Around the end of the HAMB's focus era, Detroit had a minor craze for concept cars inspired by the hot rod phenomenon. It could be argued that these informed the design language that would go on to define the muscle cars which were then just beginning to happen. I happened to stumble upon this today — Mercury Comet Cyclone Roadster concept, 1965: Let's see if we can catalogue the entire craze in this thread?
Plymouth Road Runner concept, 1964: This one embodies a lot of design thinking which would be pretty much standard fare by 1969-70.
There's a formula at work here: open top, roll bar/wing, wraparound screen. The design idiom comes out of motorsport rather than aircraft or spacecraft or futurism. Are there other examples?
Came across this concept art, which looks like it has some Beatnik Bandit influence. (Edit: It's Bill Cushenberrys "Silhouette". Mustang Mach1 seems to fit the bill...
The '60 to '65 timeline was a glorious era if you liked customs. A whole bunch of new talent appeared; Starbird, Cushenberry, Winfield, Jeffries, Roth, Stuckey, Alexander Brothers along with the existing 'big' names such as Barris and Wilhelm. Add into the mix a couple of professional designers like Tom Danials and Harry Bradley and you had a veritable cauldron of creativity. Ford kicked it into high gear with their Custom Caravan in '63, primarily a Barris show the first year. In '64 Ford handed out free cars with commissions like party favors to almost all of these guys and the rest is history. Were these cars meant to showcase coming attractions? Yes and no IMO. Given the design lead times for Detroit, they had a pretty good idea of what they'd be selling in the future when these cars were created. IMO many of these cars were created to generate interest in their current offerings. Everyone knew musclecars were coming, just not the details. DeLorean's GTO fired the first shot, GM added the rat motor to the Chevelle in '65, catching both Ford and Chrysler with their pants down. Big motor/small car was the coming thing, neither of them had an answer as their small/midsize cars wouldn't accept a big motor without major surgery (such as the Thunderbolt and the various Hemi Darts/Cudas). And Mercury wasn't an 'official' part of the caravan, they had to cook up their own. Chrysler struggled until '70 before they had a true production combination. The Belvedere and Coronet weren't small cars... or at least didn't 'look' small. And virtually none of these roadster concepts ever went anywhere.
How about a Woody themed Suburban, a big block powered ski boat pulled by a ******* El Camino and Jeep sized off road Chevy II.
1954 Buick Wildcat Concept Car Hello, My dad was always a “Buick guy.” Over the years starting with his 1941 Fastback to the last Buick Regal in 1984, he was as loyal to that line as anyone we knew. (at least 10, I can remember… in 1963, he bought a Wildcat Model and it lasted until the new Riviera came out to the dealers.) My brother and I tried to get him to try a Jaguar, as the Buick dealer near our house was also a Jag dealer. Then a Mercedes sedan and finally a Volvo sedan with leather seats, A/C and pure driving comfort from all three models. To no avail. He was loyal to the reliability of all of his Buick sedans. He never had any problems or repairs. Of course, his motto of a new car every 4 years stayed true to the end model. But, when he was ready for a new model, he always involved all of us, mom + the two brothers. Although it was his final decision. At one time, he liked the new 56 Buick hardtop sedan. But, our mom liked the Buick Skylark convertible. That was some battle until he convinced our mom about the roll over protection of a convertible and the easy pickings of a break in through the canvas top. But, a 56 Buick Skylark Wire Wheel look made my brother and my day at the time. Jnaki Back in the summer, I drew a version of the idea of a high fender well opening car. With the added chrome pipes that made the wildcat version a little like the cl***y Duesenberg open top cars of the past. Our dad would have liked the dark blue. My brother and I would have lowered it slightly and had a red color version. The 1954 Buick Wildcat II concept car... modified Jnaki The two door concept would have played right into our dad’s version of a sporty looking Buick. It was definitely a few giant steps away from the usually “staid” design of the factory Buick designs. Plus, the two door concept was right on the money as far as stepping away from the bulky looking 4 door family sedan look. We had a 1949 + a 1953 4 door battleship, and that led to our dad’s first two door, 57 Buick Roadmaster. But this would have made his morning and nightly commute that much more pleasurable. As for the two brothers, it would have had many hours of Friday/Saturday night cruising rides with usually a full tank of gas. Ha !
