James Bond and the Receivers Photo: Max Earey Dear Editor, Congratulations on maintaining a great magazine. It never fails to...
Considered today, to be the first “Concept Car”, Harley Earl’s 1938 Buick Y-Job was built on a 1937 Buick chassis. Earl...
The Alfa Romeo Caimano was a design concept executed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign, for the 1971 Turin Motor Show. Giugiaro was given the 1300-cc Alfasud, with its Flat-4 engine as a starting point and then told there would be no boundaries…other than the final concept would never be put...
Making its debut in New York, in April 1950, the Jowett Jupiter featured a tubular steel chassis mated to a...
Announced on October 20 ,1953, the Alvis TC21/100—or “Grey Lady” as it was marketed— featured a 3-liter Straight-6 engine capable...
In 1953, Chrysler’s famed design chief, Virgil Exner entered into a partnership with the Italian styling house Ghia to produce four Dodge concept cars on a 119-in wheelbase chassis with Dodge’s Red Ram Hemi V8 engine. The two-seat convertible pictured was the first of these Firearrows, but was a non-running...
At the 1976 Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo revealed the final iteration of its series of concept cars based on...
The prototype for the Lamborghini Countach, designated LP500, was first shown to the public at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show....
Not every Alfa Romeo 1900C chassis that went to a Carrozzeria for custom coachwork (see this month’s Roadcar Feature) emerged a beauty! Such was the case for the 1953 Boneschi Astral. The first Astral was displayed at the 1953 Turin Motor Show. The second Astral was sold to Rafael Trujillo, then...
In the 1950s, an ultimately failed attempt to revive the Bugatti name resulted in the creation of six Type 101...
In 1951, the Spanish industrial manufacturer ENASA, under the leadership of former Alfa Romeo engineer Wilfredo Ricart, debuted an exotic...
The Leyland Eight was a luxury car produced by Leyland Motors from 1920 to 1923, designed by the chief engineer of Leyland Motors, Parry Thomas and his asistant Reid Railton with the aim of being the finest car available. It was the first British car with a straight-eight engine and...
At the 1953 General Motors Motorama in New York City, Cadillac unveiled a concept car designed by Harley Earl. Named...
Built in 1952, by Lou Fageol’s son Ray, the Pataray was essentially Lou Fageol’s original Fageol Supersonic reimagined with a...
In 1954, Chrysler debuted the latest iteration of its “Forward Look” Dream Cars, the Plymouth Explorer. Designed by Luigi Segre at Ghia, as a continuation of the themes he started with the trio of Dodge Firearrows, the Explorer featured a 114-inch wheelbase Plymouth chassis, with a somewhat anemic 230-cu.in Plymouth...
In 1970, at the Tokyo Motor Show, Mazda debuted the RX500 concept car. A radical departure from the Japanese firm’s...
Unveiled at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show, the Cadillac Cien Concept car was designed by Simon Cox at GM’s Advanced...
Built in 1969, by GM’s Australian division Holden, the Hurricane was an advanced research concept vehicle designed “to study design trends, propulsion systems and other long range developments.” The Hurricane stood just 39-in tall and was powered by a mid-mounted, high-compression 5.0 liter Holden V8 engine, producing 259 hp. The Hurricane...
In 1962, Ford of Britain, created a prototype of a short wheelbase Cortina designed for the American market. The one-off...
In the 1970s, Bertone was commissioned to reimagine NSU’s Wankel rotary powered Ro80. Marcello Gandini moved the small, compact engine...
The Ghia-designed Dodge Firearrow III is flamboyantly showcased on its stand during the 1954 Detroit Auto Show....
Lincoln buyers were often wealthy enough to have special coachwork built for their cars. In 1927, Brunn did a beautiful...
A Carrozzeria Touring publicity photograph of the newly built BMW328 MM Coupe that would go on to finish 5th at...
1966 Pininfarina Ferrari 365P Berlinetta Speciale Designed by Pininfarina as a Ferrari concept car, the 365P Berlinetta Speciale utilized a revised chassis from one of Ferrari’s 365/P2 racing cars, including its Colombo-designed 4.4-liter, SOHC V-12 engine. Interestingly, in addition to carrying design cues from the 1965 Dino GT prototype, the...
One of three experimental aerodynamic prototypes built for the 1940 war-affected Mille Miglia, this unique 328 was designed by Wunibald...
Debuted at the 1968 New York Auto Show, the Astro II (eXperimental Project 880) was General Motors’ first, real foray...
Auto Union’s Wanderer brand constructed three, Ferdinand Porsche designed, aluminum-bodied W25K roadsters for the 1938 Liege-Rome-Liege rally. Equipped with inline, 6-cylinder alloy engines producing just 70 bhp, the team managed to capture the team prize in the 1939 event, just before the outbreak of WWII. All three examples were lost...
The 1,000th Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” rolls off the production line, in the Sindelfingen plant, in December 1955, a little...
In 1945, the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB, began design work on a prototype road car with the intention that...
1965 Corvette XP-819 In 1965, famed General Motors designer Larry Shinoda designed a one-off concept car, the XP-819, that tested the concept of a rear-engined (not mid-engined) Corvette. Built under Frank Winchell’s Chevrolet Research and Development group, the XP-819 featured a reverse rotation, marine 327-cu.in V-8 hung out the back...