Sunday, July 19, 2015

CONCEPT CARS

TWA Terminal at LAX by architect Eero Saarinen.  !954 Concept Car

Concept cars were very popular with auto makers in the Space-Age 50's.  They were a way to show off futuristic design concepts and made for great advertising.  Most prototypes were made for car shows.  Very few ever went into production. 




In 1956, DC Comics (then called National Periodical Publications) officially licensed the first Batmobile to Oldsmobile. Forrest Robinson and friend Len Perham began modifying the car in 1960. They finished their work in 1963, beating the Burt Ward / Adam West Batman series by three years. The car is based on what the dynamic duo drives in the comic books; it's a far sleeker (if smaller) car than the 1939 Cadillac driven in the Batman movie serials of the 1940s.






Although the world and the auto industry never really pursued the Atomic Future,  These modern antiques are a fun look down memory lane.