My son Ed sent me a link to a terrific set of What If renderings by Ruben Ooms that were posted at Autocar. It’s perfect for CC, given how we tend to live in the past here. And how better to enjoy 1972 than with a brand-new Porsche 999. It’s exactly what every Porsche enthusiast (or his wife) wanted back then, complete with air cooled boxer six in the back. The high end version was called “Cayenne”, just as the top-end 911 was the Carrera.
Toyota’s response to the first energy crisis, the 1977 Prius, was a bit hampered by its lead-acid batteries, but for the times it was clearly…ahead of them. As well as with the times, such as the louvered rear window cover and body side graphics, in green, of course.
The 1979 Range Rover Evoque picked up where some earlier efforts at a sporty 4×4 “coupes” in the US had left off, like the dressed up versions of the Scout and Jeep. But Range Rover took it a whole lot further, as can be seen. It soon came to be known as the “Chelsea Sport Tractor”.
Although Peugeot was generally quite conservative back in the day, in 1955 they stepped out of their comfort zone with the 1007. A very advanced city car, it featured an upright body, a huge panoramic windshield, and most unusually, a sliding door. Unfortunately the windshield turned out to be more expensive than the price of a complete Citroen 2CV, so the 1007 was priced out of the market.
As we all know, electric cars were once the best selling kind in the early days of the industry. Henry Ford even had to buy a Detroit Electric for his wife Clara, as she wouldn’t drive (or start) a Model T. In this alternate universe, electric cars continued to stay popular right through the 30s, and the most ambitious was this 1936 Model S. It even featured a primitive electronic screen to display all the vital information; in black and white, of course.
Taking the electric alternative universe even further, here’s BMW’s 1956 I8 getting a charge. We”ll have to use our imaginations as to the capability of its batteries, but that’s a commodity never in short supply on this website.
How about a more attractive and fashionable alternative to the bizarre Citroen Ami 6? The 1962 Cactus features the latest fashionable fabrics on its sides and rear, although the year 1962 might be a bit ahead of the look shown here. looks more like 1966 to me.
The 1960 Alfa Romeo Mito TI imagines the company building a red-blooded version of the British Mini, but with a hot DOHC engine, 5 speed, and a few other attributes.
Here we see what Audi would have done in 1980 in response to BMW’s M1.
In response to the huge success of the VW, in 1955 Mercedes launched their new 119. Finally breaking with the traditional upright radiator shell, the 119 borrows the grille from the Mercedes L319 van/minibus, and introduces a compact tall body with maximum space utilization, a direct predecessor to the more recent A Class.
The 1965 Dodge Viper marked Chrysler’s bold Corvette competitor, something that Virgil Exner had long championed. But it wasn’t until his departure that Chrysler stylists used the Viper to set a new stylistic direction, but it still seems to include some of Exner’s favorite things, like the classic grille. Not “toilet seat” on the deck lid, though; Chrysler had moved on. And the Viper moved on, thanks to the new 426 Hemi under the hood. Take that, Corvette!
Damn, now that’s what you call a third cup of coffee Sunday morning wake up! Some of those designs are incredibly ugly, though.
And having driven a Sebring Vanguard CitiCar, the thought of a Prius with lead acid batteries has me giggling uncontrollably.
The Ami 6 Cactus is sweet, though. And yes that dress is more 1968, not 1966. And definitely not 1962. We tend to fo forget that the first mini dresses were a whole inch above the top of the kneecap, and were always worn with very opaque panty hose, bordering on tights. And that supposedly presaged the fall of Western Civilization.
There’s a CitiCar in the neighborhood with the plate “OG TESLA.”
I’d love to find one. However, once I got it, I’d at least update the batteries, probably the controller, and maybe event the electric motors. Which would turn it into the kind of resto-rod that I despise.
The EE in me would have to do it.
Western civilization has done fallen many, many years ago.
???
Astonishingly cool. This is one very accomplished illustrator. Love it!
That 1977 Prius looks a lot like an English Chrysler. Speaking of which, I love that 1965 Dodge Viper. I think that it would have given the Corvette a run for the money, especially with the 426 Hemi.
Cool, but one quibble: the Peugeot at that time would have been a 1003.
