A Brief History of Car Culture Since The 1950's #blogpost

Like pop culture in general, each decade of the 20th and 21st century has unique things that make it stand out. For example, the 60’s were about Hippies, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and drugs. The 80’s was about big hair and makeup, unique music and attire and Ronald Regan (Margaret Thatcher for you Brits). In a way, car culture over the years has the same thing going on, where decades in car culture are remembered by specific things. Here they are…

1950’s: Hot Rods, Drag Racing, Tail Fins and Whitewalls, Drive In’s and European Sports Cars

I believe that car culture really took off in the 1950’s worldwide. World War 2 and the Great Depression were long gone, so people weren’t struggling to get by or lived in fear of German bombers. Granted, many nations weren’t doing great economically after 1945, but the US and the United Kingdom weren’t doing too bad. In America, it’s post war prosperity paved the way for a car culture explosion. The Interstate Highway System, much like Germany’s Autobahn began construction. NASCAR and the National Hot Rod Association were formed, and style and power came to American cars. Drive in movie theaters and restaurants popped up everywhere, and some cars sported visual styling similar to jet planes. Regarding the European side of things, that continent was building race cars and sports cars. The Porsche 356, Jaguar XK120, Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa are just some examples of European sports cars from the 1950’s. Formula One was in full swing and Volkswagen was producing cars like the Beetle, Bus and Karmann Ghia. It was some great times for car enthusiasts.

1960’s: Muscle Cars and Continued Development of European Cars

During the 1960’s in America, it seemed as if car culture wouldn’t stop getting any better. The Mustang came into existence, followed by it’s competitor, the Chevrolet Camaro. Engine power was big as well as the size of the engines themselves. It seemed as if every American car had a big and powerful V8 at the time. What made it even better is that these tire smoking machines were relatively affordable. Gasser drag cars abounded, with tinted plexiglass windows, hood scoops, raised front ends with beam axles and open headers. Cars like the Chevrolet Corvette, Camaro and the Mustang were arguably the first American production cars to offer handling on par with European sports cars. Bullitt was the most iconic car movie of the 60’s in America, with Steve McQueen driving in San Francisco in a dark green Fastback Mustang.

On the other side of the pond, Europe continued to make great sports cars. Jaguar E Type, BMW 2002, and Lamborghini, one of the most desirable car makers in the world came on the scene with the Miura. The Miura is argued by many to be the world’s first supercar. The legendary Porsche 911 also came into existence, a Beetle with a little more zest to it. The Italian Job was a great movie with classic Minis. While Europe and America were on Cloud 9, many people didn’t expect how much the 1970’s would have an impact on American car culture.

1970’s: The Downfall of American Power and The Rising Sun Of The Japanese Automobile

The 1970’s were arguably the biggest transitional period for American Car Culture. Muscle cars nearly went extinct and there was a surge of foreign cars into the country. The first major blow to American cars was the oil embargo of 1973. After months of fuel shortages and high gas prices, it woke Americans up to how much fuel they were using. From that point on, fuel efficiency would become more and more important to car buyers over the years. The next big hit was emissions laws, which made car manufacturers strap emissions equipment to their vehicles and reduced horsepower.

Foreign car makers took advantage of this sad situation to sell more of their cars to the American public, especially Japan. At the beginning of the 1970’s, Honda, Datsun and Toyota were just starting to sell a significant amount of cars to the US. Datsun 240Z, Datsun 510, Toyota 2000GT, and Toyota Celica are just some of the cars that 70’s Japan was famous for. Europe also increased their market share in the US during the 70’s with more normal cars like Mercedes sedans. Now the Big Three didn’t just have to compete with each other, they had to compete with foreign car makers as well for their customers.

The 70’s were the start of mainstream visual modifications for cars. Vans were really popular as well as big luxury coupes with vinyl. Cool graphics abounded using burgundy, yellow and other colors. Also cool was the movies Smokey and the Bandit, Vanishing Point, Gone in 60 Seconds and American Graffiti.

If one car could represent American cars in the 70's, this would do that pretty well.

1980’s: Foxbody Mustangs and Lamborghini Countaches

To talk about car culture in the 1980’s, you have to talk about the pop culture AND the cars of the era. The decade of big hair, memorable music and questionable attire also had some pretty cool cars. Miami Vice, a popular 80’s TV show has stylish Miami detectives driving around in cars like a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Testarossa. The Back to the Future series with Marty McFly and Doc Brown helped to popularize the Delorean DMC-12, a car that looks great but is slower than many people would expect. Meanwhile, most Americans were driving Foxbody Mustangs and F Body Camaros blasting either Def Leppard or Michael Jackson. The Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959 also had a little bit of a rivalry in the latter portion of the 1980’s, oh and the Toyota AE86. The cars of the 80’s that shined the most were the European supercars that people old and young dream about. While other cars of that era are also memorable, they weren’t as good as they could be.

