I was digging around in some of my things and I came across pictures of the DeSoto Adventurer and the Chrysler K-310. Simply gorgeous cars that never saw mass production, it’s a shame, too, because they look better than most of the cars currently on the road, IMHO.
Anybody else got a favorite prototype that never saw an assembly line?
The Aston Martin Bulldog> http://www.astonmartins.org/v8/bulldog.htm
and the original Porsche Boxster concept… the production version is beautiful, but the show car was perfect> http://speedycars.chinacars.com/wallpaper2/porsche/Porsche%20Boxster%20Concept%201993%20-%20001.jpg
It wasn’t quite a “prototype,” but…the 1958 Ford “Nucleon.”
Regarding CONCEPT CARS…what happens to them if they don’t go into production? Do the design studios just trash them, or do the engineers get to drive them home?
I remeber a really weird looking car from the early 1960’s-it was all plexiglass! Must have been hot on a sunny day though!
I watched a TV special on them before. A great many of them are destroyed. Some of the more “promising” ones are stored at a massive manufacturers warehouse that each builder keeps.
I think Ford (or was it GM? I dunno) just a few years ago sold most of their prototypes into private hands on the condition that they would never be driven. (I am unsure if they were actually rendered undriveable though).
Say, Ranchoth, have you seen this site on the Chrysler Turbine car? It’s got the complete engineering manual on-line!
Come on! It’s gotta be The Homer. No question!
http://www.grantstoys.com/homercar.html
Now that should have been built. So inspiring, you can buy a model of it today!
It’s gotta be The Homer.
I’ve always thought that theStudebaker Scepter deserved a better fate than oblivion.
On the other hand, Studebaker did build the Avanti, and by so doing, have earned their place in heaven.
The Buick Wildcat was pretty neat: http://www.trishield.com/Concepts/wildcat85.shtml
Nissan had a concept in the mid-late 80s that was a turbo AWD coupe that was supposedly had a really good chance to make it into production. Be damned if I can remember the name of it though.
Oddity… the page on the Wildcat says it was powered by a Buick 3.8 reworked by McLaren- but McLaren does not now have and has never had an in-house engine department; all their engines have been sourced from other manufacturers, including the TAG engines which Porsche built…
My dad had an Avanti. Very c:cool:
l!To bad he got rid of it before I was old enough to drive it!
Check this out. It’s the Ford 49 concept. God I wish they’d build this car!
I have wanted to own an Avanti since I was twelve. My desires have been scorned and laughed at only to discover recently that there are others out there who recognize the beauty of the Avanti.
I know this is a hijack, but has anyone driven one? Did they have any power? Just asking because I know someday my wife will come home to find one in the driveway.
Although I’m not a Chrysler fan, this collaboration w/Lamborghini was pretty cool.
Never driven one, but I’ve never heard anyone say that an Avanti (the Studebaker built versions, I don’t know anything about the subsequent incarnations other than the current one is a reskinned Firebird/Camaro) was a slug. Everyone says that they were one of the fastest cars on the road at the time.
I must add the Lamborghini Canto.
Gotta love the top speed.
I’ve got to agree with Tuckerfan; the DeSoto Adventurer is one of the most beautiful cars I’ve (n)ever seen.
And, the turbine cars are very cool. I never knew anyone was even working on them. (Obviously, I’m not much of a car nut.)
The Avanti had very powerful acceleration for the time: The Avanti with the R2 supercharged engine (roughly 280 hp) did 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds and 0-100 in 16.5; did the quarter-mile in less than 16 seconds. An R1 unsupercharged is something like 8 seconds 0-60.
Beefed-up Lark chassis, so it would handle something like a performance Mustang or Camaro of the mid-Sixties. Steering was described as being rather insensitive (power) or slow (manual) and the handling somewhat vague. Brakes were desribed as very good (Avanti was one of the first US cars to have front disc brakes). This is from a review in Canadian Track & Traffic, so they were probably comparing it to bigger sports cars, Healeys and the like.
Yep, at 244 MPH, it’s a keeper. Don’t even bring up cars in the weanie top-speed class of 235-243 MPH.
The Dymaxion Car would hold it’s own even by today’s standards. Bucky invented the minivan 60 years ahead of everyone else.
We wuz ripped off.
I love mini-vans.
I am weird
There was a similar article in AutoWeek last year or so. It was Ford that decided to make room at their in-house “museum” for their designers (wish they’d sell tickets) by selling duplicates to collectors, few of whom would want to depreciate them by driving them.
Dunno how many were ever driveable in the first place - some were only clay models, others were banged together on top of existing chassis without those messy, drippy engines and stuff. Concept cars are all about bodies and interiors, anyway.
Oh yeah, the best: The 1955 Lincoln Futura, the only one of which was sold to Chuck Barris. He added a few gewgaws, repainted it black, and used it as the Batmobile in the '60’s TV show. The original Pontiac Firebird might have been the king of airplane-inspired tailfins, though.
