Join us for a look at when concept cars almost literally went to the stars
- The 1950s represented an age of great optimism after the austerity of the war years.
- 1951 Buick Le Sabre
- 1953 Ford XL500
- 1954 Buick Wildcat II
- 1954 De Soto Adventurer II Coupé
- 1954 Ford FX Atmos
- 1954 GM Firebird I
- 1955 Ford Mystere
- 1955 Lincoln Futura
- 1956 Buick Centurion
- 1956 GM Firebird II
- 1956 GM XP-500
- 1956 Pontiac Club de Mer
- 1957 Ford X-1000
- 1958 Ford La Galaxie
- 1958 Ford Nucleon
- 1958 Ford X2000
- 1958 GM Firebird III
- 1958 XP-700 Corvette
- 1959 Cadillac Cyclone
- 1961 Chrysler Turboflite
- 1961 Ford Gyron
- 1964 GM Runabout
- 1967 Ford Seattle-ite XXI
- 1969 Buick Century Cruiser
The 1950s represented an age of great optimism after the austerity of the war years.
And nowhere was this more apparent than in the US where one far-fetched concept after another was wheeled out. We got cars inspired by jet fighters and space rockets featuring technology such as automonous driving, climate control, pedestrian avoidance and gas turbines.
If you ever needed proof that there really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to ideas, check out these 60-year old concept cars.
1951 Buick Le Sabre
One of the world’s earliest concept cars, the Le Sabre came from the fertile imagination of GM design chief Harley Earl (1893-1969), who used this as his everyday car once it was redundant on the show circuit. There was electric operation of the doors and windows along with a hard top that automatically raised itself in the event of rain.
1953 Ford XL500
With a push-button automatic transmission the XL-500 was supposed to provide effortless driving. It would have been like driving a goldfish bowl although air conditioning would stop the cabin from getting too hot – supposedly. Standard equipment included a telephone and built-in jacks in the event of a puncture.
1954 Buick Wildcat II
With its ‘flying-wing’ front end and glassfibre construction the Wildcat II was definitely a car of the future when it appeared in 1953 – the same year as the original Corvette. Focus on the centre section of this concept and you can see how similar it is to the earliest Corvettes.
1954 De Soto Adventurer II Coupé
The brief with this one was to come up with something super-slippery rather than ostentatious. As a result the Adventurer’s clean lines are very understated but those afterburner-inspired tail lights give a hint of what’s to come with later Chrysler concepts.
1954 Ford FX Atmos
The FX stood for Future Experimental, those spears on the front were aerials to help control the car to stop it running into vehicles in front, and the ‘Atmos’ was taken from atmosphere, which Ford said “came from free and unlimited creative thinking”. With a glass canopy, seating for three and a pair of aircraft-style fins, this was truly a jet-age design.
1954 GM Firebird I
The first of three Firebird concepts, this one featured a single-stick control system which dispensed with the steering wheel, accelerator and brake. Because it was located in the middle of the car either the driver or passenger could operate it; power came from a gas turbine which could be used to power a house via a built-in generator.
1955 Ford Mystere
You wouldn’t want to have to fit a new windscreen to this beauty as it stretched right the way round the car from behind each door. To get in and out the whole thing tilted up as a canopy. The cabin was air conditioned and power came from a rear-mounted gas turbine.
1955 Lincoln Futura
Best known for its starring role in the original Batman TV series, the Futura looked like nothing else thanks to its twin Plexiglass domes along with fins front and rear. Ford spent $250,000 building this 300bhp V8-powered running concept which also featured a push-button automatic transmission.
1956 Buick Centurion
The rear end of this car was clearly inspired by a jet fighter, with all of its lines converging on a single spot. Instead of rear-view mirrors there was a camera in the tail which beamed pictures to a screen on the dash. Meanwhile, the whole of the top of the car was made of glass, with just a few thin pillars to aid rigidity.
1956 GM Firebird II
If Firebird I looked way out it was nothing compared with the sequel which was also powered by a gas turbine. Constructed from titanium, Firebird II was designed to be run on guided roadways – so it was a forerunner to today’s would-be autonomous cars.
