Alternate Route

Apr 26, 2009 - Sunday Touring

Just surfing around sightseeing this morning and this beauty from 1954 caught my eye.

Pontiac's Motorama star for 1954 was its first sports dream car, the Bonneville Special. Using a name that would make the production cars in 1957 and never let go, the 100-inch wheelbase and fiberglass Bonneville has a transparent plexiglass roof with opening panels over the seat to aid access.

It looks every bit the competition car it was designed to be; however, Pontiac was a year away from having its new V-8 and the 48-inch high machine had to make do with a flathead straight eight and Hydramatic transmission, somewhat limiting potential performance. Hood lines flow back from the open grill to two small scoops, via the traditional Pontiac silver streaks.

Defining the rear is a vertically mounted spare time and wheel with an exposed center. Red bucket seats and full instrumentation, spread across the dash, marked the interior.

Harley J. Earl's trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, was said to be the inspiration for the name, the Bonneville was lucky to survive. Most Dream Cars were deliberately cut up to avoid any possible litigation.

If you want to see more photos of the Bonneville Special, take the time to visit one of my favorite scenic overlooks, conceptcarz.com

6:02 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Mar 22, 2009 - Web Sightseeing

Some days you just want to escape and see what you can see. If you ever get that wanderlust and want to see a lot of interesting vehicles, take a trip to conceptcarz.com.

The one that caught my eye today is this 1938 Phantom Corsair.

The Phantom Corsair was designed by Rust Heinz of the Heinz 57 Ketchup fame, and Maurice Schwartz of Pasadena, California. Schwartz was one of the primary individuals in the Bohman & Schwartz Coachbuilding Company. The resulting design was amazing, aerodynamic and certainly bred from unconventional thinking. Its smooth surface was void of running boards and separate fenders allowing for the curvaceous body to gracefully flow undisturbed from front to back.

The chassis was from a Cord 810 and large enough to seat six individuals. To propel this rather large vehicle, a Lycoming V8 engine was fitted that displaced 289 cubic-inches and provided 190 horsepower allowing the Phantom to reach 115 miles per hour. Drum brakes on all four corners were necessary to slow the vehicle and keep it in the drivers control.

This was meant as a production vehicle. Heinz had hoped to sell these for $12,500, which was a very large fortune to most individuals at the time. Unfortunately, Heinz passed away in 1938 and the plans for production died with him. Only one example was ever produced.

6:10 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Jul 13, 2008 - Air Force

Here's one that sort of satisfies the aircraft enthusiast in me. The 1932 Helicron

Seems that back in the day, some in France believed that propeller power was the most efficient way to move a vehicle.

Since everything old is new again, I'm kind of surprised that we haven't seen someone try to revive this concept, perhaps with a ducted fan design, or maybe a really sporty concept with some kind of jet turbine drive.

If you want to read a bit more about the Helicron and see more photos, head on over to conceptcarz.com, one of my favorite places to let my mind wander.

Propeller power
Massive blades spinning at speed
Imagne insurance

1:49 am | Categories: automotive haiku, concept cars Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

May 18, 2008 - A Star Is Born

That's the 1955 Lincoln-Mercury Futura concept car. But most of you are more familiar with it under a different name.

The Futura was the brainchild of Lincoln Mercury's postwar chief stylist, Bill Schmidt.  Inspired by a scuba-diving encounter with a shark, Schmidt sketched a low, long, wide, and flat vision of the future with a predatory full width grille, ominously hooded headlights, and killer tail fins. 

Built by Ghia in 1955, the $250,000 dream car was dubbed the Lincoln Futura. The futuristic Lincoln was driven to a show in Detroit.  On March 3rd, just before the NY Auto Show, with Benson Ford at the experimental steering wheel and Schmidt in the passenger seat, the Futura cruised from the United Nation's building through Central Park to the Tavern on the Green for a photo session.  The Futura went on The Ed Sullivan Show, which Lincoln sponsored, then to a guest shot on Dave Garroway's TV Show.  

Like most concept vehicles, the Futura wasn't going to see production. And so it happened that the unwanted car ended up in the possession of George Barris.  In 1965, Barris was commissioned to build the Batmobile for ABC's upcoming Batman TV series.  But because the show was about to go into production, he had only three weeks to build it.  He quickly realized it didn't take much work to modify the Futura for the part. While retaining the chassis and the basic shape of the car, Barris overhauled the nose and tail with numerous bat like shapes and references.  Barris in '66 would assemble 3 more Batmobiles using bodies based on the prototype mold and built on a production car chassis.

And (with apologies to paul Harvey) now you know the rest of the story.

4:37 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

May 4, 2008 - Whoosh!

Sometimes the concepts in concept cars are extremely simple. Like light weight plus horsepower equals speed.

Such is the case with the car unveiled by Weber Sportscars at the 2007 Monoco Top Marques show.

Featuring a carbon-fiber body, aircraft-aluminum chassis, transmission and differentials, the complete chassis weighs only 143 pounds.

Now stir in a 7.0 liter supercharged V8 that will churn out 950 bhp to the rear wheels and you wind up with an estimated 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds.

Sounds like it will get you to where you want to go.

Read more about it on Inside Line

3:25 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Apr 27, 2008 - Postmodern

Time for another flight into the future, or at least what one designer thought the future held at the time.

The 1948 Tasco prototype is a Derham-bodied prototype for a post-WWII American sports car and featured airplane inspired controls.  It is a one-off vehicle designed by Gordon Buehrig. 

It is the first car in the world with a T-top roof.  Buehrig patented the idea and sued GM when they used it on the 1968 Corvette.  He received very little for his patent. 

This unique car includes fiberglass steerable front fenders. The company name 'Tasco' is an abbreviation for 'The American Sportscar Company.'  This mostly-aluminum prototype was created to inspire a contract with the Beech Aircraft Company for production of an aviation-styled automobile.

To see more photos of this unique concept, check out conceptcarz.com

2:44 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Apr 20, 2008 - Chrome!

For all you chrome lovers out there here's the 1956 Mercury XM Turnpike Cruiser concept car.

Mercury called this car a "Preview of the Furture" in the brochure.

The Cruiser featured a plastic butterfly top that popped up when the door was opened to facilitate passenger entery and exit. The compound wraparound windshield curved back at the top as well as the sides, "providing altogether new viewing horizons".

The curved windshield also added to the illusion that the top was "floating on air.

The fluted side channels that carry the fender line from front to back and the swept-back wheel wells gave the car the "tomorrow look".

The twin jet pods in chromed nacelles on the grille-work are a nice touch too.

The headlights are "delayed action" and remain on for 30-40 seconds after being turned off.

It's always interesting to look back and see what the future was going to look like!

5:23 am | Categories: concept cars Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Feb 25, 2008 - Onomatopoeic

I like concept cars. Most of the time it's because of the futuristic potential and excitement.

Sometimes it's just because they are plain weird.

From the Tokyo Auto Show, I present the Honda Puyo concept. The name Puyo is supposed to convey the feeling of touching the vehicle’s soft-gel body, with no corners and an interior with soft materials that designers developed to have a silky feel.

Uh huh.

Four wheel steering with a joystick instead of a steering wheel, and the bottom half of the car glows in the dark to boot!

If you're into minimalist design, the Puyo may just be your cup of tea.

Read more about the Puyo at Car & Driver

5:16 am | Categories: auto shows, concept cars Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Feb 22, 2008 - Splendid Splinter?

Maybe I like concept vehicles and envelope pushing ideas  because I grew up with Star Trek boldly going where nobody has gone before.

Students at North Carolina State University have started a project to see whether it was possible to build a performance car out of wood.

I suppose this is more of a "wood as a construction material" project as it is a practical idea, but it still will be neat to see the result. They expect the Splinter - great name - to be completed later this year and capable of speeds of 240 mph.

I bet this would open up a whole new line of lemon-scented car care products!

Read more at Ananova

5:40 am | Categories: concept cars, weird news Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Feb 15, 2008 - Bond, James Bond

Since I've been blogging for a bit now and actually have people who take the time to read my blatherings (shocking, but thank you!), some of them make it a point to send me curious items they run across.

Such was the case this morning when an instant message popped up with a link to a story about the Rinspeed sQuba, an electric car that apparently can "fly" underwater and will be shown at the Geneva Auto Show March 6 - 16.

Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht  is known for his extraordinary automotive creations. The acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and Swiss automobile visionary kept revisiting this scene in his mind over and over: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”

The sQuba may not have solved the limitations of batttery technology that we need to make electric cars a practical alternative, but it sure is a neat concept!

And if this turns out to be an elaborate hoax, I congratulate the author and jovially warn them that paybacks are hell.

6:36 am | Categories: concept cars, electric vehicles, weird news Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to: