to a pretty strict style, is dynamic and really shows a love for the subject, and their subscriber covers are usually strikingly simple, which I like.
Road and Track over here did a rework a few years back, and I think it was pretty successful. The rest of what we have seems to lack depth.
As for car design itself, so much of it is driven by science and efficiency as opposed to art these days, so there's a commonality in the design language that you certainly didn't see when style was king in the pre-war era up through the "jet age." There are still some standouts - among others, the recently-discontinued Aston Martin Vantage/DB9 run will remain beautiful for a long time, even if the successors that came out this year and last are obnoxious, and Porsche's 911 and baby brother Cayman still adhere to a simple, classic look.
