One detail remembers a car. Take stock of those classic car design elements

There are people who like cars and people who are indifferent to cars. I think the strongest recognition of a car is that people who are indifferent to cars can recognize the car at a glance, and even distinguish specific models at a glance. This kind of memory point will undoubtedly greatly improve the recognition of a car. Today we will summarize the designs that can identify a car with one detail.

red flag flag light

The flag light must be the oldest classic design in the history of my country’s automobile industry. What is commendable is that Hongqi still uses the flag light to this day and has become one of the indispensable brand elements. It also has a place in the car enlightenment stage of most car fans.

As a car fan born in the 1990s, I have witnessed the initial stage of cars entering thousands of households, and the car that is inseparable from this stage is the Hongqi CA7220. The moment after the flag light is lit, I may never forget it in this life.

The appearance of this Hongqi CA7220 in my memory is a bit vague. I can’t remember the interior. The flag light looks like it was just seen yesterday.

The important factor that makes a detail memorable for a car is not how brilliant the detail is, but that among the distinctive models of this brand, there is always the same detail that cannot cover up the temperament, and it is passed down and may become a The soul of this brand, the flag light is one of them.

Maybach S-Class

Identifying a car through details is inseparable from the new Maybach. The Mercedes-Benz Maybach S-Class’s chrome-plated B-pillars and the design that the small windows are not on the doors are already “out of the box” details.

The S-Class is already a lengthened executive-class sedan. The Maybach S-Class lengthened the wheelbase and obtained an unimaginable rear door length. For practical reasons, the small window at the rear of the door may be left in the car. The body is the perfect solution, which can not only make the farthest end of the door flush, but also reduce the length of the rear door. But what I didn’t expect was that the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the Maybach S-Class, which only differ in wheelbase length, would become one of the most recognizable derivative models because of the phrase “the small window is not in the door”.

Volkswagen with letters

The Phaeton is the flagship executive sedan of the Volkswagen brand. Although it is worth millions and there is also a W12 version, its inherent low profile conceals the true selling price of this car. At that time, whether Volkswagen was in Germany The United States, Britain, Japan, France and our country all rely on the people’s car “personality” to be based on the people. Looking back now, it is difficult to imagine that the most common Jetta on the road would be a “premium sedan” with a guide price of 2.53 million. “Hang the same car logo.

“We are not afraid of Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover, but we are afraid of Volkswagen with letters.” This sentence has gradually become popular as the popularity of Phaeton increases, and there must be some people who have personally experienced the pressure from Phaeton repairs, and keep several times the safe distance from the car in front. A Volkswagen has also been added to the car model.

The beauty of this sentence is that it accurately summarizes the biggest difference of the Phaeton. Even the million-level SUV Touareg does not receive preferential treatment in the row of letters below the car logo, which shows how much Mr. Piëch attaches importance to the Phaeton.

This approach has also received a lot of recognition. Not only within Volkswagen, many models now also use letters to arrange the tail logos.

Porsche Frog Eye

Recognizing a car through one detail can make it stand out from the crowd like the Maybach S-Class and Phaeton, or it can remain “unchanged” for decades.

Porsche is obviously the latter. Starting from the first-generation Porsche 911, the frog-like front face and light group have hardly changed. It seems that the designer is “fishing”, but this design was born in 1964.

And not just 911, this design can be found in every Porsche model. If one generation or two is called fishing, then maintaining it for decades should be called inheritance.

Even the Porsche 918 in the ranks of the “Three Gods” continues the frog-eye design. This inheritance allows dozens of generations of various models over the decades to recognize that this is a Porsche at a glance, and will be very sure that this is a Porsche.

Audi quattro

After Audi engineers proposed the idea of building a high-performance four-wheel drive in 1977, the first Audi quattro rally car was born in 1980, and subsequently won eight world rally championships between 1983 and 1984.

The Audi quattro four-wheel drive system was one of the first luxury cars with a four-wheel drive system to enter the country, and it quickly became popular in the northern region. Because most luxury cars at that time were rear-wheel drive, it naturally had advantages on icy and snowy roads. Gain a kind of “fan brother”.

This also made a good start for quattro’s publicity in the following decades. As its reputation spread, everyone found that the homophony of the gecko in the logo representing Audi’s four-wheel drive system was very pleasing, so whether it had quattro or not, or even whether it was Audi or not, They always put a gecko on the back of their car to bring good luck.

Summarize

Most of the above four small details are from car companies with decades of car manufacturing history, and the spread of classic elements is also the only way. Nowadays, when I think of independent brands, I don’t think that only Hongqi and a few car companies had their own unique classic elements many years ago. Today’s independent brands and new power brands have distinctive personalities and characteristics, and they also have different car-making concepts. Let the “arrogance” from car companies gradually fade away, and I hope that in the near future, independent brands will also be able to create more classics.


Post time: Nov-17-2023