Customs 1950s Dream Cars..dreams on wheels

Motoramas etc.

 

dont let this thread die! its one of the best ones in ages!

 

Those last 2 cars pictured by mrjynx were truly bizarre......but interesting nonetheless. I dug up a few more pictures of dream cars from various eras for your viewing pleasure. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here. There must be some more out there! Anybody else?

 

I`ll try keep posting, im always looking for stuff, this is like a hobby.

those last two were clay styling models.

here one which tho ugly, interests me because its like a half way mark between the mystere and the ford.

 

And whilst on the subject of making dream cars streetable.





this one blew my mind =D

 

Can you imagine being the person who has to to hack this shit up and put it in the bin?!

 

It was standard procedure back in the day - styling studies were just that and elements might have been used in later production vehicles...

...or not, as the case may have been.

There's a great story I read years ago when the guys at Packard were still working on the '57 models (somewhat based on the Predictor show car) and had a development mule in the studio a.k.a. Black Bess. Apparently, the job of cutting up the car was assigned to one of the oldest employees in the company and when he was finished, he was told he'd cut up the WRONG CAR!

Once they guys in the studio collected this poor guy off the floor, he was told it was a joke and the old fella got so pissed off he chased Dick Teague around the place wanting to strangle him!

 

haha, cool story!

 

"Collectable Automobile" Magazine has featured lots of old photos of Detroit styling exercizes, clay mock-ups, etc from the 50's and 60's. Fascinating stuff! I'll try to scan some pics and post 'em up.

 

This is going straight into my top 5 cars.
(apologies before hand if this stretches the page.)

 

i like that PACKARD !! wow !! I originaly thought it said Panhard.

 

My favorite is the FORD Mystere.
But check out the 1956 Mercury XM-Turnpike, with its rad cab over carrier to cart it around to expo's and autorama's!
Kyle

 

Heres a few more........Concept Cars - Timeline 1938 - 1981

 

By far my favorite!

 

Thanks, Thumper. Good site!

Hey mrjynx, thanks for posting that cool Packard. The new issue of "Collectable Automobile" mag arrived yesterday and contains an artical about another custom made Packard.

 

Thumper
I agree & thanks for the link

 

This one is labelled studebaker/packard astral from 57.

 

This one as far as I know was nash`s only concept car.

Its called the astragnome.

Bet all these images end up everywhere now. you have no idea how many hours Ive spent searchin for these cars.

 

the fision

 

This concept sketch, looks a lot like bobby darins dream car.

 

1954 cramers comet, which had an Allison airplane motor. but that was a custom.

 

Cool, I have never seen this LeSabre inspired creation before. I'm currently making a list of LeSabre lookalikes, and will have to add this one. You can see all the lookalikes I Have found here:

http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=1951_GM_LeSabre

Here is a couple of them:


Staranick's Buick by Spohn



The Manta Ray


The SIZ-112, a russian concept car

 

oh wow, great collection! know anything more about the mantaray?

is it a prototype or a custom?



_______EDIT__________


Sorry, didnt see the page link!!

 

hey folks...this is some FUN stuff....lovin' it !!

 

Dean's Garage just wrote a great story on Henry Gurr:

http://deansgarage.com/2010/automobile-design-by-henry-gurr/

Below are some photo from that story

 

I like this a lot, I wonder where theyre getting these images from, Im all out of places on the net to search.

those le saber clones are cool,



this is also a cool clone, cant believe the original was destroyed.

the packards i posted earlier was aparently a custom.




a quote said - ""Concept" implies that the factory did it or authorized it. Neither is true. The covering behind the rear seats is obviously modified from a 1964 T-Bird roadster repop kit. It is modified with higher pods. The windshield appears to be made out of the rear window from the sedan. The seats appear to be old VW bug units re-upholstered. And the plastic universal-fit console is one you could buy at Pep Boys or Costco, with a gold vinyl covering added. The steering wheel is quite obviously 1955-56 Chevy. The stick-on gold vinyl 3M lettering saying "EXP ONE" below the "PACKARD" logos on the rear quarters was not even invented in the 1950s. And Packard never used gold PAINT everywhere as this car does. Real Packard cars- even production ones- had real gold plating or at least anodizing.

I inspected this car VERY up close at an auction in Scottsdale, Arizona and it is NOT a factory piece. It is not a concept. It is not a Caribbean. It has a regular sedan serial number. It IS a home-built garage custom made from a chopped and sectioned Patrician sedan.

Of course, the auction house may have some original 1950s papers from Packard?"

I found this photo which must have been taken shortly before this happened.
the "other" car was a black clipper kept in the corner

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Chrysler Norseman, which featured a unique cantilever roof. It now resides at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Norseman

 

oh wow, didnt know that was its fate. least we know where it is!

 

The rear end of the Cramers Comet pictured above looks like a textbook example of design by committee. Let's make the back look kinda like a Cadillac. No, how about a Lincoln...Nah, I like round tailights like a Ford. Mmmmm, let's compromise and combine 'em all!

 

The Astra-gnome was a 1955 promotional car designed as "The Car of 2000", but it was not a concept vehicle from Nash.



Nash Motor Car Co. did have concept cars in the '50's.

The 1949/50 NXI (Metropolitan prototype):


The Ambassador prototype of 1955:


And my favorite, the Rambler Palm Beach of 1956: