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OK, this is probably only for the car nuts. And if necessary bypass the morbid context.
Since last Wednesday (November 22) was the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, I have seen many copies of a photograph of President and Mrs. Kennedy in the presidential limousine just before the shooting.
The car nut in me notices the vast aesthetic difference between the 1961 Lincoln in which the President is riding and the 1955 Cadillac immediately following the presidential limousine. Only six years apart, but completely different in style. Angular versus rounded and voluptuous. Minimalist versus massive. Illustrates how rapidly automotive aesthetics changed during the 1950s and 1960s. How rapidly American automotive aesthetics changed during that time.
Today, automotive aesthetics do not change nearly as rapidly. The style of a six-year-old (or even ten-year-old) car isn't all that different from a current model. My fifteen-year-old BMW is often mistaken for a much newer model.
Perhaps related, the speeds that automobiles were capable of evolved rapidly during the same time. Several months ago, I stumbled onto a series of films on YouTube depicting the Darlington Southern 500 NASCAR stock car race through the 1950s and 1960s (when NASCAR race cars were modified versions of showroom cars, not the specialized race cars of today). Notable was the rapid increase in average speed of the race during those years. Each year, the average speed seemed to increase not by one or two miles per hour, but by ten or more miles per hour.
I know today, the built-in technology in cars changes rapidly (as I can see by comparing the technology in the aforementioned 2007 BMW with my other car, a 2019 Ford, or of either with its 2023 equivalent). Some of my friends were recently amazed at the lack of modern technology interfaces in the aforementioned 2007 BMW. Those changes do affect how I interact with the car, but those changes do not change the basic car functions of how fast I can get to my destination, how often I need to service the car, or what the car looks like.
But I was very much struck by the rapid aesthetic changes in cars during the 1950s visible in that one photograph.
Discussion (186)
CHARTER MEMBER
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Cars are now designed by lawyers in Congress (or Sacramento). What is possible is severely limited by what is allowed.
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The changes in clothing, music, entertainment, and other fashions appear to have slowed down as well:
In the mid-1960s, fashions were fairly straightforward:
By the mid-1970s, things had changed a bit:
And after that, by the mid-1980s, things had changed again:
1965 to 1985 is a period of 20 years. And the people in those pictures look like they’re from different planets. It’s just amazing how fast fashion changed over only 20 years.
I wonder why so many different fashions, from clothing to cars, don't seem to be changing nearly as rapidly as they once did?
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It may be due to a loss of confidence in the culture. The 60s were a brash era. Even in the 1970s and 1980s we had confidence in American culture. Not so much today. It feels like a lot of folks believe "Why bother changing things?" "Why make the effort?"
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Original 1965 Shelby GT350 vs 2020
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