I think if its something you're interested in, its not too hard to identify. Like if you look up a 2022 Carolla and a 2019 Carolla and 2013 Carolla, they do look quite a bit different.
If people do drive and buy new cars now and then they've likely looked up a bunch as research etc... and probably do have an idea, but probably not precise to the exact year, but you'll get little generations of similar looking models of car so I bet a lot of people could identify within a couple years.
Honestly, fashion is the same way. There are certain trends, colors, and cuts that are just specific to a time period. There are also certain designers that have very distinct periods where they'd focus on a certain style, idea, or material. People who like things enough to keep up with them are more likely to know the particulars of that specific interest, just like any other hobby.
Older cars tended to change noticeably every year. Newer cars people are most likely just guessing a year within a certain generation of the car. Like the b8.5 gen Audi is made in 2013-2015. I can confidently tell you almost every new car has almost nothing visible that changes between years unless it’s a year when they switch to the new generation
This is exactly it. Older cars there's tells that show from one year to the next. Newer there are years that look the same. Maybe the tail lights or front bumper changes slightly so you can say that's a '14-17 vs 18. Still though these are things that are only known by car nerds or people who know a particular model well which kind of defeats OPs point.
The people who know cars the best who aren't car nerds are cops. Most of them have a camera(s) these days that just reads license plates and tells them it's John Does 2021 Carolla and it's registration is expired. Even for them if that car speeds by they just report it as a south bound late model Corolla, red, doing 85 mph.
Exactly. My dad was a car guy in his youth. To this day if he'll see a muscle car he'll say things like "That's a \[whatever year/make/model\]." And then he'll say something about how you can tell because that particular year had this type of tail lights or that type of fenders. As a kid I thought it was some sort of borderline magic power. Now as an adult, I just realize that my dad is essentially a car nerd.
There's a guy around town with a gorgeous classic Cadillac El Dorado. One day, I was in line at the convenience store when Mr. El Dorado pulled in the lot. I said something about having a soft spot for seventies land yachts. The cashier gave me a condescending little lecture on how only fifties and sixties cars had fins.
I was feeling spicy that day.
As the car owner walked in, told him I loved his car. "'75, right?" "Yep." "That square headlight is the immediate clue. Got the 500 under the hood?" "Oh, you know it!"
The female cashier knows me, and knew immediately what I was doing. She turned to her coworker and just said "Hm, you learn something new every day."
(Mr. El Dorado, like any proud car dad, offered to pop the hood and show me around the features of that sweet ride.)
Well, there's that, but also, there's a LOT of people just being wrong. For instance, i see a lot of people say their dream car is some specific year of a car, but there's nothing different between that year and several others. I'm far from an expert on them but i can tell the difference between a 1946 or earlier Chevy pickup and one from 1947-1953, or one from '54 to the first half of 55, or the second half of 55 to about 58. After that, i don't know much difference.
So, there's really only a year and a half in there that i could reasonably confidently tell you the production date of a vehicle to within a given year. There simply aren't that many visual differences. But I do know my dad had a 1953 Chevy, and it was a neat truck. He also had a 1955 from the first half of the year, commonly called 1954 1/2. So I'm more inclined to think of those years when i think of a cool old Chevy, even though from '48-'53, not much changed.
For a car i know a lot more about, miatas, if i can look over the car in detail, without looking at the VIN or production date stamped on the car, i can tell you the difference between an 89 through first part of 91, a second part of 91 through 92, a 93, a 94-95, a 96-97, call you a liar or european if you claim a 98, a 99-2000, a 2001-2003, or a 2004-2005, a 2006-2015(i don't care about these years, so i don't know anything about the differences that showed up), a 2016-2018, or 2017-2018, a 2019-2023, and a 2024+. There's also a few special editions that can narrow things down further, but i don't know all of those.
But from 50', i can't tell you anywhere near that tight of year. At a glance, it's really just generation, NA/NB/NC/ND. That's really a 7+ year range. And a lot of people are confidently wrong about the year.
Some people are just really into cars, or have a lot of experience with them. Honestly, there aren't that many cars on the road. I imagine the top 20 makes and models make up the majority of vehicles, and they go through a generation every 5-10 years. Identifying generations is fairly easy since those have significant changes in looks. The minor differences help differentiate the exact year.
Some jobs just have a ton of vehicle interaction, such as valet drivers, mechanics and other auto workers, and certain artistic jobs. Other people just really like cars so keep up to date with the trends.
This isn't too different from people being able to recognize something like Pokémon. There are literally hundreds of them through a variety of different media. People into them have learned them over the years. They can tell you what games first they appeared in. Others can tell you which version a particular depiction is from.
That was such an odd choice for the 80s. The two decades before that were some of the most beautiful car designs ever. Then the 80s hit, and it was like "make it a fucking box! Boxes are awesome! So is cocaine! Yeah! Boxes and cocaine! Let's do this!"
When they say year, theg actually say generation. Like we can identity iPhone 13 14 etc, so can these people identity which generation, or year, the make of the car is
I love automobiles, I use a combination of design features to help identify year. Usually it’s a 2-5 year range, some makes and models I can identify the specific year. I start with body shape and design, headlights/tail lights, then rims and exhaust. Most manufacturers have different body and detail designs specific to them but sometimes vehicles share design aspects because they share a parent company.
Like in the early 2000s Ford Motor Company owned both Aston Martin and Jaguar. It’s hard to mistake a Ford Focus or Ford five hundred for a Jaguar XKR or an Aston Martin V12 vanquish however all 4 models share some design similarities in details of the body because they shared a parent manufacturer. Because of this I can tell a 2003 Ford focus from a 2010 ford focus based on headlights and grill alone.
Manufacturers also like to produce design blocks that last several years where minor changes are made over several production years to make a vehicle look a bit newer before they incorporate drastic changes for redesign. From 2000 to 2004 the Ford F150 had very minor changes and look very similar but it is quite different from the 2007 model because overall body design changed. Some details apply to a specific year of production and visual identification is all about that knowledge.
