Here is Part 2 of our Exceptional Concept Cars series (read the first part here) which highlights the absolute best in concept car design from more than 100 years of automobile history.
It is not our goal to present a complete list, or even comprehensive coverage of particular brands and car shows (there is enough material of this nature available on the web). What we want to do instead, is to celebrate the daring and esthetic value of the most fascinating and unusual concept automobiles - to give you shapes and curves to brighten up your day, and to make you say "Wow, what a cool concept!" a couple of times.
The Age of Chrome, Aerodynamic Excess and Sheer Excitement
Jet-like GM XP-21 Firebird from 1954:
1959 Cadillac Cyclone "Motorama" dream car:
1959 GMC Firebird III - truly a product of the Jet Age! -
Possibly the world's rarest automobile - only one car exists out of only two produced as a Motorama “Dream Car”: a 1954 Oldsmobile Rocket F88 -
"Harley Earl, the legendary automotive stylist, designed the F-88 under the belief that it would have outsold the Corvette and forever changed automotive history. Unfortunately Chevrolet, which produced more GM products than any of its other divisions, convinced the GM board of directors to cut the Oldsmobile project. The F-88 never went into production due to that sabotage combined with lukewarm Corvette sales. The 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 was strictly ever a dream car."
Little-known 1953 Cadillac Ghia Coupe:
1953 Dodge Fire Arrow, designed by Ghia, with total of four vehicles built between 1953-1954:
Dressed in chrome and full of curves is this 1953 Lincoln XL-500:
1954 Oldsmobile Cutlass (the first Cutlass) was also quite remarkable:
Aerodynamic and bold 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis (intended for the 1955 Turin Motor Show):
1955 Ford Mystere: streamlined shapes and lots of chrome -
This is somewhat less-known concept, but perhaps one of the most flamboyant from Ford:
1955 Ford La Tosca:
1955 Cadillac La Salle II Hardtop Sedan:
1955 Buick WildCat III sports huge bumper "bombs":
1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket had a spokeless steering wheel! -
Speaking about bumper "bombs", this is really over the top:
Here is extremely rare and stunning 1957 Chrysler Diablo, also the result of collaboration with Ghia (considered the most valuable concept car from the 1950s):
From more recent years, we like this concept by Chevrolet: Tandem 2000 (even though is simply re-uses Camaro, Firebird, Fiero and Corvette components, the whole design still works on a futuristic level, offering something fresh) :
"Some of the most flamboyant, and expensive coachwork ever to come out of France was created, or caused to be, by expatriate russian cabinet maker Jacques Saoutchik. In 1948, noted New York city furrier Louis Ritter commissioned Saoutchik to execute a special convertible on a Cadillac chassis. The car was completed in time to be displayed at the Paris salon of 1949."
Can you explain me why Dresden is in Germany (why not Saxony?), Istria is Croatia, Meteora is Greece... but Tossa de Mar is Catalonia (not Spain?). Thanks in advance.
Anyone know why the majority of the propellers look like they're slightly ridged? Is it just due to manufacturing techniques, or does it improve efficiency or something? I would have thought it would lead to increased cavitation.
Avi & Simon, you refer to some props as 'steel' or 'brass'. I think you'll find that in general they all are made of bronze, as this material posesses some very desireable qualities. I admit that the props on the Jap sub and 'Great Britain' may have been from other materials.
Neil C: The ridging is a result of the machining process. The ridges look worse than they are: when you run a hand over one of these props, the ridges can hardly be felt. They are mainly due to differences in reflection, as a function of the rotating tool head.
Anti-cavitation properties and efficiency are generally achieved by the shape and profile of the blades and hub. However, Anti-cavitation is an area, where science and black magic to some degree overlap. I woulden't be the slightest suprised to find out that ridges or surface patterns can reduce cavitation. Think shark skin.
How about the propeller of the submarine revealed by google earth, http://www.1913intel.com/files/propeller_for_submarine.jpg Probably leaked on purpose, since there probably aren't any propeller driven sub in the US Navy anymore anyway.
That's really huge... I have no words for it. Unfortunately, I have never ever in my whole life travelled by a ship. So I have no idea what it would be, but as I'm seeing it should be wonderful, especially, if you have the luck to be on a such ship. Thanks for the article.
My grandfather rode on a ship during WW2, during bad storms, he said the propeler would come out of the water and shake the whole ship realy hard. Needless to say, it made a lot of sailors sick.
the rockin r bus looks like that b/c years ago there was a big flood in new braunsfels texas and i bet that bus was swept away and smashed into a tree.
About that "driving by faith" container. The secret is, that it's empty. It's secured from the front with a normal container twistlock, so it isn't going to drop or anything. Also note that extension bar underneath.
"Two cars totalled"? Didn't notice the red one?? And judging from the white blankets on the red car, the cars being totalled is not the saddest part of this picture..
The backhoe pulling itself onto top of a rail car is called a Cartopper. The company I used to work for (Herzog Contracting) modified these backhoes to load and unlode rail cars. Here is a video on them: http://youtu.be/Q4toJA5EXcM
Not sure if it counts as a disaster - based on what I was told. Note - no dumpers were hurt in this exercise.
Two new dumpers got bogged down in loose mud in an North Indian open cast coal mine and their recovery would take some time. The GM was due to visit the site the next day.
Rather than showcase themselves as incompetent and unable to recover their prize dumpers from the mud, the local maintenance people decided to completely bury the dumpers under a small mountain of overburden.
During the visit, the GM was told that the dumpers were out on the field (where they should be). Past the visit, the dirty dumpers were recovered and were put back in service after a good wash.
Chinese bridge= flashfloods & quakes destroyed foundations- seemed perfectly ok for everyday traffic until an overdimensional attempted the crossing. Quite a common in Asia (luckily the bridges are not too hgigh).
Colani's designs are pure eye candy. Ever since I first saw his work in the old OMNI magazine years ago, I've drooled at his design genius. This has been no exception. In my humble opinion, only Syd Mead ranks with him. (Hint!)
That...car? Van? The one in B/W next to the dune buggy? I want that one...badly! What's it called, and are any other pictures available?
One of the things that has always struck me about Colani is that he seems not to recognize that the sun shines in a lot of places. The amount of sloped glass present in nearly every model would turn the interiors into furnaces. Also, while I'm all in favor of aerodynamic efficiency, it also results in lots of wasted interior space that cannot be used, long slopes with no headroom and no storage options. Sacrificing ergonomics for style is art, not design.
I especially like the tanning printer, it's really compact, not to mention environmentally friendly! It doesn't use any cartridges either, although it'll be a problem if it's a cloudy day :/
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