Re: Why did dash designs go to pot in the 70's?

[Stephen Remington <s1remington@domain.elided>]

You all have presented some interesting points regarding why
dashboards did or did not go to pot in the 1970's.

Like Matthew Killick, I at first questioned John Hertzman's assertion =

that the guage numbers should always be upright. He seemed to say
that the functional clarity of the guages can make =

or break the overall effect of a dash. This had more merit, the
more I thought about it. Perhaps a Russian watch looks great
because it gives a sense of extreme mechanical presicion.
But it's hard to call an *instrument* beautiful when it =

doesn't communicate anything or succumbs to too much fru-fru.

Trying to find pictures of all the models =

mentioned was a bit tough. I haven't bought the =

Amico & Tabucchi book yet but did find some =

pictures in the Alfa Romeos Buyers Guide. I agreed with John
about the Giulia TI trapezoidal instrument pod. =

It's a little different. I share the sentiment about those =

1750 dashes with the dual pods - they are terrific.
I can't imagine we will ever know who was able =

to carry such a clear design through the Alfa Romeo
bueacracy(if it can be called that in a 1960')
and still get it produced.

Andrew Watry brought up the point about the need for dashboards
to consider safety at the start of the 70's.
I would only agree with this point if
it was true that the engineering departments were able to send
the stylists packing. Maybe when safety was mentioned, =

management said they would only listen to what the engineers have to
say (I'm an engineer by training). I can't imagine that =

designers would conciously design some of the incongrous designs
that started showing up in the 70's (e.g.  =

the Lamborghini Countach dashboard). =


I'm still of the opinion that the 60's dashes =

(Guilia TI included) are more appealing
than the dashes seen in the 80's Milano and GTV6. =

Maybe the design goal of the 80's was to =

look like the BMWs.

Yours,
Stephen Remington
Baltimore, MD
85 GTV6 3.0 "Gigi"
91 164B "#1"
(& 85 BMW 535i "Tank")



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