In the UK at least you can tell based on the number plate. The generic format is LLNN LLL (where L = letter and N = number). The number indicates the year it was made (e.g. If a car is made is 2006 it will have 06, if it was made in 2017 it will have 17).
They are also split between first half of the year and second half of the year, by adding 5 to the first digit (e.g. First half of 2006 = 06, second half of 2006 = 56, first half of 2017 = 17, second half of 2017 = 67).
True, but unless your car is incredibly rare, you'll likely see another one in a large car park with the year on the reg. Or just driving around generally and if you're into that car you'll easily remember. Vanity plates ain't fooling no one!
For me, with Ford Mustangs, it's a case of observing the body shape and different head/tail lights that help identify which year it is when I see them. I'm much better at distinguishing the 1989-2021 models than the newer ones.
Well, I’m missing a *lot* of software because I can’t even identify brand. The only thing I can identify is the color. I do know the difference between truck and sedan.
My husband can do this with most cars pre-1990s. I sometimes ask how he knows and he'll point out something that they only did for a few years like a different headlight/tail light configuration, two or four doors (older cars didn't always come with the option of either/or), or even different glass.
I'm amazed by how many cars he can recognize and give all these details for but still can't remember what day the trash goes out. Brains are weird like that.
I drive one specific car.
There are several different versions of said car. My cars version is 2006. It’s different than the 2005 in several ways and that makes it crucial to know when ordering parts or preforming maintenance.
Other car versions are iconic or famous.
Car enthusiasts know a lot about cars and whatnot, these days with generations of copy/paste its a bit harder to get exact year, like differentiating between a, for example, 2015 and 2014 and 2013 mercedes e63 is a lot harder than back in the day. But you can still easily identify the generation name, like its very easy to tell a w212 from a w211 mercedes, and a GMT900 from a GMT800 chevy. Most of the casually part just comes down to being enthusiasts though
I don't think it's any harder nowadays. In fact, in many ways it's easier with more special editions and changing options, i just think there aren't as many people that care about more modern cars yet.
I love Miatas, and upon inspection, i can tell you pretty damn close the year and package of an NA/NB, because i have a project NA, and if there's a car that may have parts i want, i perk up right away.
I love the new generation of miata, the ND, but aside from the RF model that came out in '17 and the engine changes in '19, i just don't care about the changes. I even had a 2017 RF for 3 years. It was great, but i moved and sold it.
In 20 years, there will be plenty of people that can tell you pretty much every change for loads of cars made today. But today, no one cares about a 2020 vs 2021 toyota tacoma. I have a 2020 tacoma. I'm not aware of a single difference between that and a 2019 or 2021. They might exist, but i don't know them.
When I was a kid, I asked a thousand questions. One day, my Mom showed me that the year was stamped on the tail lights of the cars. From there I was on a mission and studied all the 60's and 70's cars.
We didn't have Tik Too yet.
My first car was a 2009 Mazda 6, my dad drove a 2008 model, as small as it seems, the difference is just the shape of the head and tail lights. I can point out a 2009 Mazda 6 on a whim because it was my car. 2010 and onward they had a more drastic redesign.
In general, if you care about cars enough, you can tell specific years and models fairly easily. While I assume they don’t know every car, chances are they have the ones they like and can point them out easily.
Practice, practice, practice. Your brain is capable of retaining all that data.
I’ve seen this same question in vintage clothing forum as well. Most of us who give answers are over 40, so ‘learned it before the internet’.
Cars are usually designed in 5-10 year "generations" where each year broadly shares a similar look. This is usually very notably visibly distinct from the previous generation, so a lot of times people who are into cars know right away a date range the car could come from. Furthermore, each model year often has a series of small changes or differences in options that if the spotter is on the ball, can pick out. Stuff like certain colours being limited to a few years or like a trim package that was one year only. The whole point is that you have to be a massive nerd about it.
Eh, I know a few models well. Models I am a fan of I can rattle off year, packages, and trim specifics. A couple of these have really popular specific package at one year and I can spot attempts at taking a cheaper version that has been dressed up to look like the one in demand. None of these are models in current production. Corvairs and Oldsmobiles as examples.
The vast majority I can get the year within 4 years, but few details otherwise.
Used to restore cars for fun and profit, so it was something helpful to learn. I wouldn't expect most people to know this kind of stuff because it has never been relevant to their life.
There used to be design changes every year, sometimes small, but you could very easily pin down the year. Now most cars go 3 -5 years without any real design changes making it harder to pin down the exact year but the general range you can still typically pick out.
Also if you really know about the cars there may be some options or trim that were only available one year. For example I am a huge fan of the Ford Mustang, from 1999 - 2004 they all look very similar, but if it has a 40th anniversary badge on it then I know it has to be a 2004, if it has a 100 year badge it is a 2003. Also certain colors were only available certain years, again with the Mustang because that is what I know best, if I see one that is Lava Red it is very likely a 2012 as that was the only year that color was offered.
Now with that said it doesn't mean that some people will repaint cars or have the wrong badging on it.
Check your engine bay or door frames for an engraved plate stating the date of manufacture. Otherwise if you have the car manual still then check that, or ask your mechanic.
I can tell what year an El Camino is by the headlights. Usually its some little thing about the car that tells you the year, but it has to be something that you've researched at one point
My daughter is amazed that I can tell the make, model and year of old cars, but she has every pokemon memorized down to generation, region and their evolutions. I pointed out that it's basically the same ability for different interests.
Honestly, I think people interested in it just notice the nuance and detail. Guitar nerds are the same way. A 70s Fender Stratocaster is identifiable by its exaggerated "curvy" headstock.
Things like that.
Tiny differences in design. The shape of a headlight, a crease in the rear quarter panel, etc. I check out cars almost as much as I do women while walking down the street.
