I
have a fascination with older car designs of the future.
From the '40's to '60's, people thought that by now, here
past the year 2000, we would have flying cars, nuclear cars,
cars that could hover. Unfortunately, none of this has come
about. We still drive cars that are not much different than
the ones we had from the 1950's. A real bummer.
This is a brochure I have for a Ford Seattleite.
It was show cased at the 1962 Worlds Fair, where
this brochure was given out. It was a non-life size static
replica, never meant to be driven.
Printed on the actual brochure -
"Advanced stylists are not restricted in their "dreaming"
to designs based on existing facilities or scientific achievements.
Unlimited freedom to speculate is the key to progressive
automobile styling. A styling experiment like Seattle-ite
XXI, with its many forward-looking features, could lead
to exciting new concepts of automobile styling, comfort
and safety."
"This
unique styling dream car envisions four steerable front
wheels in Ford Motor Company's Advanced Styling Studio,
would feature such advanced concepts as a travel programming
computer, variable density glass, jalousie windows, and
finger tip steering.
Seattle-ite XXI is an example of the kind of exploration
that could lead to important break throughs in automotive
styling and engineering. Such a vehicle might be powered
by fuel cells or a compact nuclear device.
The entire front of the car would "break away"
from the passenger compartment in order to permit conversions
from an economical power capsule of perhaps 60 HP , to a
high speed, transcontinental unit in excess of 400HP. This
concept would allow many styling treatments for the trailing
vehicle that would house passengers in air-conditioned,
noiseless comfort."
"The
entire front end of Seattle-ite XXI would uncouple
from the passenger compartment and an optional power unit
could be quickly installed. All controls would be conducted
through a flexible coupling that would simply plug into
the passenger compartment.
Four front wheels would turn in tandem. Ford stylists believe
this would greatly enhance tracking, traction, and braking
efficiency.
Fingertip steering and a travel programming computer are
among the interior features of the Seattle-ite. Virtually
effortless fingertip steering would allow accurate "zeroing
in" at all speeds. A viewing screen would show engine
performance characteristics, road and weather conditions,
position of the vehicle in relation to an automatically
rolling road map, and estimated time of arrival at any selected
designation.
Jalousie
windows could improve ventilation and reduce noise.
At left is a close-up view of the windows in a closed position;
at right they are open.
Variable density glass around the passenger compartment
would give cool, diffused light on the interior, eliminate
glare and permit more efficient air-conditioning."
This
is actually a "forced perspective" (?) photo I believe.
The woman is standing a
few feet behind the model to make the car look full scale.
It is only a model, around 3/8 scale.
American
Dream Cars: 60 Years of the Best Concept Vehicles - Factory-built
concept cars are created to tantalise the public, and the
response engendered provides direction for development of
future models. Over 650 different dream cars are featured
in this book - more than has ever been showcased before
- from the significant to the obscure. Rarely seen photographs
of vehicles such as the Thunderbird Saturn, Olds El Torero,
and Dodge Firearrow grace
the pages, often with two or more views of each entry. Chronologically
organised, this new reference offers a visual history of the
wonderful and sometimes wacky experimental machines, starting
with the Buick Y-Job dream car of the 1930s up to the 2002
fuel-cell-propelled concept cars and light-duty trucks.
Concept
Cars: Designing for the Future - No auto show is complete
without innovative, zany, extravagant, and just plain way-out
concept cars. They allow the car manufacturers an invaluable
opportunity to test radical design initiatives, from aerodynamic
body shapes to alternative power sources. This beautifully
photographed volume traces the evolution of the concept
car from the landmark General
Motors Y-Job of 1939, through the dream cars of the 1950s,
up to the futuristic designs of today. Focusing mainly on
the 1980s and 1990s, Concept Cars will delight car enthusiasts
of all ages. 150 full-color photographs.
Exit
to Tomorrow: History of the Future, World's Fair Architecture,
Design, Fashion 1933-2005 - Focusing on the golden era
of world's fairs, from the 1930s to the 1970s, this book offers
a nostalgic glimpse of the future in vintage photographs,
postcards, previously unpublished memorabilia, and drawings
of pavilions, created by such designers and architects as
Buckminster Fuller, Norman Bel Geddes, Kisho Kurokawa, and
Le Corbusier. Innovative, informative, and entertaining, this
souvenir of yesterday's tomorrow is a superb tour of the achievements
of avant-garde architecture and design.
Follies
of Science: 20th Century Visions of Our Fantastic Future
- Promises for the future were made; some sadly broken and
some unfortunately honored. While we didn't get household
jetpacks and personal serving-drinks-by-the-pool robots, or
even our orgasmatrons, we did get things like the super-fantastic
building materials of the future-asbestos, lead, and foam.
So just what was the utopian master plan for future households
during the early twentieth century? Follies of Science is
the keeper of such knowledge, offering glimpses into sparkling,
smooth lead paint covering our living room walls, dazzling
DDT foggers killing mosquitoes dead, alchemists transforming
atoms into gold and diamonds, homeowners living in "The Foam
House of the Future," and, of course, commuters blasting away
on their jet packs to work. Utopian indeed. Aptly illustrated
with full-color and black-and-white classic imagery, the
visions of the future spread across page after page, pulling
the reader in to what could have been and what shouldn't have
been.
