Yesterday, I was looking at the "Favorite Pop Culture Moments" post about The Prius. Currently on the main page, it included a photo from the now very well known South Park episode Smug Alert. As I looked at the photo it occured to me that even though according to wikipedia the South Park episode aired first in 2006, the presented design of The Prius within the episode appears to include the body design side flair of the 2010 Prius. So South Park amazingly almost psychically foresighted? Or did designers at Toyota watch the episode and say "Hey, that flair along the side looks good!". If it's the latter I say someone owe's Cartman a design royalty check. If it's the former, Trey Parker is creating with a Ouja board. I know this is really nothing, hey it's the holidays. But it did strike me that the flair in the cartoon is almost exactly like now exists on the latest Prius.
When I first saw the original Ford Taurus, it looked to me like it had escaped from some futuristic exhibit at the 1939 NY World's Fair. (No, I'm not old enough to have been there--just seen pictures and newsreels.) The Prius is the second car that has that look to me--what folks in 1939 thought the turn of the next century might be like. So maybe they were right.
I think it goes back further than that. I have a DoodleArt poster from the 70s called 'Progress?' that shows all sorts of weird and wonderful vehicles. Many of them didn't exist then, but they do now. The late thirties were iconic for design. It's the last time we paid any serious attention to streamlining, for instance, though we know now it's not necessary for toasters.
