The future is going to be here any second now, and when it comes there will be cars. Future cars are wild and imaginative things, and there are decades of them to choose from.
I asked for your favorites, and they run the gamut of real cars from all the way back in the 1950s to imaginary cars blown up in the fictional nuclear war of 2077. Click through and take a look!
The Buick Wildcat from 1985. I saw one of these in-person at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver. It sported a McLaren engine, AWD, a heads-up display, and the entire canopy lifted forward to give access to the interior.
To my the 15-year-old eyes, it might as well have been a damn spaceship. It still looks amazing 40 years later.
One of my favorite concept cars, just for the sheer audacity of the design.
Pontiac followed a few years later with their sort-of-similar Banshee concept, which had an impressively buttontastic interior.
Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion. I was lucky enough to see one of the few remaining prototypes at a Concours d’Elegance once, and it is every bit as bizarre as you’d imagine. Believe it or not, Fuller’s original intent was for this thing to have VTOL capabilities. He pitched it as “A ‘zoomobile’ that could hop off the road at will, fly about, then, as deftly as a bird, settle back into a place in traffic.”
From Hankel_Wankel
The 1934 Chrysler Airflow:
During an age of body-on-frame cars with huge running boards and exposed fenders (think the ‘34 Fords), Chrysler used wind tunnel testing and came up with this slippery car. Notice how the windshield is a V to help it cut through the air. It had unibody construction—a first for the industry—which is used everywhere nowadays.
And due to its paradigm-shift of radical modern styling dragged down by poor build quality, the car was a failure. But someone had to have the guts to demonstrate the future of the car industry—that’s what Chrysler accomplished.
The Ford Seattle-ite XXI, because I really want to live in the future where cars have 6 wheels and gullwing bubbletops.
This crazy thing is supposed to have a detachable engine module, too.
This is what the CyberTruck wishes it would be. Pulls off the future dystopian look quite well. Would look great right beside Akira’s Bike and judge Dredd
From darthspartan117
Elio Motors. They were supposed to be a super cheap 3 wheel EV (at first they were an 84mpg ICE) that was under $15k and had an amazing range. The reality is they are vaporware and I’m not sure if they’ve put out a single production car.
From klone121
My second entry, the AMG vision GT looks to be about 20 years out. I have seen this car in person and it’s stunning
From darthspartan117
Got to be the Dodge M4S. The Wraith was not a great movie, but the car was sweet.
and
Respectfully disagree. The Wraith is one of the best bad movies ever made. And as a car movie, it is >>> Bullitt. There, I said it.
From Jerk Gently, Hole-istic Detective and preparetosurgetosublightspeed
Tesla model S, 12 years already!
The car that demonstrated EVs could be great cars.
From PetroNiko
Hands down the car that actually almost was THE future car. Chrysler Turbine Car!
From Batphreak
It is more an RV, but the Landmaster from Damnation Alley allows you to ride out the apocalypse in style. And it can serve briefly as a boat too.
From skeffles
The Chryslus Corvega. Sure, it tends to blow up (the whole city block) when overheated, but you can’t beat the mileage. And it’s a looker!
From Bindolaf
How is the 6000 SUX not been mentioned yet?
From Anthony Thornton