Back in 1982, Ford brought out its first soft-form car, the Thunderbird, and unlocked the door to aerodynamic shapes in the 1980s- “membrane cars,” as Art Center College of Design prof Strother MacMinn calls them, because they look as if their smooth skin had been pulled taut over the underpinnings, like a membrane. If the T-Bird unlocked the door for slicked-back sedans, the Ford Taurus and the Mercury Sable stove it in.
It’s hard to believe that just four short model years ago the management in Dearborn was as jittery as a pen full of hens over the public acceptance of its new offspring. The new cars were replacing models as square-edged as a box of animal crackers, but that didn’t faze middle America. The Taurus has managed a top-three finish in the sales race every year since it arrived. It sold more than 360,000 copies in 1989 – and that doesn’t count Sables, which added another 115,000 cars to the total.
Since the Taurus/Sable appeared, almost every new mid-sized, mid-priced sedan has been a virtual knockoff. These, days even the most formal luxury sedans have a slightly melted look. General motors’ phalanx of GM10 sedans are Taurus/Sable derivatives. Chrysler has added its Spirit and Acclaim. But not one of the obsequious followers has equaled the Taurus/Sable for sheer visual impact or innovation.
And it’s not over yet, out intelligence gathering network reports. The next generation of mid-sized sedans, due in the first few years of the new decade, will expand upon the current theme, so it looks like the membrane era of design will be with us until nearly the year 2000. Design wise, we could think of worse ways to close out the millennium.
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