When an inventor creates a new product, he or she must create a prototype of the new product to show investors what his or her product will do, what it might look like, what features it will have, and the options of the product itself. The same thing is done with concept cars. A concept car is basically a prototype of a proposed vehicle. At car shows, these concept cars are shown to the public so that the appropriate people can see what the consumer reaction is and whether or not it might have a chance if the concept car is put into production for sales in dealerships across the country.
With the imaginations, creativity and innovation of concept cars, we should wonder where the automobile industry would be without concept cars. Concept cars bring forth new rules of the road, so to speak, when it comes to releasing new automobiles the consumers will want and need. However, there is one that never made it to production that did make it big anyway. There was one vehicle concept car that never made it to production that was known as the Lincoln Futura that was created in 1954. The Lincoln Futura spent most of its time in the North Hollywood, California shop owned by George Barris. Ford General Motors created this concept car. In 1966, the Lincoln Futura was first debuted on ABC's television network in the Batman series as the "Batmobile"!
History of Concept Cars -
A lot of concept cars get melted down into scrap metal if not proven to be worthy of putting into production. This act of creating a new car is to showcase its safety features, its style, look, performance, and its purpose. Without this test of sorts to bring in new creativity to the cars of tomorrow, there would be little improvement in today's vehicles and what we need and want. This gives engineers and designers a chance to showcase their talents and abilities, and gives the proper judges a chance to see which ones will sell and which will meet its demise at the scrap heap.
The First Invention of the Concept Car -
Harley J. Earl, a designer for General Motors, created the very first concept car in 1938. Earl created the Buick Y. His designs were so unique and essential that his designs and concept cars were shown all over the United States in the Motorama, which were America's first automobile shows. At that time, his designed vehicles and concept cars were just that. They were not put into production; only shown at the Motorama. It wasn't until Earl created the Buick Le Sabre that the manufacturers decided that this car needed to be brought into production. Harley J. Earl also presented America to the first crash test dummy called Oscar. Earl had a huge role in the concept car history. In fact, it was his designs that started the spinning wheel of the concept car history as we know it. Not only that, but he even created the first crash test dummy that has helped to test vehicles and even save the lives of those driving the cars!
Concept Cars of Today -
Concept cars of today are truly unique. It is much more of a show than anything else. They are televised, broadcast over the radio, printed in newspapers, magazines, websites, and seen everywhere in the media. Concept cars are much the same as they were when Harley J. Earl first started all of this commotion. The only difference is that today, the concept cars are given a lot of media all over the map, and there are a variety of talented engineers and designers much less afraid to show off what their idea of the next best American vehicle will be, even if it has a chance of being sent to the scrapper. After Earl's designs went public and people all over the world were able to see that a person could come up with their own idea of what a good vehicle should be, the engineers, designers and manufacturers saw a chance to let the public play a role in the creation of new cars. The makers of the products always want to know if it will sell well, and what better way to do that than to ask the potential buyers?
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