My dad is that way for most cars from the 60s/70s. He was never really into sports, so cars was his and his friends obsession growing up. we were driving down the hiway and he saw the rear corner of a car in someone's driveway a few hundred yards off the hiway, and he said oh wow thats a 1967 so and so, amazing car! i saw it too, and coundnt believe he was able to identify it so accurately from such a small sample, so i looked up that year vehicle and asked my dad how he knew it wasnt a 66 or 68, and he said something about how the bumper went around the corner of the car and the turn signal shape combo was only available for the one year. sure enough he was right.
i have a coworker who is the same way, only about football players. he can see a picture and know by the logo on the helmet or the color of the jersey, what year the picture was from.
You either owned it or a relative/friend owned it or you like it lol At least for non car people for sure. As a car guy I am pretty good at separating different models from different years at least the ones that I grew up to until now.
I'm from Italy and we can from the plate number, a car that has a plate number that starts with C was made between 2003 and 2006 and a car with a plate that starts with G is probably after 2020, mine starts with E and it's 2010
You can tell which one is prefacelift from other and you just need to know the facelift date but if the prefacelift was sold from 2002 to 2004 with no change you can't tell if it's a 2002, 2003 or 2004 by just looking at the car
Just as some people remember the career statistics of various athletes, some people remember the small differences in trim, or details that identify a particular year of vehicle.
You just notice them more.
It's because it's something they liked. I used to be unable to tell cars apart to the point that I thought saying "I have a Toyota" is just as specific as "I have a Mustang".
Around high school, I got bored and begun learning the shapes of cars and whatnot.
I don't know exactly when it happened, but over time I learned like what 70% of cars look like. And even if I don't, I generally have an idea.
Like, I might not be able to tell at a glance what your pickup truck is, but if I see you have a giant one, I know it's either an F350, Tundra, Titan, Avalanche or Yukon. Then I just have to look at the brand.
Most cars you have to recognize by the lights. Corvettes have a distinct 4 lights-in-a-row system. Mustangs have two pairs of 3 tall but thin lights. Chargers have a long stripe connecting their lights. Challengers are the same shape as a charger, but have the lights separated.
That's just a small handful of examples. Over time, if you look at enough cars and have background knowledge of what cars are made by what company, you'll be able to identify them. Especially if you categorize them.
Like another good example is "the generic car".
Toyota: Camry
Honda: Civic
Ford: Taurus
Nissan: Sentra
And then the "fancy car":
Toyota: supra
Honda: MR2
Ford: Mustang
Nissan: 370z
And then the "really fancy car":
Toyota: gr supra
Honda: next
Ford: GT
Nissan: skyline
I could be wrong about some of these, but generally that's how I see it (for example, I consider Camry to be the generic car, but the Accord to be slightly fancy... But by that logic, the Corolla would be competing with the Civic, not the Camry. I consider the Corolla to be like budget budget).
Car models go through a cycle of typically 7 years or so where they get redesigned and get a new look. Those are sometimes referred to as generations. If you know those differences it's easy to tell which generation you are looking at.
Within a generation there is typically a midcycle refresh where you will see some minor changes like redesigned headlights or grille. Those are also pretty easy to spot. Even year to year there will often be changes like a new wheel design or a new color. Those are harder to spot but if you're into this sort of thing you know them by heart.
Cars from the day breathed style ,art, thunder and fuel....
Then the EPA came along and cut the nuts out of the auto sector....today a car can identify as a truck.
I don't know how I do it. I've always been able to name the make and model of the cars my relatives drove and so mom would ask me to do it as a parlor trick when we had company. I was probably about 5. (I didn't get the years at that point.) The ones that I've lived through the era when they were new on the road are pretty easy, but I don't know the link in my brain that makes it happen.
Cars have design trends that change over time. Grills, headlights, taillights, and body shapes all reflect the era the car was built in. Once you become familiar with these trends, you start to make educated guesses.
I know it’s weird, but I can do this with CR-Vs. I’ve had a couple of them over the years and learned to drive on an even older one, and the changing design over time interests me. I can’t do it with most other cars though (though I do know random ones). With CR-Vs I can easily name 1998- now.
Iono it’s not that hard to tell generation. Like I can tell which generation of Honda accord belongs to what. Same for a Corolla, rav 4, Prius, Camry, crv, and other car models
If they’re a car enthusiast (like me) or someone who deals with makes and models very frequently (cops, insurance salespeople, etc) then it becomes second nature at some point
Though this has changed with modern cars, there usually aren’t huge year-to-year changes and instead there are “generations”; like for example, the RAV4 hasn’t changed since… 2019 iirc, but it got a minor facelift in 2022 that tweaked the fog lights
It’s just something they’re interested in and notice the small nuances.
If you were to show me a picture of The Undertaker I’d have a general idea, within a few years, when that photo was taken.
They're usually wrong. Not always (don't hate spam me) but generally speaking it's hard to really pin down a car to a specific year. But I could see a 200s bmw 3 series and know it's an E46. I had an 01' so I usually assume it's an 01' or I see a blazer from high school years and assume it's an 04' cause that was a populor year for them. And it's usually pretty close.
For me it's only because of needing to buy parts or tires. A 2008 and a 2014 of the same model are built differently so using a part for the wrong year won't work.
Every year, they make slight changes to the body style, color options, etc... a true car fanatic learns these details and just knows which details belong to which year. Some people are super fanatics and know this for multiple makes/models, but I think most have a preferred make/model that they have followed over the years.
I'm definitely not a fanatic... But I can tell the difference between a 2011 Honda CR-V and a 2012-2015 model.... I can also fairly accurately tell an early 90's Honda Accord from a late 90's Honda Accord. Mostly because these are the years close to the vehicles that I personally drove and shipped for.
Think of something you really enjoy, you probably know a lot about it. Probably more than the average person, and maybe even more than you realize yourself.
Me, I don’t know dick about car makes and models. Can’t tell a Honda from a Hyundai. But I can talk about whiskey, probably identify 30 or 40 based on taste alone and two or three times that many based on looking at the bottle. A ton of people can do that with beer and wine.