The thing that struck me with that first Mercury was almost something of the proportions of the very first funny cars — not quite; just the vaguest of suggestions. As much as I hate bug-catchers where they don't belong, there is something there that appeals. That's what got me to thinking.
Mercury was the red-headed stepchild at Ford during this era. Ford corporate was in full 'Total Performance' mode in addition of the Custom Caravan and this didn't officially include Mercury. Although Mercury had the same parts available, the discontinuation of their short-lived 'intermediate' '62-63 Meteor precluded them from sneaking a few Thunderbolt-type versions out the door, as well as making the 289 HiPo impossible to install in the Comet (not withstanding the handful of specials they built for their '100,000 miles at 100 MPH' stunt at Daytona). There also seemed to be a case of benign neglect at work; as long as Mercury didn't directly compete with Ford's NHRA efforts, they were ignored. This led to Mercury building the handful of '64 Comet AFX cars which proved to be very popular, they followed up with more in '65 (included a half-dozen 289 HiPo-powered BFX Comets). Their contract racers (Don Nicholson in particular) added altered wheelbases and injected SOHCs in response to the Mopar racers for the nacent match-racing circuit that developed. The 'funny car' flavor displayed above was undoubtably by design, capitalizing on Nicholson's success. In '66 Mercury raised the ante, commissioning a couple of tube-frame, fibergl*** flip-up bodied Comets for Nicholson and his teammate Eddie Schartman that forever changed the cl***. Mercury basically invented what became the modern funny car. Interestingly enough, Nicholson ran a few '*******' bodies but Mercury didn't like them as they didn't resemble the showroom cars enough so those were short-lived. He quit running the funny cars at the end of '68 citing safety concerns, switching over to the new Pro Stock cl***, initially in a re-purposed '66 AFX Mustang. Mercury stepped up and furnished Nicholson and Schartman with Boss 429 Powered Cougars in '69 but their longer wheelbase limited performance. Several racers (including Nicholson) ran '71 Comet (Maverick)-based cars but didn't have a lot of success with those either. While Mercury had success in other series in the late '60s, most notably TransAm, their last real hurrah was in the early '70s in NASCAR. When Ford redesigned the Torino in '70, its aerodynamics proved to be poor on the super speedways and many teams switched to the Montego body. AJ Foyt, David Pearson and Benny Parsons all had success with them. One thing that set Mercury apart from Ford was that Mercury was less restrictive in engine options. They didn't particularly promote them, but a sharp-eyed buyer could find more variety in options at Mercury. Ford had a love-hate relationship with the 427. While it was a proven winner in racing, it was a nasty street motor and the majority of dealers hated them. Ford only offered the solid-lifter 427 for one year in the intermediate platform as a RPO in '67. If you bought from Ford, you had to select the Fairlane 500 hardtop to get the 427; no other body styles or trim packages. But Mercury allowed you to use any Comet body (except the wagon), from the low-line 202 coupe to the Cyclone. It's unknown just how many were built AFAIK, probably less than 100. The '69-70 Cougar Eliminator was a similar deal. Released as the Mercury answer to the Boss 302, here it was primarily a trim/handling package as the standard motor was a 351-4V (Windsor in '69, Cleveland in '70) but you could option either the Boss 302 or the 428 CJ/SCJ. Two Boss 429 cars were built as noted above, but both were for NHRA Pro Stock. There were rumors of a couple of Boss 429 Montegos also, but those have never surfaced.
