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Let's Discuss Concept Cars: What Could Have Been?


ShowHBK

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Over the years automakers have amazed us some beautiful concept cars. We have all seen them evolve over time as each one is just as outrageous as the next. I spent most of my night last night looking at concept cars that never came to be actual production models and I was honestly surprised at what I found and "what could have been". I thought this would be a cool Idea to discuss some of the cars that will only exist in the "one off" department or maybe even a select few that never made it off the drawing board. What concept cars are out there worth praising or discussing?

 

So, what does CR think would have been a great production car, but was never meant to be? There are many different reasons to like a car. Looks, Design, a gimmick, or maybe a radical change in format such as one or three wheels. What do you think?

 

Alternatively, It is important to think of the impact some of these cars would have had on our present day design aesthetically and mechanically. Some concept cars had radical (or idiotic) mechanical features. assuming they made it to market, how would this impact our daily lives? One example of this would be the Ford Nucleon.

 

http://www.carstyling.ru/Static/SIMG/420_0_I_MC_jpg_W/resources/concept/1958_Ford_Nucleon_06.jpg?65B3192DCCC937B088BE7A96C9936667

 

A two seater car powered by small a nuclear reactor, what could possibly go wrong? As crazy as it may sound, what if this actually became the standard? (assuming all radiation problems were solved)

 

One last car to think of would be the Chrysler Turbine Car:

 

http://www.allpar.com/model/concepts/i/63turbinf.jpg

 

Super smooth engine, Check! Sexy looks? Check! Radical design? Check! What could go wrong? surly, overheating would not be a problem?

 

So again, What does CR think about concept cars? Are they worth remembering or reviving? Or should they be left in the past as mere memories? Feel free to share your favorite concept car or "feature"/"Gimmick" what would have been great to see in a modern car.

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One last car to think of would be the Chrysler Turbine Car:

 

http://www.allpar.com/model/concepts/i/63turbinf.jpg

 

Super smooth engine, Check! Sexy looks? Check! Radical design? Check! What could go wrong? surly, overheating would not be a problem?

 

So again, What does CR think about concept cars? Are they worth remembering or reviving? Or should they be left in the past as mere memories? Feel free to share your favorite concept car or "feature"/"Gimmick" what would have been great to see in a modern car.

 

The Chrysler turbine car is a really interesting car and worth discussing, mostly because it came so close to production and then didn't. The actual production body of the turbine is the 1966-67 Dodge Charger fastback. Although the original 63 body was good looking by 1964 it was a dated design, having given up its turbine like headlight styling to the dodge Polara (itself borrowed from earlier iterations of the dart).

 

Overheating wasn't the issue so much as the engine produced a ton of nitrate emissions and consumed fuel at twice the rate of a comparable ICE engine. The real advantage was an almost 0 maintenance schedule since a turbine has many fewer moving pieces and the oil never gets contaminated.

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Dodge Razor, and the 2007 concept Demon. Just gorgeous cars, and could've been a dead-serious Miata beater.

 

Gonna get some hate for this...but the Pontiac Aztek CONCEPT had tremendous potential. GM totally bonked it when they insisted on using the tall-cowl mini chassis.

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My favorite concept car of all time is the 1964 Pontiac banshee. Not because it was anything special, it was but not compared to modern concepts, but because it was a project of john Deloren, it predicted the corvette c3 styling, and it was envisioned as an English type sports car capable of beating jags XKE in the dawning age of the muscle car. As a Pontiac and corvette fan it ticks all my boxes.

 

1964-Pontiac-Banshee-XP-833-concept-car-102.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,center&resize=884:*

 

banshee16.jpg

 

http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Pontiac/64-Pontaic-Banshee-Concept-DV-10-RMA_05.jpg

 

I keep dreaming one of these days I am going to find a project 73-77 corvette, find an old motion fastback rear window kit, swap in my sprint 230ci OHC-6 Pontiac engine out of my old tempest, and rebadge the car as a Pontiac banshee. Rolling on Pontiac rally wheels with red lines and looking like a production car will probably cause more than a few head scratches.

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Too soon?

 

http://eliogenuine.eliomotors.com/assets/images/features/02.jpg?v2

 

:lolguy:

 

I don't know that we can call it a concept, because they actually made some of these, but the Zagato Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale tents my pants.

 

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a17401/zagato-alfa-romeo-tz3-stradale/

 

TL;DR it's a Viper with a Zagato/Alfa Romeo shooting brake body.

 

As far as something that's still a concept, the Maserati Alfieri wins my heart. The allegedly upcoming Alfa Romeo 6C will be based on this concept as well

 

http://www.maserati.com/maserati/international/en/brand/alfieri-concept-car

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