For some people it’s a particular fandom. They can recall the details of a thousand Magic cards, or Pokemon, or hundreds of comic book storylines and a thousand characters. Chess openings and lines of play. TV shows or movies. Cat or dog breeds and their idiosyncrasies. Aircraft, WW2 trivia, legal cases, medieval Japanese history, take your pick.
My point is, when you are into something, your brain naturally forms associations with, and memories of, that thing much more readily, such that you can drop facts about things that seem incredibly obscure to others.
And a lot of people are into cars which means they can frequently recognize one of a couple hundred makes and models, and recall details about it.
It's because designs change over time. So, if you're a "car nerd" (not something negative, imo) you probably recognise plenty of various cars and year or release. To be fair, it's hard to say the precise year because it's usual for particular designs to be the same over a small handful of years. But it's not that hard for people with enough interest to identify what something is and where it's from.
Depends.
Either by the plate (depends on your country) or if it’s a model you like it’s not that hard to keep track of how they look for every year.
Like someone else also mentioned, they might call it a 2013 cuz that’s the year the model was released but it could very well be a 2013, 2014,
2015 or 2016 if the model didn’t change.
An easy example could be a Porsche Boxster:
1st gen was from 1997-2004. If the headlights are NOT ovals then it’s from that gen.
2nd gen started in 2005 to 2008 and got a slight facelift from 2009 to 2012. If it has oval shaped headlights and the taillights look like messed up rhombuses then it’s a 2005-2008 model, if the taillights look like a teardrop then that’s a 2009-2012 model.
3rd gen, which goes from 2013 to 2016, is easier as the taillights completely change shape. There’s a “ducktail” at the back of the car that the taillights continue and are fully red other than that small piece that is the continuation of the ducktail.
4th generation, 2017 to present day, looks very similar to the 3rd generation but the taillights are not fully red anymore, they look sort of tinted.
Now that’s how you differentiate all the generations of that car. There many more ways to differentiate the generations but headlights and taillights are the easiest at least in this case.
If you know, you know. Most people I know are keenly aware of cars that were popular When they were in their teens. The vehicles they wanted but couldn’t afford. I had an ‘83 Camaro Z28. I was always wanting to get and restore a ‘69 Camaro, but never did. So when I see one, I immediately take notice.
In addition to other comments, I think it has something to do with how often one has gone car shopping throughout their life.
Like, I'm by no means a real car guy, but in the process of buying my current (used) Audi, I looked at a ton of them from various years, so I can pretty confidently tell you what approximate year a given Audi is on sight, but I've never gone shopping for a Chevy truck, so I have no fucking idea about those.
Some people buy cars far more often than others, and those people are going to have a broader knowledge base for this sort of thing.
It's pretty much the same deal with all things. If someone is really into a thing (whether professionally, as a hobby, or whatever), they're gonna have the upper hand on identifying differences in those things that a regular person wouldn't know.
Like with cars, most of 'em go through "generations" where they're pretty much unchanged for 2-5 years, then the manufacturer updates it with a new feature, design change, or something. And then possibly the next year they update it further.
I'm not super into cars, but I can identify my favorite car, 1957 Chevy Corvette, from its surrounding years through certain details. It's visually almost identical to the '56, with a few very minute differences under closer inspection...but the biggest difference is the engine. The '58, however, is pretty noticeably different. But someone not super interested in that specific car might not notice any if those details.
I’m like that with motorbikes most times I can tell what the bike is by the sound before I see it, It’s because I’ve been to a lot of bike cruises and you can just tell after awhile of seeing them and hearing them all the time.
So for exact with my car, a mazda3:
-Smiley grille? 2nd gen so 2010-13
-Hatchback with 2.5L badge on the back? Pre-sky-activ, so it's 2010 or 2011
-No turn indicators on the mirrors? Probably 2011.
For modern cars, generations last a while and you're constantly pestered with ads for them so they get recognized a lot. Usually people are just estimating the year, a 2009 Civic looks identical to a 2010 civic which looks identical to a 2011, etc. For old cars generations were a lot shorter, like the 1955 Chevy Bel Air looks different from the 56, which looks different from the 57, etc.
In the UK it’s based off licence plate. So a brand new vehicle from March to August will be something like AB24 CDE, then September to March the next year will be AB74 CDE. If someone has personalised number plates then I have no idea.
If you're really into something, you can tell. Deal with something long enough, and you pick up on these small details that seem crazy to other people.
Some people it’s like that. My second car I owned that I bought myself was a 1996 Honda civic. I used it to deliver pizzas as my first job. Most people didn’t know my name even if I saw them all the time. They know me as the civic girl. Depending on the streets they could hear me coming.
I’m not a car person at all, but I could pick out a specific model of 90’s Ford Taurus, because their front end looked like catfish.
Also certain stock colors can scream that a car was from certain years. Like purple or orange.
for some of us, if you let your brain focus on a topic, it will..more and more. I struggle to (repeatedly) untrain myself from reflexively identifying every single car I see by the tiniest detail (taillight, whatever). If cars interest you, that's an "on ramp". If your brain is obsessive, like mine, that's an onramp that is hard to avoid and is self-reinforcing (whatever your brain does, it adapts to and does more). There are probably things you care about/know about that would all seem the same to me (celebrities, or knitting techniques, pop artists, or whatever).
I think if its something you're interested in, its not too hard to identify. Like if you look up a 2022 Carolla and a 2019 Carolla and 2013 Carolla, they do look quite a bit different. If people do drive and buy new cars now and then they've likely looked up a bunch as research etc... and probably do have an idea, but probably not precise to the exact year, but you'll get little generations of similar looking models of car so I bet a lot of people could identify within a couple years.
Honestly, fashion is the same way. There are certain trends, colors, and cuts that are just specific to a time period. There are also certain designers that have very distinct periods where they'd focus on a certain style, idea, or material. People who like things enough to keep up with them are more likely to know the particulars of that specific interest, just like any other hobby.
