Chrysler briefly re-energised the concept car phenomenon in the Nineties, something that launched nameplates as familiar as the P/T Cruiser, the Plymouth Prowler and the Neon. And it was this latter model that was used as the basis for a concept that never made production: the Aviat…
In January 2000 we were all breathing a sigh of relief that the Millennium Bug hadn’t actually caused all the world’s computers to crash and the planes to fall from the sky. And in Ford’s ever-fertile design hub, there was no time to dilly-dally or rest on any laurels; they were right onto the next big thing and, somewhat improbably, they managed to predict the existence of apps a full seven years before smartphones arrived. The vessel for that impressive prediction was the car you see here, the radical 24.7 concept.
Automotive archaeologist Richard Heseltine unearths automotive oddity… this one even has wreaths, crests and references to a mythical city of gold… How could they?!
King Baudouin’s DB2/4 isn’t the only Aston Martin linked to the Vignale name; in 1993, AML revealed a concept named after the famous Italian design house.
In the early 1980s, a designer sought a calling card. With backing from The Observer newspaper, this unique glass-topped BMW 635CSi E24 show-car was the result.
AMC debuted a trio of interesting ‘idea’ cars in 1966 and while none of them saw full-scale production, they inspired certain ideas on future models that went into production in the following years…
When I joined Jaguar in the mid-Seventies I was surprised to discover it was Malcolm Sayer who had initiated the XJ-S’s design since as a large grand tourer, it was a very different car from his most famous, the E-type.