A fun article! I remember the many articles in MT in the late ’70s depicting the vehicles we would supposedly be driving in the ’80s & ’90s – of course they mostly got it wrong! That would make a great article on CC too!
+1
Somewhere I’ve got an early/mid ’80s Autocar with a ‘year 2000’ small car article. Must have a look for it.
The Porsche has a Schwimmwagen vibe. I expect to find a prop shaft out back, with the prop hinged over the top for road use. Just the thing for a jaunt down the Rhine!
Lots of fun for those of us who know the cars and the era(s). Yeah, Paul’s right about the “Cactus,” as that sort of pattern—and more importantly, the miniskirt–was over the horizon a bit in ’62. Still, great entertainment this morning–thanks!
(For a minute I expected a Bruce McCall sort of thing, but a different flavor of whimsy here.)
Here’s the ’73 Caddy XLR.
And the ’63 Cordoba.
Y’know…? Yeah!
The ’74 Navigator
The ’77 Blackwood
»cackle«
Wonderful, every one of them! I wonder if he sells them, they’d make great wall art.
How completely freakin’ cool!
Actually an LCD display could have been featured on the very first electric cars in 1900. The concept of controlling polarized light in a matrix was invented in 1877 and could have served a car’s console. It wasn’t suitable for the fast motion of TV until it was reinvented in solid-state 100 years later.
See this 1968 issue of Practical Electronics for the historical overview. Page 26 of the PDF:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Practical/Television/60s/Practical-Television-1968-06.pdf
Note to car designers: It is possible to design nice looking cars in this day and age. Instead of waiting for the next Camry and copying its look, go back to actual car designing. Almost everything on the road is red, white, black, or gray/silver and looks like it was designed by a monkey with a computer. Just my 2 cents.
Please don’t insult our simian cousins, Monkeys appear to be, in general, smarter and more capable than most of those Morlocks who dare call themselves “auto designers” these days, just saying.
Within the context of their era, all cars have generally looked the same. It’s not a new thing.
That might be true if you keep repeating it 😉
Other way around. I keep repeating it because, at least in my experience, it has proven true–unless the person is an automotive enthusiast, they’ll generally only see the more widespread styling trends of an era, not the distinguishing features of each individual make or model. Can you identify all the cars in this photo?
Matt, I’ll always agree with drzhivago on this one. But we’ve had this conversation before, I’m sure.
There are some people – I don’t necessarily include you in this as I think you’re probably more even-handed – that can be so dismissive of modern cars and deride them as all looking the same, and I think that ultimately comes down to said enthusiasts just simply not having much/any knowledge or curiosity about modern cars. And I can tolerate the carping about the lack of paint colour variety – it’s totally true – and I can tolerate people singling out certain modern vehicles as being ugly, but I find it irritating when people say all modern cars are ugly or look the same.
Nothing makes me switch off quicker from listening to someone than a sweeping generalisation.
I fully concede that cars of the 40s and earlier fall into the look the same category – same shapes, different grilles – but bring up a photo from the 70s and it’s significantly easier to tell one car from another…
My point isn’t the universal “all old cars are better, because good old days” nostalgia argument (where I didn’t even exist to form car prejudices, mind you), but there was clearly a stretch of time where variety in cars was higher than it was previously and following.
A lot of it has to do with more frequent styling changes, a given year (like 1965) may have had quite a few brand new lookalikes from the big three, but that was just one model year, and the much different faces, styles, and shapes of previous years remained on the streets with them, and 65s became their own distinct flavor as the next styling cycle emerged. Today it’s standard for cars to have half to full decade long runs on the same design, which are naturally an evolution of the previous one, to the point that late 90s sedans don’t exactly stand out in modern traffic, but a 20 year old car from the times either of our example pictures were taken would look very obvious.
Love that 1973 photo….
Exactly. I’ll guess that picture is immediately post war, because in the center I can make out a 40 Packard, 46 Studebaker and 47-48 Chevy. And nothing else there is any newer.
Reality is that competition in the auto industry was nothing more than everybody else copying whatever was the hot seller at that time. And the exceptions were either incredibly different designs that invariably failed (Cord), or marques that had a design language where you could make out the make of the car easily, but would have a hard time figuring out the model year (Packard).