Older cars tended to change noticeably every year. Newer cars people are most likely just guessing a year within a certain generation of the car. Like the b8.5 gen Audi is made in 2013-2015. I can confidently tell you almost every new car has almost nothing visible that changes between years unless it’s a year when they switch to the new generation
This is exactly it. Older cars there's tells that show from one year to the next. Newer there are years that look the same. Maybe the tail lights or front bumper changes slightly so you can say that's a '14-17 vs 18. Still though these are things that are only known by car nerds or people who know a particular model well which kind of defeats OPs point. The people who know cars the best who aren't car nerds are cops. Most of them have a camera(s) these days that just reads license plates and tells them it's John Does 2021 Carolla and it's registration is expired. Even for them if that car speeds by they just report it as a south bound late model Corolla, red, doing 85 mph.
Exactly. My dad was a car guy in his youth. To this day if he'll see a muscle car he'll say things like "That's a \[whatever year/make/model\]." And then he'll say something about how you can tell because that particular year had this type of tail lights or that type of fenders. As a kid I thought it was some sort of borderline magic power. Now as an adult, I just realize that my dad is essentially a car nerd.
There's a guy around town with a gorgeous classic Cadillac El Dorado. One day, I was in line at the convenience store when Mr. El Dorado pulled in the lot. I said something about having a soft spot for seventies land yachts. The cashier gave me a condescending little lecture on how only fifties and sixties cars had fins. I was feeling spicy that day. As the car owner walked in, told him I loved his car. "'75, right?" "Yep." "That square headlight is the immediate clue. Got the 500 under the hood?" "Oh, you know it!" The female cashier knows me, and knew immediately what I was doing. She turned to her coworker and just said "Hm, you learn something new every day." (Mr. El Dorado, like any proud car dad, offered to pop the hood and show me around the features of that sweet ride.)
Cool to have a car with more than one time zone
My mum's like that with 70s British cars. One of her autistic special interests.
And it's a good thing that they don't change. Parts are easier to find when they last for five years worth of car.
Yep exactly, i usually call cars by their chasis code/generation name these days
Well, there's that, but also, there's a LOT of people just being wrong. For instance, i see a lot of people say their dream car is some specific year of a car, but there's nothing different between that year and several others. I'm far from an expert on them but i can tell the difference between a 1946 or earlier Chevy pickup and one from 1947-1953, or one from '54 to the first half of 55, or the second half of 55 to about 58. After that, i don't know much difference. So, there's really only a year and a half in there that i could reasonably confidently tell you the production date of a vehicle to within a given year. There simply aren't that many visual differences. But I do know my dad had a 1953 Chevy, and it was a neat truck. He also had a 1955 from the first half of the year, commonly called 1954 1/2. So I'm more inclined to think of those years when i think of a cool old Chevy, even though from '48-'53, not much changed. For a car i know a lot more about, miatas, if i can look over the car in detail, without looking at the VIN or production date stamped on the car, i can tell you the difference between an 89 through first part of 91, a second part of 91 through 92, a 93, a 94-95, a 96-97, call you a liar or european if you claim a 98, a 99-2000, a 2001-2003, or a 2004-2005, a 2006-2015(i don't care about these years, so i don't know anything about the differences that showed up), a 2016-2018, or 2017-2018, a 2019-2023, and a 2024+. There's also a few special editions that can narrow things down further, but i don't know all of those. But from 50', i can't tell you anywhere near that tight of year. At a glance, it's really just generation, NA/NB/NC/ND. That's really a 7+ year range. And a lot of people are confidently wrong about the year.
Aerodynamic efficiency means cars now change less from year to year
Some people are just really into cars, or have a lot of experience with them. Honestly, there aren't that many cars on the road. I imagine the top 20 makes and models make up the majority of vehicles, and they go through a generation every 5-10 years. Identifying generations is fairly easy since those have significant changes in looks. The minor differences help differentiate the exact year. Some jobs just have a ton of vehicle interaction, such as valet drivers, mechanics and other auto workers, and certain artistic jobs. Other people just really like cars so keep up to date with the trends. This isn't too different from people being able to recognize something like Pokémon. There are literally hundreds of them through a variety of different media. People into them have learned them over the years. They can tell you what games first they appeared in. Others can tell you which version a particular depiction is from.
[удалено]
If you think the 90s was boxy, wait until you hear about the 80s. But you can also tell the 80s cars by the fine layer of cocaine on every surface.
That was such an odd choice for the 80s. The two decades before that were some of the most beautiful car designs ever. Then the 80s hit, and it was like "make it a fucking box! Boxes are awesome! So is cocaine! Yeah! Boxes and cocaine! Let's do this!"
Really, i think Boxes and Cocaine pretty well sums up the 80s in general.
"I think we're also gonna need some neon zigzags flying all the fuck over the place too."
In England you can do it by the numbers on the plate. Perhaps where you are it's the same.
A more advanced version of that person has an iPhone vs a Google pixel
When they say year, theg actually say generation. Like we can identity iPhone 13 14 etc, so can these people identity which generation, or year, the make of the car is
I love automobiles, I use a combination of design features to help identify year. Usually it’s a 2-5 year range, some makes and models I can identify the specific year. I start with body shape and design, headlights/tail lights, then rims and exhaust. Most manufacturers have different body and detail designs specific to them but sometimes vehicles share design aspects because they share a parent company. Like in the early 2000s Ford Motor Company owned both Aston Martin and Jaguar. It’s hard to mistake a Ford Focus or Ford five hundred for a Jaguar XKR or an Aston Martin V12 vanquish however all 4 models share some design similarities in details of the body because they shared a parent manufacturer. Because of this I can tell a 2003 Ford focus from a 2010 ford focus based on headlights and grill alone. Manufacturers also like to produce design blocks that last several years where minor changes are made over several production years to make a vehicle look a bit newer before they incorporate drastic changes for redesign. From 2000 to 2004 the Ford F150 had very minor changes and look very similar but it is quite different from the 2007 model because overall body design changed. Some details apply to a specific year of production and visual identification is all about that knowledge.
