1954 Concept Cars
Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva
The engine with its reasonable power and the aerodynamic style made the Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportives a very advanced car. The whole, in a sense, was the forerunner of Giulietta Sprint.The Alfa Romeo 2000 was a two-liter supercar built to pay homage......
Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7
The famous and renowned coachbuilder Bertone was tasked by Alfa Romeo to build an aerodynamic experiment to measure the effects of streamlining on a cars performance. Scaglione was tasked with aiding in the creation of the design. The vehicle was dubbed......
Buick Landau Concept
In 1954, the Buick Landau show car was built on a Roadmaster chassis and was reminiscent of the classic landaus from the 1930s. The chauffeurs compartment was in blue leather and sealed off by a divisional electric window. The rear compartment had beige......
Cadillac Series 62 Pinin Farina Concept
In 1953, a new Cadillac Series 62 was shipped to Italy where Pinin Farina built this one-off for Norman Granz, a Beverly Hills concert promoter and record producer. It was patterned after the PF 200 Granz had seen at the Geneva Exhibit in 1952. The price......
Chevrolet Corvette Corvair Concept
The 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Corvair concept was a 2-door fastback, 2-passenger coupe. When it made its debut at the 1954 GM Motorama in New York City, it was a ruby red color but was repainted light seat foam green for the subsequent Los Angeles show.......
Chevrolet Corvette Design Study
This 1954 Chevrolet Corvette design study was created with several unique features to both the interior and the exterior. The most visually dramatic outward feature is the headlights which have a fin down the center of each light. The other exterior......
Chevrolet Nomad Concept
At the 1954 General Motors Motorama in New York City, GM introduced their Chevrolet Nomad show car. It was a sporty wagon that had two doors, pleasant smooth flowing curves, a trademark Corvette grille, and a forward-sloping B-pillar. Five examples were......
Chrysler La Comtesse Concept
This concept car, based on the standard New Yorker Newport, was fitted with a Plexiglass roof and was finished in pink inside and out. It was used as an Auto Show promotional vehicle and was the predecessor of the Dodge LaFemme. Like many concepts of......
Cramer Comet
The Second World War halted automobile production so efforts could focus on producing wartime materials and products. This time of ingenuity and creativity attracted a new breed of young engineers that could benefit from and fine-tune their skills and......
DeSoto Adventurer II Concept
Similar only in name to the first DeSoto Adventurer designed by Virgil Exner in 1954 as Chryslers answer to the Chevrolet Corvette, the 1955 DeSoto Adventurer II Concept Car was more Ghia of Italy than Exner of Detroit. The Adventurer II was commissioned......
Dodge Firearrow Concept
The Chrysler Corporation built some of the most compelling and influential concept cars of the immediate post-WWII era, with many under the auspices of styling boss Virgil Exner. Among the list were four successive Dodge Firearrows wearing hand-crafted......
Ford Victoria Supercharged Dealer Prototype
This vehicle is a 1954 Ford Victoria Supercharged Dealer Prototype and is one of two prototypes created. It is 100-percent original and a dealer displayed factory supercharged example. Its 239.4 cubic-inch overhead valve V8 engine has a McCulloch supercharger......
GMC XP-21 Firebird I
With Key features reminiscent of the Douglas Skyray delta wing fighter jet, the Firebird 1 originally taxied into the 1954 General Motors Motorama as the 1954 XP-21 Firebird concept. Highlighted by a jet-like nose, cockpit-like passenger cabin, and......
Mercedes-Benz 190SL Prototype
After the destruction of its Stuttgart factories during World War II, Mercedes-Benz began its postwar reconstruction with limited production of the Mercedes Type 170 series sedan complete with styling and a side-valve 1.7-liter four-cylinder engine that......
Mercury Monterey XM-800 Concept
This 1954 Mercury Monterey XM800 was first shown to the public at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show. It was built for Ford by Creative Industries of Detroit, Michigan, and was designed by the Mercury pre-production studio with John Najjar serving as the studio......
Oldsmobile F-88 Concept
Heres what the Corvette Oldsmobile Division wanted, but never had. This experimental sports car would have been in direct competition with the Chevrolet Corvette. While debating the matter, GM built three Olds F-88 showcars, each one slightly different,......
Packard Panther Daytona Concept
The story of the very first Packards is a classic tale of American ambition. James Ward Packard purchased a Winton automobile in the late 1890s. Unsatisfied with his new car, the man was convinced he could do better. A producer of electrical equipment,......
Panhard Ghia-Aigle
This rare Panhard with Ghia-Aigle coachwork is a one-off prototype built by Ghia-Aigle for the 1954 Geneva Auto Show. The hand-formed aluminum body was created and placed on a Panhard Dyna Jr. Chassis.Ghia-Aigle of Lugano, Switzerland, built approximately......
Plymouth Belmont Concept
This one-off concept car was designed by Chrysler Corporation, under the direction of Virgil Exner, for the 1954 Chicago Auto Show and New York Autorama Shows. The body was built by Briggs Manufacturing Company on the Plymouth 114-inch wheelbase chassis.......
Plymouth Explorer Concept
In the post-World War II era, the public were very enthusiastic about the so-called Concept Cars of Dream Cars. Virgil M. Exner had been placed as head of Chryslers Styling department and was responsible for improving Chryslers rather stodgy late......
Pontiac Bonneville Special Motorama
Its said that Harley Earl, director of GM styling, got the idea for a GM concept car while watching world speed records being set at the Salt Flats in Utah. It would be a sports racer called a Bonneville Special. That was when 1954 models were being......