The Passion Effect of Concept Cars – 1

As dramatic as this might seem, every year, automobile manufacturers, big and small, go through this very expensive form of business gymnastics in an effort to influence public opinion. Concept cars first appeared at the General Motors Motorama events. Known then as “Dream Cars,” they were exercises in style and engineering. The first dream car was the Buick Y-Job—a creation of GM’s Harley Earl. The name came from a marketing executive who noted that other companies tagged its experimental vehicles with an “X” followed by a number. Unlike today’s concept cars, the Y-Job was a fully functional, custom-made automobile. After spending nearly a year thrilling American spectators on the Motorama tour, the car became Earl’s personal form of transportation. In 1940, Chrysler responded by creating the Newport and, in 1941, the Thunderbolt.
After the War, the auto industry entered a dizzying period of engineering innovation and a style bonanza. Dream cars played a major role in shaping the tastes and automobile trends of a nation that was ready to leave memories of the War and the Great Depression as far behind as it could. By this time, Ford and Chrysler had followed GM’s lead and both had departments with hundreds of talented designers.
Like GM, Ford and Chrysler took to the idea that dream cars were important in attracting buyers to their current lines of cars and trucks. Harley Earl’s first postwar dream car was the Le Sabre. This highly influential creation was the foundation of nearly all the concept cars that followed. In addition, it became the model that set the style for the decade. In 1953, Earl and GM stunned everyone with a fiberglassbody sports car, code-named “EX-122.” When it was unveiled at the 1953 Motorama, it was called the “Corvette,” and it was converted into a production car later that year. Also in ’53, Ford released two groundbreaking concept cars—the XL-500 and the 195X. The XL- 500 took its lead from the futuristic Le Sabre. Stepping forwards and away from the convertible, it featured a Buck Rogers-style all-glass roof and rocket-like front-bumper protrusions. It also had a fiberglass body and a pushbutton automatic transmission.

Chrysler offered a pushbutton- controlled transmission few years later. The 195X had such revolutionary accessories as a phone and automatic jacks. Items such as the mobile phone were still decades away from being common, but the following year, a production variant of the XL-500’s glass roof showed up on the Ford Crestline Skyliner. Lost in the shadow of the XL-500 and 195X were the Cobra-like Ford Vega and Lincoln Fifty- X—a car whose style greatly influenced the first Thunderbirds.
By 1954, all major American auto manufacturers were in an all-out race to be the most progressive—or, at the very least, the most outrageous—presenter of dream cars. GM’s Motorama shows were ideal platforms for these cars, and millions of potential buyers became brand-loyal because of the promise of the future and the image of the present. Ford was forced to keep pace and launched its Rotunda show, which was a traveling exhibit of new cars from its Ford, Mercury and Lincoln lines. It was also the place to showcase many of the most dynamic concept cars ever produced.