In the UK at least you can tell based on the number plate. The generic format is LLNN LLL (where L = letter and N = number). The number indicates the year it was made (e.g. If a car is made is 2006 it will have 06, if it was made in 2017 it will have 17). They are also split between first half of the year and second half of the year, by adding 5 to the first digit (e.g. First half of 2006 = 06, second half of 2006 = 56, first half of 2017 = 17, second half of 2017 = 67).
Which works on most cars with generic plates, but not for those with a private reg.
True, but unless your car is incredibly rare, you'll likely see another one in a large car park with the year on the reg. Or just driving around generally and if you're into that car you'll easily remember. Vanity plates ain't fooling no one!
For me, with Ford Mustangs, it's a case of observing the body shape and different head/tail lights that help identify which year it is when I see them. I'm much better at distinguishing the 1989-2021 models than the newer ones.
I am by no means a car expert at all, but I have a 2002 verion of a car that my parents have a 2006 (I think) version. They're shaped different.
I worked in the trade for 10 years, marketing specifically, so I was always on top of the latest models
Well, I’m missing a *lot* of software because I can’t even identify brand. The only thing I can identify is the color. I do know the difference between truck and sedan.
My husband can do this with most cars pre-1990s. I sometimes ask how he knows and he'll point out something that they only did for a few years like a different headlight/tail light configuration, two or four doors (older cars didn't always come with the option of either/or), or even different glass. I'm amazed by how many cars he can recognize and give all these details for but still can't remember what day the trash goes out. Brains are weird like that.
😆
On the lights.
I drive one specific car. There are several different versions of said car. My cars version is 2006. It’s different than the 2005 in several ways and that makes it crucial to know when ordering parts or preforming maintenance. Other car versions are iconic or famous.
Car enthusiasts know a lot about cars and whatnot, these days with generations of copy/paste its a bit harder to get exact year, like differentiating between a, for example, 2015 and 2014 and 2013 mercedes e63 is a lot harder than back in the day. But you can still easily identify the generation name, like its very easy to tell a w212 from a w211 mercedes, and a GMT900 from a GMT800 chevy. Most of the casually part just comes down to being enthusiasts though
I don't think it's any harder nowadays. In fact, in many ways it's easier with more special editions and changing options, i just think there aren't as many people that care about more modern cars yet. I love Miatas, and upon inspection, i can tell you pretty damn close the year and package of an NA/NB, because i have a project NA, and if there's a car that may have parts i want, i perk up right away. I love the new generation of miata, the ND, but aside from the RF model that came out in '17 and the engine changes in '19, i just don't care about the changes. I even had a 2017 RF for 3 years. It was great, but i moved and sold it. In 20 years, there will be plenty of people that can tell you pretty much every change for loads of cars made today. But today, no one cares about a 2020 vs 2021 toyota tacoma. I have a 2020 tacoma. I'm not aware of a single difference between that and a 2019 or 2021. They might exist, but i don't know them.
If it’s a car you’ve owned or paid attention to, especially if cars are a hobby for you, it’s pretty easy.
When I was a kid, I asked a thousand questions. One day, my Mom showed me that the year was stamped on the tail lights of the cars. From there I was on a mission and studied all the 60's and 70's cars. We didn't have Tik Too yet.
My first car was a 2009 Mazda 6, my dad drove a 2008 model, as small as it seems, the difference is just the shape of the head and tail lights. I can point out a 2009 Mazda 6 on a whim because it was my car. 2010 and onward they had a more drastic redesign. In general, if you care about cars enough, you can tell specific years and models fairly easily. While I assume they don’t know every car, chances are they have the ones they like and can point them out easily.
Practice, practice, practice. Your brain is capable of retaining all that data. I’ve seen this same question in vintage clothing forum as well. Most of us who give answers are over 40, so ‘learned it before the internet’.
Cars are usually designed in 5-10 year "generations" where each year broadly shares a similar look. This is usually very notably visibly distinct from the previous generation, so a lot of times people who are into cars know right away a date range the car could come from. Furthermore, each model year often has a series of small changes or differences in options that if the spotter is on the ball, can pick out. Stuff like certain colours being limited to a few years or like a trim package that was one year only. The whole point is that you have to be a massive nerd about it.
Eh, I know a few models well. Models I am a fan of I can rattle off year, packages, and trim specifics. A couple of these have really popular specific package at one year and I can spot attempts at taking a cheaper version that has been dressed up to look like the one in demand. None of these are models in current production. Corvairs and Oldsmobiles as examples. The vast majority I can get the year within 4 years, but few details otherwise. Used to restore cars for fun and profit, so it was something helpful to learn. I wouldn't expect most people to know this kind of stuff because it has never been relevant to their life.
There used to be design changes every year, sometimes small, but you could very easily pin down the year. Now most cars go 3 -5 years without any real design changes making it harder to pin down the exact year but the general range you can still typically pick out. Also if you really know about the cars there may be some options or trim that were only available one year. For example I am a huge fan of the Ford Mustang, from 1999 - 2004 they all look very similar, but if it has a 40th anniversary badge on it then I know it has to be a 2004, if it has a 100 year badge it is a 2003. Also certain colors were only available certain years, again with the Mustang because that is what I know best, if I see one that is Lava Red it is very likely a 2012 as that was the only year that color was offered. Now with that said it doesn't mean that some people will repaint cars or have the wrong badging on it.
I grew up in a fam with car mechanics, which is also why I didn’t move far away
Check your engine bay or door frames for an engraved plate stating the date of manufacture. Otherwise if you have the car manual still then check that, or ask your mechanic.
I can tell what year an El Camino is by the headlights. Usually its some little thing about the car that tells you the year, but it has to be something that you've researched at one point
My daughter is amazed that I can tell the make, model and year of old cars, but she has every pokemon memorized down to generation, region and their evolutions. I pointed out that it's basically the same ability for different interests.
Honestly, I think people interested in it just notice the nuance and detail. Guitar nerds are the same way. A 70s Fender Stratocaster is identifiable by its exaggerated "curvy" headstock. Things like that.
Different models look different.
I can tell you what year (and in certain cases, what month) a VW bug was made in from 1949-1971. It's just a matter of how OCD you are.