1956 GM XP-500
The world’s first car with a free-piston engine, the XP-500 could burn animal, vegetable or mineral oils and pump hot gases through a pipe to a turbine which drove the rear wheels. The problem was that the 250 hp powerplant made such a racket in operation that you had to wear ear defenders while driving.
1956 Pontiac Club de Mer
Inspired more by sharks than jet aircraft, the nose and tail design of the aluminium-bodied Club de Mer were straight from the sea. But those aero screens were aeronautical and when the car was driven at night, pods in the nose swivelled through 180 degrees to reveal the headlamps.
1957 Ford X-1000
How’s this for wacky – the X-1000 was designed so that the engine could be mounted either in the nose or the tail. The luxurious cabin featured a TV and hi-fi while there was a retractable canopy for the two seats, which allowed the car to be driven as a convertible or bubble-topped coupé.
1958 Ford La Galaxie
Up front there were three individual chairs and a bench seat for another three people in the rear. There was one huge door on each side while the roof hinged up butterfly-style to allow easier entry and exit. All very interesting but the La Galaxie wasn’t what you’d call a looker…
1958 Ford Nucleon
This one was just too mad to turn into a runner – it never even got beyond the 3/8th scale model stage. Which is a shame because who wouldn’t want to drive a car fitted with a nuclear reactor in the back (no, that’s not a spare wheel), to give a 5000-mile range?
1958 Ford X2000
Producing a successor to the X1000 was never going to be easy, but it’s fair to say that Alex Tremulis came up with the goods with this incredible design. The X2000 was supposed to predict what we’d be driving in 2000, although it also never went beyond the 3/8th scale model stage.
1958 GM Firebird III
Until now, concept cars of the 1950s had been inspired by jet aircraft but this was the first one to take its cues from rockets and space craft instead. As such it was even more extreme than its predecessors and featured automatic guidance, a 225bhp turbine, a climate-controlled cabin and automatic lighting.
1958 XP-700 Corvette
Effectively a rebodied Corvette, the XP-700 featured an, er, ‘distinctive’ nose design and a bubble-top canopy that had a space-age feel about it. Purely a design study, the XP-700 also ditched a conventional rear-view mirror and instead featured a periscope for an unobstructed view of the road behind.
1959 Cadillac Cyclone
Those black cones in the nose were equipped with radar to help the Cyclone’s driver avoid anything in the way. The cockpit was protected by a single-piece plastic canopy coated with vapourised silver to deflect the sun’s rays.
1961 Chrysler Turboflite
The Turboflite’s regenerative turbine weighed half as much as an equivalent V8 internal combustion engine. As soon as one of the doors was opened the glass canopy was raised electrically and an air brake popped up as soon as the hydraulic brake was applied, in a bid to help out the mechanical braking system.
1961 Ford Gyron
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Gyron was a three-wheeler, but as the name suggests it actually had just two wheels. To aid stability there was a stabiliser on either side of the rear wheel to keep the Gyron upright when stationary or while getting up to speed.
1964 GM Runabout
Charming in its simplicity, the Runabout was a three-wheeled city car with the aerodynamics of an arrow. In the boot were two integral shopping trolleys so you could load up on cheap beer. Inside there was seating for five; two up front and three in the back. But nearly 60 years on, not many cars look or operate like this.
1967 Ford Seattle-ite XXI
In a bid to complicate things unnecessarily the Seattle-ite XXI featured four front wheels, all of which steered but this was done via a fingertip-controlled dial on the centre console – there was no steering wheel. Power could be from a turbine, electric motor or “compact nuclear propulsion device”.
1969 Buick Century Cruiser
Designed originally as the Firebird IV in 1964, this high-performance car was designed as an autonomous car with all of the comforts of a living room. As such the seats could recline and swivel, there was a TV and pull-out table and even a built-in fridge. Looking at the picture it’s hard to see how they fitted that lot in; it must have been very cosy inside…
Keyword: Crazy concept cars of the jet age