QOTD: Terribly Aged Americans of the Nineties?
The past three Wednesday editions of our Question of the Day post centered around the most gracefully aged designs from everyone’s favorite decade: the Nineties. We discussed American vehicles, moved onto Euro rides, and most recently discussed Asia.
But what happens when we flip the question around, and think about designs that aged in the worst ways?
The structure of our submissions will be the same as before, with Three Simple Rules:
- All selections must be model years 1990 to 1999.
- Picks must be from a domestic manufacturer, even if sourced from an import (eg. Cadillac Catera).
- Any body style is eligible except for trucks.
Your author generally finds Nineties design pleasing in an A E S T H E T I C teal and graphic tape stripes sort of way, so thinking of a poorly-aged American ride wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, here’s one:
For 1993, Lincoln debuted the eighth (and final) generation of its Mark luxury coupe. The Mark VIII moved on from the boxy Eighties, ditching the legendary and outdated Fox platform. It was built on the rear-drive FN platform with the Thunderbird and Cougar at the now-defunct Wixom Assembly plant. Ford spent a long time developing the Mark VIII, starting its project in 1984. The first design was completed in 1988, and Ford planned a product launch in 1990.
However, by the late Eighties the luxury coupe game had changed considerably, and after seeing the competition from other manufacturers, the company ordered a complete redesign. This follow-up effort was presented to Ford brass at the end of 1988, and it didn’t go well — executives demanded another rework. Another mock-up design returned to the boardroom early in 1989, and remained under revision until mid-year.
Now, let’s take a break and watch John Davis talk about luxury:
The resulting design was slick and simple, with aero features suitable for the Nineties (the early Nineties). Ford kept its hands off the clay for… not very long. In 1996 the company implemented a design refresh for the ’97 model year, and created a bulbous monstrosity.
New HiD lamps were housed in big plastic blobs up front, and the rear light bar was swapped for an even larger neon lamp. Often, these later Marks came equipped with super pearlescent paint for extra Palm Beach Edition feels, plus chromed turbine wheels which looked current for exactly five months in 1997. Happily, the revamped design lasted only two years before the model’s cancellation. See ya!
Let’s hear about all those bad-looking Nineties designs you hate.
[Images: Ford, seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Especially true if the Northstar engine exploded like Polaris, the Northstar. Seriously, my friend ditched his Caddy when the engine block or the head cracked. It's so long ago that I forget which. POS engineering.
Count in for Mark VIII love and even the late cars. I'll admit that I'm biased, I owned a 95 Cougar with the 4.6 in this pearl white with the basketweave wheels and trunk mounted luggage rack. I have never seen another car just like it. The cockpit in the T-bird and Cougar was very driver focused as well. I even bought a "Spins Prohibited" placard out of Sportys pilot shop catalog and stuck it by the gear selector. My Cougar was my last "personal luxury coupe". It was no sports car, but it was a great cruiser. I've always wanted a Mark VII or Mark VIII, though I prefer the VII because it was a car of my youth. I actually like the style refresh on these post 97, but it looks better in dark colors, especially black. The side profile isn't as nice, you can really see the T-bird in the side profile and Ford's wheel choices did not age well. 290hp was pretty decent in 1997. My only experience with that motor is in the Continentals of the same time, which I think aged even less gracefully than Mark VIII did. But I remember that motor being strong and smooth, although the soundtrack wasn't as good as the Northstars in the Caddy. Corey said somewhere above that an Eldorado touring coupe from the same time has aged more gracefully in terms of style. I'd agree, but the Fords seemed to be better constructed. I remember sitting in an Eldorado ETC in its last year (2002?) at the auto show. I closed the long heavy door and it rattled the same way my 84 Eldorado did. It was around 45k and it just didn't seem worth it.