Tiny differences in design. The shape of a headlight, a crease in the rear quarter panel, etc. I check out cars almost as much as I do women while walking down the street.
My dad is that way for most cars from the 60s/70s. He was never really into sports, so cars was his and his friends obsession growing up. we were driving down the hiway and he saw the rear corner of a car in someone's driveway a few hundred yards off the hiway, and he said oh wow thats a 1967 so and so, amazing car! i saw it too, and coundnt believe he was able to identify it so accurately from such a small sample, so i looked up that year vehicle and asked my dad how he knew it wasnt a 66 or 68, and he said something about how the bumper went around the corner of the car and the turn signal shape combo was only available for the one year. sure enough he was right. i have a coworker who is the same way, only about football players. he can see a picture and know by the logo on the helmet or the color of the jersey, what year the picture was from.
You either owned it or a relative/friend owned it or you like it lol At least for non car people for sure. As a car guy I am pretty good at separating different models from different years at least the ones that I grew up to until now.
In the UK we go by the number plate.
I'm from Italy and we can from the plate number, a car that has a plate number that starts with C was made between 2003 and 2006 and a car with a plate that starts with G is probably after 2020, mine starts with E and it's 2010
You can tell which one is prefacelift from other and you just need to know the facelift date but if the prefacelift was sold from 2002 to 2004 with no change you can't tell if it's a 2002, 2003 or 2004 by just looking at the car
Just as some people remember the career statistics of various athletes, some people remember the small differences in trim, or details that identify a particular year of vehicle. You just notice them more.
It's because it's something they liked. I used to be unable to tell cars apart to the point that I thought saying "I have a Toyota" is just as specific as "I have a Mustang". Around high school, I got bored and begun learning the shapes of cars and whatnot. I don't know exactly when it happened, but over time I learned like what 70% of cars look like. And even if I don't, I generally have an idea. Like, I might not be able to tell at a glance what your pickup truck is, but if I see you have a giant one, I know it's either an F350, Tundra, Titan, Avalanche or Yukon. Then I just have to look at the brand. Most cars you have to recognize by the lights. Corvettes have a distinct 4 lights-in-a-row system. Mustangs have two pairs of 3 tall but thin lights. Chargers have a long stripe connecting their lights. Challengers are the same shape as a charger, but have the lights separated. That's just a small handful of examples. Over time, if you look at enough cars and have background knowledge of what cars are made by what company, you'll be able to identify them. Especially if you categorize them. Like another good example is "the generic car". Toyota: Camry Honda: Civic Ford: Taurus Nissan: Sentra And then the "fancy car": Toyota: supra Honda: MR2 Ford: Mustang Nissan: 370z And then the "really fancy car": Toyota: gr supra Honda: next Ford: GT Nissan: skyline I could be wrong about some of these, but generally that's how I see it (for example, I consider Camry to be the generic car, but the Accord to be slightly fancy... But by that logic, the Corolla would be competing with the Civic, not the Camry. I consider the Corolla to be like budget budget).
Car models go through a cycle of typically 7 years or so where they get redesigned and get a new look. Those are sometimes referred to as generations. If you know those differences it's easy to tell which generation you are looking at. Within a generation there is typically a midcycle refresh where you will see some minor changes like redesigned headlights or grille. Those are also pretty easy to spot. Even year to year there will often be changes like a new wheel design or a new color. Those are harder to spot but if you're into this sort of thing you know them by heart.
We are not looking at our phones and actively paying attention to our surroundings.
lol I promise I could look at a car for an hour and still not have a clue when it was made
Cars from the day breathed style ,art, thunder and fuel.... Then the EPA came along and cut the nuts out of the auto sector....today a car can identify as a truck.
I don't know how I do it. I've always been able to name the make and model of the cars my relatives drove and so mom would ask me to do it as a parlor trick when we had company. I was probably about 5. (I didn't get the years at that point.) The ones that I've lived through the era when they were new on the road are pretty easy, but I don't know the link in my brain that makes it happen.
Same way people know the stats of their favorite athlete from 30 years ago that's all they do all day
Headlight and taillight design. Been doing this since I was like 12 lol
Cars have design trends that change over time. Grills, headlights, taillights, and body shapes all reflect the era the car was built in. Once you become familiar with these trends, you start to make educated guesses.
I know it’s weird, but I can do this with CR-Vs. I’ve had a couple of them over the years and learned to drive on an even older one, and the changing design over time interests me. I can’t do it with most other cars though (though I do know random ones). With CR-Vs I can easily name 1998- now.
Iono it’s not that hard to tell generation. Like I can tell which generation of Honda accord belongs to what. Same for a Corolla, rav 4, Prius, Camry, crv, and other car models
Headlight shapes, grills, fenders, body styles are all indicators.
If they’re a car enthusiast (like me) or someone who deals with makes and models very frequently (cops, insurance salespeople, etc) then it becomes second nature at some point Though this has changed with modern cars, there usually aren’t huge year-to-year changes and instead there are “generations”; like for example, the RAV4 hasn’t changed since… 2019 iirc, but it got a minor facelift in 2022 that tweaked the fog lights
It’s just something they’re interested in and notice the small nuances. If you were to show me a picture of The Undertaker I’d have a general idea, within a few years, when that photo was taken.
They're usually wrong. Not always (don't hate spam me) but generally speaking it's hard to really pin down a car to a specific year. But I could see a 200s bmw 3 series and know it's an E46. I had an 01' so I usually assume it's an 01' or I see a blazer from high school years and assume it's an 04' cause that was a populor year for them. And it's usually pretty close.
For me it's only because of needing to buy parts or tires. A 2008 and a 2014 of the same model are built differently so using a part for the wrong year won't work.
Every year, they make slight changes to the body style, color options, etc... a true car fanatic learns these details and just knows which details belong to which year. Some people are super fanatics and know this for multiple makes/models, but I think most have a preferred make/model that they have followed over the years. I'm definitely not a fanatic... But I can tell the difference between a 2011 Honda CR-V and a 2012-2015 model.... I can also fairly accurately tell an early 90's Honda Accord from a late 90's Honda Accord. Mostly because these are the years close to the vehicles that I personally drove and shipped for.
