Concept Cars at the Atlanta Museum of Art

Although we present this to you as a museum display it is really a temporary display that was housed at the Atlanta GA High Museum of  Art in early 2014. It was a memorable display of 17 concept cars ranging from personal “one offs” to GM Motorama Cars. (You can see more of our Museum Tours on this web site.)

We are giving you a quick overview of some of the cars in the collection here but will bring you more in depth presentations over the next several weeks. We will be bringing you each of the 17 cars in full color with details.

Just because the cars are no longer on display at the Museum I still encourage you to visit the Atlanta High Museum of Art the next time you are in Atlanta. It is a wonderful collection and a place where you could easily spend a half day or more depending on how long you want to study each exhibit.

This description provided by the Museum helps tell the story of the 20th Century Concept Car.

“While the technical advances introduced through concept cars were important, their virtual impact through physical styling was the key to their success. By their nature, concept cars offered more creative freedom for their designers, but these individuals were still influenced by what would appeal to the public, Experimentation with different shapes, ranging from teardrops to fins and wedges, is evident in the designs of the seventeen cars in this exhibition. One of the most significant influences on the automotive design was the study of aerodynamics, particularly the science of streamlining, which gained popularity in the 1920s and 1930s. Not only was there a desire for cars to be faster, they needed to look speedy as well.”

“Tensions gradually developed regarding the boundaries of styling versus engineering. Some viewed streamlining as purely scientific ideal that was developed and studied to minimize wind resistance and maximize efficiency, as seen in the experiments conducted for the development of the 1955 Chrysler (Ghia) Streamline X “Gilda.” A more popularized, consumer driven version of this ideal, one that overrode science in favor of drama and overall aesthetic appeal, focused on the appearance of speed rather than actual speed, as demonstrated by the rocket-inspired 1959 Cadillac Cyclone XP-74.”

Here are some of our teaser photos. We will provide more in depth stories and photos of the 17 concept cars here on our Blog and also links to our Featured Cars here on this web site.

The Buick Centurion was one of our favorite cars of the entire beautiful display. It is also one we had never seen before.