Cars looking different for the USA market
Discussion
I noticed as a kid, watching various American shows, that cars sold both here/Europe and the USA sometimes looked a little different. Particularly headlights, indicators and bumpers.
Is this due to crash regulations (or other regulations?) or do our American motoring cousins just like their European or Japanese cars styled a little differently?
Here are some examples which I found:
Mercedes SL/ SLC. Twin circular lights for them, plain rectangular units for us. I think the US car looks fantastic. The US bumper treatment too suits the car much better:
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Rolls Royce Silver Spirit/ Spur. Again, just how good do those twin square lamps look!
BMW 3 series. That is one hell of a bumper on the US E21.
Audi 100. Think something like this appeared in Spielberg's ET. Looked different to the European spec cars:
Ferrari F355. The US cars have solid orange side lights and indicator units. The UK-spec (mine in the picture has clear units
). Notice also the side rectangular indicator units infront of the front wheels for the US cars and a small circular indicator behind the front wheels on my car.
Mercedes SEL: slighyly different headlights on the US car, and angular headlight washers. Strange. Bumper seems more pronounced too on the US car.
I guess there could be many differences too in engines, interior specs and alloys.
Please post more pics of these differences and comment on which one you feel looks better.
Is this due to crash regulations (or other regulations?) or do our American motoring cousins just like their European or Japanese cars styled a little differently?
Here are some examples which I found:
Mercedes SL/ SLC. Twin circular lights for them, plain rectangular units for us. I think the US car looks fantastic. The US bumper treatment too suits the car much better:
[url][img]Rolls Royce Silver Spirit/ Spur. Again, just how good do those twin square lamps look!
BMW 3 series. That is one hell of a bumper on the US E21.
Audi 100. Think something like this appeared in Spielberg's ET. Looked different to the European spec cars:
Ferrari F355. The US cars have solid orange side lights and indicator units. The UK-spec (mine in the picture has clear units
). Notice also the side rectangular indicator units infront of the front wheels for the US cars and a small circular indicator behind the front wheels on my car.Mercedes SEL: slighyly different headlights on the US car, and angular headlight washers. Strange. Bumper seems more pronounced too on the US car.
I guess there could be many differences too in engines, interior specs and alloys.
Please post more pics of these differences and comment on which one you feel looks better.
There was (is?) a US regulation regarding faired-in headlights. I don't think they're allowed in case they leave broken glass all over the road in a head-on collision.
I think they also have tougher crash regulations over there that necessitates bigger bumpers on some cars.
For ages nearly every American car from every manufacturer had the same set of headlights - a pair of small rectangular units, as seen here:
First American car with fully-integrated headlight units (I presume once people started making them out of plastic the 'broken glass' ceased to be an issue), was this:
Only 20 years after the NSU Ro80
I think they also have tougher crash regulations over there that necessitates bigger bumpers on some cars.
For ages nearly every American car from every manufacturer had the same set of headlights - a pair of small rectangular units, as seen here:
First American car with fully-integrated headlight units (I presume once people started making them out of plastic the 'broken glass' ceased to be an issue), was this:
Only 20 years after the NSU Ro80
Pretty sure I read somewhere that the US focus has a physically larger body shell than the ROW. I seem to recall that the UK Ford rally teams built their cars from US bodyshells as they allowed for more room to fit 4WD and associated racing gubbins.
The side reflectors noted on the 355 are a requirement. You will find them on motorcycles also.
The side reflectors noted on the 355 are a requirement. You will find them on motorcycles also.
Der Wachauring said:
I noticed as a kid, watching various American shows, that cars sold both here/Europe and the USA sometimes looked a little different. Particularly headlights, indicators and bumpers.
Is this due to crash regulations (or other regulations?) or do our American motoring cousins just like their European or Japanese cars styled a little differently?
Here are some examples which I found:
Mercedes SL/ SLC. Twin circular lights for them, plain rectangular units for us. I think the US car looks fantastic. The US bumper treatment too suits the car much better:
[url][img]
Rolls Royce Silver Spirit/ Spur. Again, just how good do those twin square lamps look!
BMW 3 series. That is one hell of a bumper on the US E21.
Audi 100. Think something like this appeared in Spielberg's ET. Looked different to the European spec cars:
Ferrari F355. The US cars have solid orange side lights and indicator units. The UK-spec (mine in the picture has clear units ). Notice also the side rectangular indicator units infront of the front wheels for the US cars and a small circular indicator behind the front wheels on my car.
Mercedes SEL: slighyly different headlights on the US car, and angular headlight washers. Strange. Bumper seems more pronounced too on the US car.
I guess there could be many differences too in engines, interior specs and alloys.
Please post more pics of these differences and comment on which one you feel looks better.
Always loved what european manufacturers did with their cars for the US market. Always look more stylish and more purposeful than the domestic versions.Is this due to crash regulations (or other regulations?) or do our American motoring cousins just like their European or Japanese cars styled a little differently?
Here are some examples which I found:
Mercedes SL/ SLC. Twin circular lights for them, plain rectangular units for us. I think the US car looks fantastic. The US bumper treatment too suits the car much better:
[url][img]Rolls Royce Silver Spirit/ Spur. Again, just how good do those twin square lamps look!
BMW 3 series. That is one hell of a bumper on the US E21.
Audi 100. Think something like this appeared in Spielberg's ET. Looked different to the European spec cars:
Ferrari F355. The US cars have solid orange side lights and indicator units. The UK-spec (mine in the picture has clear units
). Notice also the side rectangular indicator units infront of the front wheels for the US cars and a small circular indicator behind the front wheels on my car.Mercedes SEL: slighyly different headlights on the US car, and angular headlight washers. Strange. Bumper seems more pronounced too on the US car.
I guess there could be many differences too in engines, interior specs and alloys.
Please post more pics of these differences and comment on which one you feel looks better.
With the exception of the E21 and the 355. Both euro variants of those looked better.
ETA it does seem to apply mainly to european luxury barges however.
And I would like to nominate whoever "federalized" the Countach and ANY 911 for the 'people you would never get tired of punching' thread. Both of those are a travesty.
Edited by binlicker on Saturday 26th March 13:39
The M100 elan was an interesting one. The federal car has an elongated nose but rather than the often "slap on some rubber blocks" method it actually worked. Not sure if it looks better, but definitely not any worse. IIRC all this bumper stuff is because the US regs have a requirement for no damage to be suffered in bumps up to a certain speed (10mph?). The federal Elises had a special dispensation from this rule.
Federal car
My UK car
Federal car
My UK car
Benmac said:
The M100 elan was an interesting one. The federal car has an elongated nose but rather than the often "slap on some rubber blocks" method it actually worked. Not sure if it looks better, but definitely not any worse. IIRC all this bumper stuff is because the US regs have a requirement for no damage to be suffered in bumps up to a certain speed (10mph?). The federal Elises had a special dispensation from this rule.
Federal car
My UK car
Ah, the MGB and rubber blocks, front end too low? Just xhove so blocks in and that'll sort it right out.Federal car
My UK car
I presume that Kia then went with the federal body shell when they remade the Elan?
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