The chaotic free-for-all that is parking in Paris has often provided inspiration to French car designers. In the 1950s, for example, the little Reyonnah tandem car had wheels on outriggers that could be folded inward so it could occupy parking spaces little wider than a motorbike’s. Renault Zoom 1992 The same set of issues lit up Renault’s […]

Carmakers have long shunned the idea of offering three-wheeled cars to their customers. Motorcycle manufacturers never promote anything that detracts from pure, two-wheeled excitement. Mercedes Benz F300 Life Jet 1997 But for flights of creative fantasy, three-wheeled machines mixing car and bike get plenty of attention, and this one from Mercedes-Benz packed a real technological punch with

Since the 1950s, Mercedes-Benz cars had tended toward costliness, but the upside for buyers-aside from fastidious build quality-was a reassuring cocktail of safety and innovation. Mercedes Benz F-100 1991 The F 100 research car provided all of this and more, with most of the nascent ideas packed into it, now adopted by mainstream models. It could never be described

Gordon Murray enjoyed the rare privilege of building a pure supercar, no-expensespared, with the McLaren F1. The ultimate roadgoing machine of its day, it remained the world’s fastest production car for ten years. McLaren F1 1992 Murray’s background as chief Formula One designer at Brabham, then McLaren, left him with a burning passion to build a road car. His vision

The iconic Smart city car has its genesis in watchmaking rather than the automotive world, because the “father” of Smart was Hungarian-born entrepreneur Nicolas Hayek, creator of the cheap and trendy Swatch timepiece credited with reinvigorating Switzerland’s watch industry. MCC Smart 1998 Hayek’s vision for a “Swatchmobile” featured interchangeable body panels, allowing buyers a wide choice of colors

The original MX-5 of 1989, also called the Miata, was a smart mix of all that was best in the classic 1960s sports cars. The difference was that it used cutting-edge technology, from its all-wishbone suspension to its fuel-injected, 16-valve, twin-cam engine. The MX-5 was the product of a rigorous design process carried out in

This car brought the amphibious concept right up-to-date in 1992 in a vehicle bristling with novel design touches. It made a real splash on a spectacular stand at the Paris Motor Show that year. Hobbycar 1992 Unlike the Amphicar, the Hobbycar was mid-engined rather than front-engined, for better on-water balance, and had four-wheel drive instead of two. The

Across America, evidence that the EV1 was once the most forward-thinking car on sale is elusive; none are owned by private drivers, and even the few EV1s displayed in museums and institutes cannot function. General Motors EV1 1996 In 1996, the EV1 was the boldest electric car venture yet undertaken by a US carmaker, and the first mainstream car

The Continental R formalized the revival of the Bentley marque, which had degenerated into nothing more than a Rolls-Royce with a different radiator grille, in the years since Rolls-Royce’s 1931 takeover of the company. The first Bentley to carry a distinctive body of its own since the 1950s, the R and its sister models combined

For the first Hummer, parallels with the original Willys Jeep are relevant: the company behind it, AM General, was the outfit that formerly made military Jeeps. AM General Hummer 1992 The vehicle was meticulously planned to the US Army’s brief for the ultimate go-anywhere machine that could be specified in several variations and resist anything