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A concept car or show car is a car prototype made to
showcase a concept, new styling, technology and more. They are often shown
at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which
may or may not have a chance of being produced.
General Motors designer Harley Earl is generally credited with inventing the
concept, or show, car, and definitely did much to popularize it through its
traveling Motorama shows of the 1950s.
Concept cars never go into production directly; in modern times all would
have to undergo many changes before the design is finalized for the sake of
practicality, safety and cost. Concept cars are often radical in engine or
design:
* Some use non-traditional, exotic, or expensive materials, ranging from
paper to carbon fiber to refined alloys.
* Others have unique layouts, such as gullwing doors, 3 or 6 (or more)
wheels, or special abilities not usually found on cars.
 Because
of these often impractical or unprofitable leanings, many concept cars never
get past scale models, or even drawings in computer design. Other more
traditional concepts can be developed into fully drivable (operational)
vehicles with a working drivetrain and accessories. The state of most
concept cars lies somewhere in between and does not represent the final
product. A very small proportion of concept cars are functional to any
useful extent, most cannot move safely at anything above 10 mph.
Inoperative "mock-ups" are usually made of wax, clay, metal, fiberglass,
plastic or a combination thereof.
If drivable, the drivetrain is often borrowed from a production vehicle from
the same company, or may have defects and imperfections in design. They can
also be quite refined, such as General Motors' Cadillac Sixteen Concept [1].
After a concept car's useful life is over, the cars are usually destroyed.
Some survive, however, either in a company's museum or hidden away in
storage. One unused but operational concept car that languished for years in
the North Hollywood, California shop of car customizer George Barris, Ford
Motor Company's "Lincoln Futura" from 1954, received a new lease on life as
the Batmobile in the Batman series that debuted in 1966 on the ABC
Television Network. |
