Dream Cars, the new show at the Atlanta High Museum of Art, encapsulates our ongoing fascination with retro futurism. Auto shows are always good for visitor numbers, and Dream Cars (opening on 21 May) adds an additional slice of yearning nostalgia, offering up a choice selection of 17 of the most weird and wonderful conceptual car designs that (mostly) never made it into the real world.
As well as the big names of contemporary car culture - including Ferrari, Bugatti and Porsche - the exhibition focuses on far-sighted one-off visions, the ideas that were just too way-out for popular taste or technological ability. Including models, drawings, patents and beautiful period artwork, alongside 17 mint condition cars, the show harks back to an earlier age, when the 'dream car' was exactly that - a piece of elaborate speculative design intended to inspire. Most of today's concepts are far more grounded; we want to buy what we see so car companies are careful to use design studies as a way of previewing next year's model or foreshadowing a future design direction.
Just occasionally, the willpower, drive and investment exists to translate a vision into reality. The Porsche 918 Spyder Concept, shown here, is a good example of the vast expense of being first; you can buy the production version of this hybrid supercar, but it'll cost you over £650,000. Most of the other exhibits are priceless one-offs, either designed before their time or never intended to turn a wheel on the public road. Instead, they've been brought together to remind us of how the future used to look.
Stout Scarab, 1936, designed by William B Stout. Just nine examples of this proto-people mover - a veritable outlier in terms of form and function - were built, featuring an all-enveloping Art Deco body and rear-mounted engine.
L'Oeuf électrique, 1942, designed and fabricated by Paul Arzens. The only example of Arzens' 'electric egg' usually resides in Paris's Musée des Arts et Métiers. The French industrial designer is best known for shaping the country's trains, but this tiny electric car was built for his own personal use. Photography: Michel Zumbrunn and Urs Schmid
Norman Timbs Special, 1947, designed by Norman Timbs at the height of the streamlining craze and influenced by pre-war German racing cars. The entire rear-section opens upwards to reveal a spare wheel and fuel tank.
Cadillac Convertible Concept Car, 1951, designed by Carl Renner. A former Disney animator, Renner rose through the GM ranks to become one of the key designers on the iconic Chevrolet Corvette, creating many concepts along the way.
General Motors Firebird I XP-21, 1953, designed by Harley J Earl, Robert F 'Bob' McLean, and GM Styling Section staff. GM's trio of Firebird concept cars defined the 50s obsession with aeronautical styling and technology. The Firebird I shown here was the most extreme, a turbine-powered single seater that belched scalding exhaust gas and was scarcely controllable at speed. Earl, more than any other stylist, knew how to translate the exotic forms of the dream cars into elaborately detailed production cars.
Chrysler (Ghia) Streamline X 'Gilda,' 1955, designed by Giovanni Savonuzzi and Virgil Exner and christened after the 1946 Rita Hayworth film. Gilda was a gas turbine-powered concept, although one was only fitted during recent restoration; it's now noisy, unwieldy and undeniably shaped by the jet age.
Gyroscopically Stabilized Two-Wheel Car, ca. 1960, gouache on paper, by Syd Mead. Mead is the original futurist, a talented artist with a penchant for creating futuristic visions of tomorrow's transport - designs that have been featured in many major films.
'Runabout' Design Concept, ca. 1964, designed by Wayne Cherry. Cherry only retired a decade ago, after a long career at General Motors. As well as conceptual ideas like the Runabout - with its integrated shopping trolley - he was responsible for numerous production cars in the US and Europe
Ferrari (Pininfarina) 512 S Modulo, 1970, designed by Paolo Martin at Pininfarina. The Modulo was from the era of form over function. A real racing Ferrari lay beneath the outrageously low body, although the faired-in wheels seriously compromised practical use.
Lancia (Bertone) Stratos HF Zero, 1970, designed by Marcello Gandini as the most extreme manifestation of the 70s 'wedge'. One of the lowest cars ever created, the Zero is pure sculpture, accessed by the hinged windscreen and with no concessions to anything but form
BMW GINA Light Visionary Model, 2001, designed by Christopher Bangle, the company's influential former design director. GINA used fabric stretched tight over an underlying structure, giving the car the ability to 'transform' into different shapes
Porsche 918 Spyder Concept Car, 2010, designed by Michael Maurer and Porsche Design Studio. Now available as a production car, this hybrid showcase carried on Porsche's long-standing tradition of building advanced supercars as a way of exploring future technologies
ADDRESS
Atlanta High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street
NE Atlanta, GA 30309
USA
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