Police Block, which featured the Chrysler PT Cruiser prominently, at the Cannes Film Festival 2002. “/>George Pimentel / WireImage / Getty Images
You probably never liked the Chrysler PT Cruiser, a retro-style five-door hatchback sold from 2001 to 2010. In fact, you might even hate it. Most people do. Just ask Tom Gale, former vice president of design at Chrysler Corporation.
“PT Cruiser is attacked by many people,” said Gale. “But he really nailed it. You know, we sell 1.3 million of those things ”.
Today, it is easy to forget how absurdly popular this compact car was when it launched. Credit to PT Cruiser’s success for its retro look, which was a relatively new automotive design trend that was growing in popularity at the time. The PT Cruiser would ultimately be just one of the many retro-style vehicles created by the automakers. Others include the 1989 Nissan S-Cargo, 1991 Nissan Figaro, 1992 Dodge Viper, 1993 BMW Z8, 1994 Dodge Ram, 1994 Ford Mustang, 1997 Jaguar XK-8, 1998 Plymouth Prowler, 1999 Jaguar S-Type, 1999 Volkswagen New Beetle, 2001 Mini Cooper, 2002 Ford Thunderbird, 2002 Jaguar X-Type, 2004 Chevrolet SSR, 2004 Chrysler Crossfire, 2004 Ford GT, 2004 Jaguar XJ-8, 2006 Chevrolet HHR, 2008 Dodge Challenger, 2009 Chevrolet Camaro, 2011 Fiat 500, 2017 Fiat 124 Spider and, more recently, the future Ford Bronco 2022.
What is retro design, you ask? Simply put, the retro design takes a famous car design and reintroduces it using many of the original car’s styling suggestions, but updated with contemporary surfaces and contemporary technology. The idea proved to be crucial for Chrysler Corporation, where Gale and his colleagues used it to great advantage as a way of offering a slightly different look than the competition in a given market segment.
From the beginning, Gale understood retro design in a way that few others did, and automotive designers are only now beginning to understand what Gale knew then: retro design brings with it not only a recognizable look, but also an essential understanding of which is a new model it should be.
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The mid-1990s were an extremely fertile period for Chrysler concept cars. The Atlantic was inspired by the Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic.
Chrysler
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The Atlantic, like the Bugatti before it, had an eight-cylinder in-line engine, in this case created from two Neon engines, joined by the crank.
Chrysler
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A Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante, which won best in class for the various Type 57s at Pebble Beach in 2019.
Jonathan Gitlin
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“Call me crazy, but I love Plymouth Prowler,” said Jonathan Gitlin of Cars Technica (vehicle seen here at the 2020 Cars & Coffee virtual event)
Jonathan Gitlin
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The Bronco 2021 four-door will have removable modular roof sections available – left and right front panels, a full-width center panel and a rear section. The roof panels in two- and four-door models can be easily removed by unlocking the interior latches.
Ford
How the past became the present
One of the first examples of retro design dates back to 1988, when Bob Lutz, Chrysler’s president of operations, proposed building a sports car not unlike the original Shelby Cobra. The result was the Dodge Viper Concept, which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 1989 and went into production three years later. “Some people call it retro, but I don’t really see it that way, although we haven’t hidden the fact that it was inspired by the Shelby Cobra,” Gale told Ars. “We tried to do something that was different, but it was still something that would be immediately recognized.”
Although the production numbers were never great, the Viper helped to change consumer perceptions about Dodge and Chrysler Corporation. As such, Gale would explore retro design in a series of concept cars, some intended for production, others not.
“Some of them were very literal about what we were thinking or where we were aiming and others were really far-fetched,” he said. “And part of that was just testing the waters to see how much was too much and how little.”
What many competitors didn’t realize is that Gale used a retro style for inspiration, not imitation. “We were obviously looking at our own inheritance as a company and sometimes we borrowed an inheritance that might not be ours,” continued Gale. “But if you made a concept car, it will soon become ours. You are out there showing and now you are the owner. And that was an important consideration and an important strategy with what we did with those 50 or 60 weird concepts. “
Borrowing the inheritance from other companies was a notable success at the 1994 Dodge Ram, which channeled the language of Kenworth and Peterbilt. “It was a very big leap, but we had nothing to lose,” admits Gale. “Ram’s market share at the time was 6% or something. And after making Ram, it wasn’t long before we reached 20 years old. “
Or consider the 1995 Chrysler Atlantic concept car, a design study reminiscent of the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Although Chrysler never built a production version, many of the smaller Atlantic signs were used in the Chrysler Chronos and in the Citadel, allowing the surface to become more familiar. This led Gale to lift these classic elements, like grid textures or bumper flourishes and integrate them into aggressively modern production cars, giving them a timeless quality. The result can be seen on the Chrysler LHS C-pillar or on the Chrysler Concorde grid. It is something that designers who followed on the Chrysler retro trail would miss.
Even Gale’s most retro design, the Plymouth Prowler, had a hidden motive. “As a company, we didn’t have the resources for much research,” said Gale. “We had no idea how to form, support, extrude, weld and glue the aluminum itself. So, Prowler really treated it as a test environment. “
As a hot rod enthusiast himself, Gale knew that most of the hot rod community would not accept the car. “The whole point of your life is to change something that someone else has done. For me, it was always more about winning the survey through the suppliers that we work with with that. “