All Influential concept cars articles – Page 4
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: The Dale (1974)
Grifts, murder, a transgender con-artist and a micro car – the story of The Dale concept car proves life is stranger than fiction
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Pontiac Firebird Type K (1978)
When Chevrolet introduced the Corvette Quartet in 1954, an unusual amount of interest was shown in the shooting brake/wagon variant, the Corvette Nomad. Chevrolet wanted to develop this car as a competitor to the Ford Country Squire, but elected to build the car on a Bel Air frame instead. The two-door Nomad wagon sold in modest numbers but became an instant classic, an iconic car of the 1950s. The Nomad name was transferred to a more conventional wagon later, but the idea of a two-door, sporty wagon stuck in the minds of GM design staff.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Vauxhall SRV (1970)
When a young GM designer named Wayne Cherry was asked, in 1965, to travel to the UK for a temporary assignment at Vauxhall, he eagerly accepted the invitation. In addition to automotive design, Cherry was an avid racer, and longed to see some of the legendary European races in person. It seemed like the perfect opportunity.
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ArticleInfiniti reveals vintage-inspired ‘Prototype 9’ concept
Nissan’s premium brand (est. 1989) imagines its own 1940s Grand Prix car, in a fit of ‘fauxstalgia’...
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ArticleConcept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Mako Sharks
One day in 1956, Bill Mitchell, who would soon become GM’s design chief, pulled up at a red light not far from the GM Technical Center. Beside him was a Ford Thunderbird driven by a young designer GM had recently hired and who had quickly made a name for himself with interesting ideas for the 1959 Pontiac and Chevrolet models.
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ArticleConcept Cars of the Week: Corvair Sports Cars
The humble Chevrolet compact inspired some surprising sports cars
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ArticleConcept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters
Dutch Darrin’s search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars
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ArticleConcept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters
Dutchman Darrin's search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars
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ArticleConcept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Quartet (1954)
The Chevrolet Corvette is an American automotive icon. Introduced in 1953, it is the longest continually produced domestic car, still going strong at almost 65 years. But its beginning was shaky, and the sports car program was almost canceled before it had really begun.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Studebaker Sceptre
Studebaker is an American automotive legend, and of the few manufacturers to successfully transition from the horse-drawn to the horsepower eras. Founded in 1852, the company produced high quality wagons for farming and overland freight hauling. By 1875 Studebaker was the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world, producing wagons and carriages in a proto-assembly line that had no rivals.
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ArticleFrank Lloyd Wright’s Lincoln Continental
This week marks the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary, if you’re not fluent in Latin) of the birth of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. All over the United States, and beyond, celebrations and exhibitions are planned and the architect’s contributions to modern architecture and city planning are once again a lively subject of debate and critical essays.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Renault Avantime (1999)
In the history of French car design, Philippe Guédon is a legend. While maybe not as well-known as Patrick Le Quement or Robert Opron, Guédon has been involved in the design of many vehicles from Simca, Matra and of course Renault. He is considered the father of the Renault Espace, a design widely attributed to designer Antonis Volanis but finally shepherded to production by Guédon for Renault in 1984.
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ArticleLamborghini Bravo (1974)
For many, the recent crisis of 2008 through to 2012 was the worst downturn for the automotive industry in many years. But the mid-1970s were in many ways just as grim, though many of the players in the industry were stronger then and could weather the economic storm better than in recent crises. For makers of fine cars, however, those were desperate times indeed. But many of the designs of those years, some of the best ever, seem to defy the desperation and might fool one into thinking it was an automotive golden age.
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ArticlePontiac Phantom (Madam X)
William ‘Bill’ Mitchell spent his entire 42-year career at General Motors, much of it served under the leadership of the flamboyant Harley Earl, GM’s Vice President of Design for over three decades. Earl appointed Mitchell as Cadillac’s first design chief in 1936. In 1954 he was promoted to Director of Styling, serving directly under Earl. Finally, after Earl retired, Mitchell stepped into Earl’s place and was Vice President of Design from late 1958 until his own retirement in 1977.
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ArticleCadillac Personal Luxury Car Concepts
In 1960, General Motors found itself on top of the industrial world. It was the largest corporation with the greatest reach and broadest product line of any corporation in the world. It produced everything from home appliances to cars and trucks, to heavy industrial machinery and military vehicles. True to its name, if it had a motor, General Motors probably produced some version of it.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Pininfarina Jacqueline (1961)
When John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1961, he and his wife Jacqueline were not just state dignitaries, they were celebrities. Their image was one of a young America entering a new era. Jacqueline herself was an instant fashion icon – an American beauty, only 31 years old at the time of her husband’s inauguration. She became famous for pink Chanel suits, pillbox hats and a glamorous lifestyle inherited from her wealthy, old-world family. No other First Lady, before or since, has captured the American and international imagination so completely.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Hillman Zimp [1964]
The Hillman Imp was manufactured from 1963 to 1976 for the Rootes Group, then later for Chrysler’s European group. It was sold in the lineup of a number of marques – Hillman, Singer, and Sunbeam – and in a number of configurations; coupé, saloon, estate (the Husky), a van and others. It was meant to be a direct competitor to the BMC Mini, and the two cars did fight it out for supremacy in the subcompact/starter car market, at least for a few years.
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ArticleConcept Car of the Week: Chrysler 70X (1969) and Cordoba Del Oro (1970)
Defining the “Fuselage” Aesthetic for a New Decade at Chrysler
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