Dubious Doppelgängers: Suspiciously Similar Cars

A classic car connaisseur notices that a lot of cars look very similar lately. Especially the rear end and taillight styling seems to get increasingly similar. Who is copying who? And is this something of the past decade or is history full of automotive look-alikes?

This video is more about the comments than the video, let me know your thoughts on what is the most important car of each decade or all time!

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Enjoy!

[llmkursk]

You completely missed the slew of 70s Japanese cars inspired by the design cues of the 60s muscle cars.

[draggonsgate]

The most annoying one, to me, is the rear side glass half upsweep on almost every single SUV out there..

[rampy]

I'm 70 yrs old. As a kid, and even today, I have always thought that 20s and 30s cars looked alike, but my dad could tell what kind of car it was at a glance. Maybe not quite the same thing as your video talks about, but the 60 Corvair inspired a ton of look-alikes. Sunbeam/Hillman Imp is probably the closest. There was an Indian car (not a Tata) that looked just like the Corvair. The later Cadillac Escalades have the vertical taillights similar to the Volvo/ Honda CR-V too. I love your videos, Ed! I've been here since your 3rd episode.

[davidanttila]

Actually, it's not so much cars look a lot a like.
It's more like car manufacturers just trade car designers around like football fans trade football player collector cards.

[alexmerlin]

I was always finding that Chrysler Cordoba looks like a redrawn Chevy Monte Carlo.
"-Can I copy your homework?
-Sure, but make changes, so we won't get caught."

[alexanderboulton]

There truly are only so many ways to make a Box That Go Fast™️

[ericarthur]

I drive a Volvo wagon and my neighbor has a late model CRV. Sure we wave, but we both know who wore it better.

[mr.hawkeye]

the problem isn't that cars always used to look alike, the problem is that cars used to look better.

[GustavTremendous]

I think it's just a case of following trends. You see this a lot in Semi-Trucks, Smartphones, even Appliances. One company sets the trend and everybody follows.

[Qimchiy]

I noticed Lexus not being mentioned once. For me the most annoying design trend is having the turn signal be the thinnest or smallest thing ever while being really close to the main headlight or taillight. Especially headlights where the orange light blends in with the low or hi beams.

[claudiobizama]

The AE86 Trueno, Silvia S12 and the 80s Honda Integra 3door all are strikingly similar.
The 80s had a lot of cars like that.

[stuartkynoch]

The awning taillights were a Pontiac treatment in the 60's that followed Shinoda and Knudsen to Ford for the 1970 Thunderbird. Also Ford had the "dog bone" taillight on the Escort and Taurus in the 90's.

[Sean_C.]

I try to tell people this all the time when I hear the overly used saying: “all cars look the same today” that saying has kinda always been true, of course there were eras that where better then others in terms of design, but the fact is that car manufacturers have always fallowed each other throughout the decades. It’s only when your start separating the cars from each era that things start looking more interesting and you begin to appreciate car design more. Look back on old historic photos of traffic from any era and you’ll always a road full of similarly looking cars.

[Sharion.Inuyatt]

0:05 You remove the wheels and paint all the cars the same color and it's genuinely difficult to tell them apart, it's honestly bizarre. Basically all cars from all eras looked alike, there are only a few cars that dare to design something different from anything else, and often when that happens, the car is a failure. Or considered ugly.

Hey Ed, I've had an idea for a while for the "What If..." series: What if Chrysler built a new PT Cruiser?

[gregfeeler]

Oh wow - you have so nailed this! One of my favorite hobbies is comparing car styling when out in traffic and I see so many examples of just what you are talking about in this video. Sometimes I think you could remove the badges and paint some cars the same color and not be able to tell one from the other. Well done!!

[cbialorucki]

Surprised you didn't mention the Cadillac Escalade's vertical taillights

[isendc]

This video is SO MUCH BETTER than most "similar design" videos. It was also really nice that you gave credit to the pioneer who did it first, most people would say Hyundai copied Honda, but that's clearly not the case.

[jamesmatthews]

2:44 You appear to have used a picture of the rarely-seen Honda Divid. 😂

[IllestVisionz]

I’m so glad you mentioned Honda because they are really the main culprit with how the accord has been looking for the last generations, ESPECIALLY the latest one

[attilaboda]

This video makes me appreciate the Avantime, Vel Satis and Citroen C6, they are really unique.