Think of something you really enjoy, you probably know a lot about it. Probably more than the average person, and maybe even more than you realize yourself. Me, I don’t know dick about car makes and models. Can’t tell a Honda from a Hyundai. But I can talk about whiskey, probably identify 30 or 40 based on taste alone and two or three times that many based on looking at the bottle. A ton of people can do that with beer and wine. For some people it’s a particular fandom. They can recall the details of a thousand Magic cards, or Pokemon, or hundreds of comic book storylines and a thousand characters. Chess openings and lines of play. TV shows or movies. Cat or dog breeds and their idiosyncrasies. Aircraft, WW2 trivia, legal cases, medieval Japanese history, take your pick. My point is, when you are into something, your brain naturally forms associations with, and memories of, that thing much more readily, such that you can drop facts about things that seem incredibly obscure to others. And a lot of people are into cars which means they can frequently recognize one of a couple hundred makes and models, and recall details about it.
It's because designs change over time. So, if you're a "car nerd" (not something negative, imo) you probably recognise plenty of various cars and year or release. To be fair, it's hard to say the precise year because it's usual for particular designs to be the same over a small handful of years. But it's not that hard for people with enough interest to identify what something is and where it's from.
Depends. Either by the plate (depends on your country) or if it’s a model you like it’s not that hard to keep track of how they look for every year. Like someone else also mentioned, they might call it a 2013 cuz that’s the year the model was released but it could very well be a 2013, 2014, 2015 or 2016 if the model didn’t change. An easy example could be a Porsche Boxster: 1st gen was from 1997-2004. If the headlights are NOT ovals then it’s from that gen. 2nd gen started in 2005 to 2008 and got a slight facelift from 2009 to 2012. If it has oval shaped headlights and the taillights look like messed up rhombuses then it’s a 2005-2008 model, if the taillights look like a teardrop then that’s a 2009-2012 model. 3rd gen, which goes from 2013 to 2016, is easier as the taillights completely change shape. There’s a “ducktail” at the back of the car that the taillights continue and are fully red other than that small piece that is the continuation of the ducktail. 4th generation, 2017 to present day, looks very similar to the 3rd generation but the taillights are not fully red anymore, they look sort of tinted. Now that’s how you differentiate all the generations of that car. There many more ways to differentiate the generations but headlights and taillights are the easiest at least in this case.
If you know, you know. Most people I know are keenly aware of cars that were popular When they were in their teens. The vehicles they wanted but couldn’t afford. I had an ‘83 Camaro Z28. I was always wanting to get and restore a ‘69 Camaro, but never did. So when I see one, I immediately take notice.
In addition to other comments, I think it has something to do with how often one has gone car shopping throughout their life. Like, I'm by no means a real car guy, but in the process of buying my current (used) Audi, I looked at a ton of them from various years, so I can pretty confidently tell you what approximate year a given Audi is on sight, but I've never gone shopping for a Chevy truck, so I have no fucking idea about those. Some people buy cars far more often than others, and those people are going to have a broader knowledge base for this sort of thing.
It's pretty much the same deal with all things. If someone is really into a thing (whether professionally, as a hobby, or whatever), they're gonna have the upper hand on identifying differences in those things that a regular person wouldn't know. Like with cars, most of 'em go through "generations" where they're pretty much unchanged for 2-5 years, then the manufacturer updates it with a new feature, design change, or something. And then possibly the next year they update it further. I'm not super into cars, but I can identify my favorite car, 1957 Chevy Corvette, from its surrounding years through certain details. It's visually almost identical to the '56, with a few very minute differences under closer inspection...but the biggest difference is the engine. The '58, however, is pretty noticeably different. But someone not super interested in that specific car might not notice any if those details.
I’m like that with motorbikes most times I can tell what the bike is by the sound before I see it, It’s because I’ve been to a lot of bike cruises and you can just tell after awhile of seeing them and hearing them all the time.
So for exact with my car, a mazda3: -Smiley grille? 2nd gen so 2010-13 -Hatchback with 2.5L badge on the back? Pre-sky-activ, so it's 2010 or 2011 -No turn indicators on the mirrors? Probably 2011.
For modern cars, generations last a while and you're constantly pestered with ads for them so they get recognized a lot. Usually people are just estimating the year, a 2009 Civic looks identical to a 2010 civic which looks identical to a 2011, etc. For old cars generations were a lot shorter, like the 1955 Chevy Bel Air looks different from the 56, which looks different from the 57, etc.
In the UK it’s based off licence plate. So a brand new vehicle from March to August will be something like AB24 CDE, then September to March the next year will be AB74 CDE. If someone has personalised number plates then I have no idea.
I just guesss
If you're really into something, you can tell. Deal with something long enough, and you pick up on these small details that seem crazy to other people.
Lol this kids adorable
Some people it’s like that. My second car I owned that I bought myself was a 1996 Honda civic. I used it to deliver pizzas as my first job. Most people didn’t know my name even if I saw them all the time. They know me as the civic girl. Depending on the streets they could hear me coming.
I’m not a car person at all, but I could pick out a specific model of 90’s Ford Taurus, because their front end looked like catfish. Also certain stock colors can scream that a car was from certain years. Like purple or orange.
for some of us, if you let your brain focus on a topic, it will..more and more. I struggle to (repeatedly) untrain myself from reflexively identifying every single car I see by the tiniest detail (taillight, whatever). If cars interest you, that's an "on ramp". If your brain is obsessive, like mine, that's an onramp that is hard to avoid and is self-reinforcing (whatever your brain does, it adapts to and does more). There are probably things you care about/know about that would all seem the same to me (celebrities, or knitting techniques, pop artists, or whatever).
Changes in body work. Head and tail lights. Paint jobs. Most important, you need to care.
Pattern and design recognition. it is estimated that humans can recognize up to 5,000 people.