Concept Cars

Michel Van

Michel Van

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One way to introduce a crumple zone into a chassis. Sadly the crumple zone will be the occupants but wth, that's the cheapest component and they usually PAY for the privilege.
 
If anyone is a FB user I'd recommend Car Design Archives, lots of automotive design projects and concepts.
www.facebook.com

Car Design Archives

Car Design Archives. 34,722 likes · 28 talking about this. L'histoire automobile par le prisme du Design. The automotive history through the prism of Design.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

They even have a regularly updated Index with links (attached).

For aficionados of British Leyland and its constituent parts I'd recommend:
 

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As with any listicle, it's fodder for 'I can't believe they included/left out that.' Anyway, the usual suspects in a lineup.

www.autocar.co.uk

The most important concept cars ever created | Autocar

Some go nowhere, but other concept cars really point to the future. We take stock of the most interesting and influential ones ever made
www.autocar.co.uk www.autocar.co.uk
 
I have a particular liking for 70s Italian concepts. Here's one that may be less well known. Giugiaro's Maserati Medici, 1976.
 

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Though the cars were never on public display, internal culture carried ideas forward and the Bentley Alpha sports car with the ovoid headlights flanking a rectangular grille clearly influenced the EXP Speed 6 decades later, which itself influenced the recent iteration of the Continental.
 

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In 1993, Aston Martin proposed a successor to the famous William Towns designed Lagonda with the Lagonda Vignale. The result was unintentionally hilarious. Do not approach it with sharp objects, names have been redacted to protect the guilty etc.

A liiiitle bit more seriously, the designers were self-aware enough to acknowledge that this wasn't the older car and made it the exact opposite - instead of lean and angular, it was corpulent and rounded; instead of futuristic, it was retro; and the marque's traditional grille was even turned upside-down.
 

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But at least it looked better than this lump - a Lagonda concept from 2009.
 

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I think they gave up after this - a saloon and SUV from 2018. It's somewhat more elegant in my opinion, but the lines are unnecessarily complicated - enough with the zig-zags please! Aston Martin has no current plans to revive the Lagonda badge.
 

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Peugeot had a fabulous trio of concept cars in the 1980's

en.wikipedia.org

Peugeot Quasar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Peugeot Proxima - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_Oxia

The Oxia was France very own XJ220 / 959 / Diablo. A crying shame Peugeot did not went ahead with production, then again Mercedes made the same decision with their C111 and C112.

And of course, Renault put a F1 V10 into a MonoEspace.

Well they also put a F1 V10 in the Initiale concept car
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Initiale_(1995)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N76tIaH__o
 
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BMW_Gina_Museum.jpg
BMW built GINA, which stands for "Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions", although many on the internet claim it's actually a reference for something more vulgar. It's made out of fabric over a wire frame that allows the outside to change shape.

This idea seems stupid, but imagine what you could do with a car that can change shape. It could fold itself up when parked to save space!
 
2009 Bugatti Galibier (and EB 118).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akrWDWftxgA


According to the video, the project was cancelled when Ferdinand Piech decided that making limousines would dilute Bugatti's brand as a hypercar manufacturer. I remember reading somewhere a rumour that the design had been advanced somewhat towards production but the process was a bed of Procrustes and in order to provide the kind of space expected of a four-door luxury car at the time, its proportions mutated so that in profile it looked like a dachshund and from the rear like a bowler hat... so it was a mercy killing.

Before they settled on what became the Tourbillon, there were rumours that Bugatti might try a crossover, like a super-expensive Lamborgini Urus. Today there are number of four-door cars conceived and sold as GT coupés - the upcoming Jaguar is an example - so had it appeared today, there might have been better chances for the Galibier.
 
Brett Davidson said:
In 1993, Aston Martin proposed a successor to the famous William Towns designed Lagonda with the Lagonda Vignale. The result was unintentionally hilarious. Do not approach it with sharp objects, names have been redacted to protect the guilty etc.

A liiiitle bit more seriously, the designers were self-aware enough to acknowledge that this wasn't the older car and made it the exact opposite - instead of lean and angular, it was corpulent and rounded; instead of futuristic, it was retro; and the marque's traditional grille was even turned upside-down.
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Thicc ass car
 
Living in suburban Southern California, I have the blind luck of having someone owning an apparently fully functional (minus the flux capacitor) DeLorean casually street parking just around the corner from our cul-de-sac - it's a great time (and place) to be alive...
 
martinbayer said:
Living in suburban Southern California, I have the blind luck of having someone owning an apparently fully functional (minus the flux capacitor) DeLorean casually street parking just around the corner from our cul-de-sac - it's a great time (and place) to be alive...
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California is still great for car culture.
 
Scott Kenny said:
California is still great for car culture.
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Especially Near Coastal Southern California, not the least due to its climate, is great for a whole variety of many cultures, including aerospace, ranging from vintage to cutting edge. As a European Expat, I'm just glad the real estate prices in our area are mostly keeping riffraff at bay.
 
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Brett Davidson said:
In 1993, Aston Martin proposed a successor to the famous William Towns designed Lagonda with the Lagonda Vignale. The result was unintentionally hilarious. Do not approach it with sharp objects, names have been redacted to protect the guilty etc.

A liiiitle bit more seriously, the designers were self-aware enough to acknowledge that this wasn't the older car and made it the exact opposite - instead of lean and angular, it was corpulent and rounded; instead of futuristic, it was retro; and the marque's traditional grille was even turned upside-down.
Click to expand...
The working Lagonda Vignale concept was based on a Lincoln Town Car frame, supposedly with a traditional Aston Martin type De Dion rear suspension. Not a bad idea, as using an existing frame for a low volume coach built car made economic sense. Ford dropped the idea and concentrated on the recycled Jaguar based DB7, and then the aluminum bodied line that still exists today being built on the tooling and engineering dating back to Ford. Modern Astons are essentially unmaintainable, so they become close to worthless as they age, unlike the old pre-Ford David Brown era cars. But there again, the same is true of modern Bentleys.
 

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Brett Davidson said:
Who would've thought? Rolls Royce/Bentley collaborates with BMC.

www.aronline.co.uk

When Rolls-Royce and Bentley worked with BMC on new luxury cars

Rolls-Royce and Bentley worked with BMC on a number of short-lived prototypes based on the Austin 3 Litre and Vanden Plas 4 Litre R. Here are the best ones.
www.aronline.co.uk www.aronline.co.uk

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That reminds me of Alec Issigonis teaming up with Alvis to try to design the next generation of Alvis v8 powered 4 door cars.
Sadly it didnt work out but you can certainly see his styling at work
https://alvisarchive.com/1950-1967-the-three-litre/the-ta350-what-might-have-been/

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62 miles per 0.26 gallons? Possible. A modern gas turbine or turbine based hybrid car could manage it.
 

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