Probably the best example I’ve ever seen along the lines of the photograph was Life magazine doing a two-page centerfold of all the new car models for 1939 (or was it 1940? memory is a bit shady). Of all the cars lined up side by side, the only one that stuck out was the Sharknose Graham sedan.
And we all know how well that sold.
The second half of the 1950’s were the huge exception to the rule, and that anomaly slowly died out over the intervening fifteen years.
In my mind, pre-1955 US cars are either “all Model T’s/A’s” or “upside down bathtubs”. 😉
To me, the 1946 GM line up is like the 1982 FWD A bodies, same basic car with different grilles.
Also, 1965 Olds and Buick A & B bodies are also look very similar, they did a good job with marketing, image, and engine tuning for differentiation.
The Cayenne look’s like it’s amphibious. Lot’s of talent was involved in these rendering’s.
CC Effect: I never in a million years thought I would see one of these in the metal (fiberglass?), but just yesterday, I spotted one at the location where next week’s Baltimore CC Meet Up will be….
Mini skirts actually go back to the 1940’s. Dad was a WW2 vet, and he hated mini skirts when they came out in the mid ’60’s because he remembered this.
That’s German maidens workout gear, about the same as tennis skirts, which also existed back then.
However, you’re not that far off. Find some pictures of zoot suit couples of the war years, and the women were wearing the resident styles at the time, but the skirt was hemmed just barely over the knee. Probably 1/2-1″ longer than the first Mary Quant creations, but could still be called a mini.
Flappers in the late 1920’s were wearing their dresses knee length. Anything shorter is a modern anachronism.
He’s not around anymore to ask/clairfy but the young German girls in workout gear must have been what he was talking about.
I know he was offended and kept talking about German women wore dresses like this. But in 1966 he bought a new VW beetle, so I guess he got over it.
Anyway, I don’t want to do anymore research on this, a lot of disturbing images were coming up on google.
Those are not “mini skirts”. It’s athletic gear, only.
Here’a some British film from 1962 showing the first “mini skirts” Not exactly very mini, eh?
Here’s some genuine minis from 1966
Fascinating that Quant was obviously hedging her bets in the marketplace by offsetting the higher hem line with calf high boots. In the end, the wearer is showing just as much leg as the previous years fashion where the hemline was 2-3″ below the knee, but was worn with high heeled pumps.
A nice subtle way to ensure you don’t scare off your clientele.
Well that clinches it, I’m maybe less resistant to modern shapes and technology and more about the bland aerodynamic monotone appearance every “new” segment comes with. My favorite is the Prius of all things!
That reminds me of articles about what if the Dodge Viper were around in 1967?
http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2009/02/10-dodge-viper-concept-1967/
https://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/09/what-if-the-dodge-viper-were-around-in-1967/
Lots of daydreaming material here! Wonderful ideas, reminds me of how much I used to draw cars for fun when I was a teenager, way too distracted now..
My favorite’s the i8. I like the R8 too, but more in that late 70s/early 80s cheesy supercar way.
Of course, I want to see what the Lincoln Navigator would’ve looked like oh so long ago. Or any modern luxury SUV for that matter.
The Audi looks very close to a Lancia Monte Carlo 🚗
https://goo.gl/images/4sxTS7
The Prius looks awfully like a 70s Sunbeam Alpine/Rapier with that stripe and window treatment.
I gotta go with the Viper…. although a depicted as a MOPAR product, it looks like a C2 Vette and a ‘70 Camaro had a really nice looking offspring.
I think that Alfa could do pretty well taking that design and doing a retro look car Just bulk up a Fiat 500 with a normally aspirated 2 liter engine….
I really think it would sell!
Awesome drawings.
Actually the AMC Eagle 4×4 was some sort of trailblazer when it comes to those mix ups.
Look up ‘Frank Peiler’ in Google Images to see similar ‘what if’ cars!
Most of these are ecole du Bruce McCall, but that’s a good thing! Ooms’s website (thanks, Paul) shows he has other styles and is skilled at all of them. McCall is a legend for his humorous illustrations all the way back to the National Lampoon, and most famously his New Yorker covers. Here is a TED talk he gave a decade ago:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fOk6HQaNpdE
Zany Afternoons is a recommended addition to everyone’s library!
Wow these are fantastic! I kinda want the Mito, which is not a sentence I’d ever have thought I’d write 😀