Cars

By the early 1950s, Jaguar exuded excitement on all fronts: its XK engine was acclaimed; it built the most glamorous sedans available; and the XK120 sports car was world-famous on road and track. Jaguar D Type 1954 Still, it was apparent to company founder William Lyons that a production car could no longer compete in […]

Bubble cars were a European fad in the 1950s. These tiny, cramped contraptions offered minimal motoring and a meager thirst for fuel in the guise of a brand new car. Isetta 1953 The nickname came from the cars’ commonly characteristic ovular shape. The Isetta set the trend for bubble cars, but it was later followed

These two remarkable, rear-engined design studies put the steering wheel, driver, and front passenger forward of the front wheels, and the engine protruding in its own rear compartment. It was “two box” thinking, only in reverse. Ghia Selene 1959 The Selene I grew out of a Ghia design program for Renault, itself a champion of

This extreme study in automobile aerodynamics was the center of attention at the 1955 Turin motor show, where it rotated majestically and silently on a spacious turntable before startled visitors. Ghia Gilda 1955 Ghia’s Gilda came together after collaboration between the Turin Polytechnic and Giovanni Savonuzzi, a designer recently recruited from Cisitalia. Starting in November

You couldn’t buy it, much less drive it on the road, but General Motors was determined to prove its faith in the future with this winged wonder powered by America’s first automotive gas turbine. General Motors Firebird XP21 1954 General Motors hired the Indianapolis Speedway for a day, where the car’s project leader Emmett Conklin

Despite Fiat’s 1936 500 “Topolino” being a well-liked little car in its day, the Nuova 500 of 1957 is what the motoring world today perceives as the original 500. Fiat Nuova 500 1957 The first 500 had a tiny four-cylinder engine, water-cooled and front-mounted; this all-new one boasted a twin-cylinder, air-cooled powerpack at the back. Intended

In 1954, this dumpy-looking sedan was probably the most advanced, and safest, family car in the world. It heralded a visionary project started by colorful Irish tractor tycoon Harry Ferguson. In one of many business battles, Ferguson had fallen out with Ford over American tractor design patents, and in 1952, he won $9.25 million in

Edsel was an exercise in corporate buccaneering that rapidly became a byword for failure. The venture proved an expensive fiasco for Ford (it lost $350 million), and the resultant cars were extraordinary for their very ordinariness. Edsel Pacer 1957 The idea for the brand came from Ford’s conclusion that it was being outpaced by arch-rival

The talented Virgil Exner, heading up Chrysler design in the 1950s, was certainly a hard worker. The outflow of plans from his drawing board for exciting new cars appeared unstoppable, as did the capacity of Italian coachbuilder Ghia-his preferred contractor-to turn them into fully functioning prototypes. Dodge Firearrow 1953 The Firearrow was a sleek roadster

Here’s a positive catamaran of a car. The Bisiluro had twin, cigar-shaped “hulls,” with the driver seated in the right, and the engine, gearbox, and fuel tank shrouded in the left to balance the weight. Damolnar Bisiluro 1955 Beneath the lower, central portion of the body was a radiator, heat exchanger, and two-stage aerodynamic brake. The