Car Design. The automobile has always been as much about style as engineering, not simply a means of transportation but a status symbol meant to impress others and project the success of its owner. Car Design is a comprehensive collection of photographs from European, Japanese, and American automobile advertising campaigns of the last fifty years. Lavishly illustrated with over 400 black and white and color photos of distinctively designed automobiles, this compendium can be viewed as a decade-by-decade chronicle of consumer culture since World War II or as an amusing look at car culture for enthusiasts.