Hello, That 64-65 El Camino would have been the coolest thing around. Pop in a longboard in the back and down the coast looking for some great waves. I am sure there would be plenty of waves, both in/from the p***ing cars and out in the ocean. But, 125k miles on a normal construction version was the best riding, driving, most convenient, long distance vehicle in our ****nal. But, one of those arrivals at the local hot spot parking lot and the day’s surfing would not have happened. The fear of something going missing, including the open top El Camino would have kept anyone glued to the spot. Sure, it would be the coolest thing in the parking lot, but, there is no security anywhere. Unless a giant German Shepard was lounging around in the back under a shade cover. Jnaki Would a couple of 250cc desert racing motorcycles be cool in the back? Certainly, but when arriving out in the desert climate and dry locations, the hot sun would have cooked us to no end. So, a giant shade structure would have to cover the whole open El Camino and bikes. Talk about no security for any quick stops inside a small grocery store for supplies and water… and leaving it outside at the late night diner parking lot would have caused some tensions for fear of theft at all hours. Yes, all of those things would be number one through 5, but it still is a cool concept and should have been made for the public usage. Friday/Saturday night cruises would have been great and we would all be quite tanned from daily driving to and from the beach or private pools. I drew this version several weeks ago, but took a while to find a place to put it, other than the Friday Art thread. Note: Easy access to the big empty bed would be quick and simple. But again, everything would have to be tied down and secured. In our 65 red El Camino, both bikes were chained down to the secure attachment points for security and the tool box was placed inside the locked cab. In our photo days, the photo equipment was always behind the seat, except for a ladder or larger boxes. The best usage of our empty bed was for easy access of surfboards and motorcycles. But, we did use the bed, strapped down for some moving photos in perfect focus of a hot rod, or moving motorcycle. Action in focus was the theme with me strapped in and my wife driving the El Camino. Communication through the gl*** or open window was somewhat difficult. But with the open top, she could still drive and talking would be instantly understood as to speed up or slow down for better moving photos. YRMV With the straps, i was able to move around and also get stationary for a clear action shot, while going 25+ mph. I was strapped into place using our old desert motorcycle bed hook supports. Now, there was no need to do the moving camera side to side to get a shot at random. The clear focus on the hot rod/motorcycle was there, while the background was blurred by the movement. or a red custom El Camino convertible for those warm summer days/nights…
Found another — Chevrolet Toronado, 1964: "Back in 1963, deep inside General Motors’ Chevrolet Studio #1, a young designer named Ira Gilford was playing around with ideas for a new concept car. After chatting with his father and uncle, Gilford coined a name that would soon take on a life of its own: Toronado. It was a fusion of Toro (Spanish for bull) and nado (from tornado), evoking strength and motion—a name as bold as the machine it would eventually grace. "This name first appeared on a Chevrolet show car that was little more than a purple-painted Impala SS convertible. The show car itself was forgettable and didn’t travel far or garner much attention. But the name stuck in the minds of designers across GM. "When Oldsmobile’s design team was scrambling to name their revolutionary new front-wheel-drive flagship—known internally as XP-784—they considered a range of ***les like "Magnum," "Scirocco," and "Raven." They even raided a drawer of old model nameplates to see what looked good stuck on a clay model. But none quite hit the mark. "Then someone remembered that unused Chevrolet name. Toronado. It had flair, power, and mystique. Oldsmobile asked Chevrolet if they could use it, and they got the green light. "From there, things moved fast. John Beltz, Oldsmobile's visionary engineer and later general manager, championed the radical new front-wheel-drive layout. Meanwhile, designers like David North and Don Logerquist transformed the styling into what would become the 1966 Toronado—an audacious fusion of jet-age muscle and European grand touring lines. The Toronado's design eventually evolved off a concept sketch known as the “Flame Red Car,” originally penned for a smaller coupe but scaled up to match the large E-body platform shared with the Riviera and Eldorado. "Though the original Chevrolet Toronado show car faded into obscurity, the name lived on and helped define one of the boldest vehicles in American automotive history." The car appears to have been forgotten. I find only two online references to it, both with the same pic. Rectangular headlights seem to have been a bit of an obsession with this type.
The Prowler was an under powered Detroit hot rod. SoCal did one with the bumpers removed, headlights on stands and a new grill. Just noticed that I've been a member here for 20 years as of a couple of weeks ago.
It'll be 16 years for me next Thursday. Thank Heavens the Prowler didn't inspire a whole industry-wide wave of other interpretations on the theme!
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