There is no doubt that car design has changed drastically over the years. In fact, it seems like new trends and fads come and go every few months. While this might be great for keeping things fresh, it can also make certain cars look really outdated pretty quickly.

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One important caveat to start. I know that decades old cars become classics by virtue of their age, so I want to touch on design choices that were unappealing within a few decades of its launch.

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So what are the design elements that make a car age well? In this article, we will take a look at some of the biggest trends over the past few decades, and discuss which cars have aged poorly and which ones have held up surprisingly well. We'll end with the opinion that cars with smooth lines, clean surfaces and lacking trendy design elements tend to look the best decades later.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest design trends over the past few decades:

In the 1950s, big and bold was all the rage. Cars were designed with lots of chrome and flashy colors. While these cars might have been popular at the time, cheap models haven't held up so well over the years. However in general, this is an era where the flamboyance of design pieces is largely loved seventy years later - simply because their stylistic elements never appeared again.

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Which ones? Bullet taillights, pointy chrome bumpers and pastel pinks.

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The 1960s brought us some iconic cars like the VW Beetle and the Ford Mustang. These cars have aged surprisingly well, due in part to their simple and clean designs. But while this decade brought some designs with lasting appeal, the prominent trends of mass-market cars aged incredibly rapidly.

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I'm talking fins the bodywork, faux spare wheel covers in the trunk lid, wheels that sit inboard from the bodywork and some truly puzzling pointy grilles. These looked dated very quickly when the seventies rolled in.

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The 1970s was a decade of excess, and that was reflected in the car designs of the time. Cars were big, boxy and covered in chrome. While some people might still find these cars appealing, they definitely look dated when compared to more modern designs when the 80s hit. Unlike the transition from the 50s to 60s, the shift to the 80s was all about size - particularly downsizing.

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Seventies cruisers were notable for their enormity. Everything was big, wide and long. Besides the colour schemes of the era (horror brown everywhere), size is really what aged seventies designs. And chrome bumpers.

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The 1980s saw a return to simpler designs, as well as an embrace of new technologies like fuel injection and ABS brakes. Many of the cars from this decade have aged quite well, due to their clean lines and lack of trendy design elements. The sizes were also more manageable, with a midsize 80s car not looking out of place on today's road.

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What did NOT age well was the square styling of luxury cars at the time. In an era when things were finally going aerodynamic, Motown iron really kept the spirit of the 60s and 70s alive.

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But overall? The start of clean, simple, tidy lines that will come to define my thesis for design resiliency.

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The 1990s was where things really became clean. Aerodynamics, ovals and soft lines dominated. Headlights largely hadn't begun their descent into aggression, and cars like the Neon and Saturn pioneered almost Playskool-esque designs with plastic body panels.

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Nineties cars have aged well in my view. While the rims are small by today's standards, interiors were warm but bland, automakers were really churning some of their most iconic designs. The clean lines are particularly appealing to those of us who tired of the subsequent wild designs and excess of the following two decades.

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The 2000s was a decade of overindulgence, and that was reflected in the automobile shapes at the time. Enormous chrome rims, even larger SUVs, silver painted plastic interiors and circles in every lighting element imaginable.

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While many automakers were still putting out clean designs, this was not a fantastic time of stylistic change. I would argue that the cars that aged well since then were the cleaner designs that continued the elements started in the nineties. But there were a whole lot of stinkers from this era: massive grey plastic body cladding, big chrome fascia bars, hatchback/wagon/sedan combinations (Malibu Maxx, Caliber)....shall I go on?

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So what have we learned? It seems like the cars that age the best are those with clean lines, simple designs and lacking trendy design elements. All the way from the 60s with Ferrari Daytonas, to the 80s with the 300ZX, to the W220 of the 2000s, smooth lines and minimal garnishes stand the test of time. Other elements like giant bull bars, silver plastic interiors and grey plastic cladding cause designs that otherwise wouldn't look too aged seem positively ancient.

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So if you're looking for a car that will still look great years down the road, it's probably best to avoid anything with brand new, wild design elements.

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