Cars today are on sale, virtually unchanged, for years on end. At best they’ll get a light refresh midway though their production cycle. (You can think of zenki and kouki Nissan S14s, if that helps. It probably doesn’t.) But this wasn’t how it always was.
(Welcome back to Carspotting! We’re back with The Worst Walking Tour of New York City, headed by me, a hack who is barely qualified to tell you how to get to the Empire State Building from here. We’re out to find the best cars of the Big Apple. We shot a handful of episodes before New York City really started to shut down under coronavirus, and a putting them out now.)
It used to be that every single model year would get a slight variation in look, and more substantial body changes could be expected only ever two to three years.
As such, if you know just what to look for, you can take a glance at a maroon car down the block and quickly tell that you’re looking at a Mustang, a 1960s Mustang, a Mustang that is either a 1967 or a 1968, which shared the same body and styling but for a few very small features.
Watch the video above and I run through most of the key elements. You’ll notice something else, too.
Pretty much everything that everyone gripes about today’s car styling”all cars are covered with unnecessary streaks, creases, and fake vents”are present on this old Mustang. There are even, horror of horror, lights meant to mock dual exhausts on this straight-six model.
Do I think that’s bad? Not at all! These fake vents look amazing! The hood-mounted turn indicators are probably my favourite part.