1990’s: Japanese Legacy and the Age Of The ECU

Most car enthusiasts agree that the Japanese sports car’s golden age was the 90’s. Skyline GT-R, Toyota Supra, Mazda FD RX-7, Acura NS-X, and Nissan Silvia S14 are just some of the desirable Japanese cars made during that time. The 90’s weren’t entirely dominated by JDM cars, American cars were making a comeback too. The WS6 Pontiac Trans Am and Z/28 Camaro are some great cars, a decent (but temporary) last hurrah for the Camaro as it ended production in 2002. The fifth generation Corvette was also a viable contender, especially the Z06 model. Supercars of the 90’s were great as well, with the legendary McLaren F1, Mercedes CLK GTR, Lamborghini Diablo, Bugatti’s first supercar and the Dodge Viper. In the late 90’s, the Porsche 911 went to water cooled engines, after decades of using air cooled engines.

It was in the 90’s where many carbureted engines switched to fuel injection, ABS became widespread and computers started to help or make cars function. While it made things easier for the average consumer, it made things harder for the average mechanic, no more carb tuning. This would set the stage for computers to take over more and more components of cars as time progressed. The 2000’s would come soon, and a certain car movie with two adjectives starting with F would just about change everything.

2000’s: The Fast and the Furious and the Video Game Car Enthusiast

The 2000’s weren’t the best time for all car enthusiasts. Many of the great Japanese cars in the 90’s stopped being produced, and the Camaro had a several year hiatus. However, I believe that the 2000’s is when pop culture started to have a major affect again on the car community, and that’s by video games and the Fast and the Furious.

In 2001, The Fast and the Furious splashed onto the scene. With tricked out cars, great action and some questionable mechancial moments, it had a great impact on car culture. It’s following 2 movies also impacted car culture greatly, with the most recent 4 movies focusing less on street racing and more about military operations. Need for Speed Underground 1 and 2, and to a lesser degree Most Wanted and Carbon, are also notable sources of influence on car culture. The games encouraged players to “visually enchance” their cars. We all know this as RICE, or Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. These riced cars may look fast, but are actually slow. With rattling body work from an eBay subwoofer, flimsy plastic body kits, and a muffler that sounds like your uncle on Taco Tuesday, these cars are the bane of car culture. Luckily, most people have moved on from this questionable trend, but might have gotten into the stance community…

You want someone to blame for this? Fast and Furious and Need for Speed is a good place to start...

Video games helped shape the car community, from arcade racers like Need for Speed, to simulation games like Gran Turismo. One of the main reasons for me becoming a car guy was video games like these, and liking Hot Wheels as a kid. That, and Disney made an impact on car culture too with the Movie Cars. These talking and lovable automobiles helped being cars more into the view of children, potentially spawning some young car enthusiasts. Yes, Boost, DJ and Wingo are ricers, I know.

The 2000’s was also the start of the diesel truck culture. Diesel engines in trucks had finally become powerful and tunable with the help of turbochargers and ECU’s. People started to roll coal, get mad turbo spool with a truck that can tow a house and modify them as much as Japanese car guys modify Honda Civics. The diesel truck culture is still going strong in America today…

2010’s: Stance, Autonomous and Electric Cars and Wraps

It seems as if lately that the car community must have some sort of questionable mod scene. In the 2000’s, it was RICE, and nowadays, it’s stance. Stanced cars are usually European or Japanese cars with stretched tires, cambered wheels and suspension drops so low that going over a speed bump normally would destroy their oil pan. There are also a plethora of wide body kits, whether it’s Liberty Walk or Rocket Bunny. Seeing these wide body kits and stance put together is pretty common. Plastidip and car wraps have also been pretty popular. They are a somewhat temporary way to visually modify a car, and you can keep your original paint job as well.

For some reason, it seems as if the Japanese and Euro car communites have been more vibrant as they ever have been Youtube also seems to have been affecting the car community lately as well. Whether it’s Mighty Car Mods, Roadkill or Haggard Garage, Google’s video service is a gateway for car enthusiasts to communicate with each other.

A good example of what "stance" looks like

Electric, hybrid and autonomous cars have been increasingly relavant to today’s car world. Certain countries will ban the sale and production of petrol powered cars in the near future. Autonomous cars are becoming more common, electric cars are becoming a viable alternative to gasoline powered automobiles and it seems as if every car made nowadays has a hybrid version. Many car makers are downsizing and turbocharging their engines, while the manual transmission may become a thing of the past. Is this the end of the car enthusiast?

All is not lost! I think that this current time is a golden age for car enthusiasts. Japanese car enthusiasts have a vibrant modding culture, and some good cars including the Toyota GT86, Mazda Miata and the Nissan GT-R. Muscle cars are making a comeback, and a big one at that. They’re are more powerful than ever, can turn corners greatly and the Corvette is finally being taken seriously by the whole world. Enjoy it while it lasts, because current car culture is going out with a bang.

Thank you for reading this article. If you feel like I missed anything, let me know.