Topic: Whaddyacallit #460 - Raymond Loewy 1950 "Car of the Future"

[Ray B.]

This car was never built, yet it may look familiar to you.

Who designed it, and when?

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[Ray B.]

An already seen design for the experts!

[mymokke]

Could this be the " Coupe De Ville type Towncar Concept" designed by David Scott that Virgil Exner had then developed into the Plymouth Plainsman Wagon showcar in the mid 50s?

[Ray B.]

I don't think so. But it often is hard to be sure of who really did the design of a car. I'll check my source. If you had further informations or another picture to prove your point, I'd like to see it.

[pguillem]

That's Raymond Loewy's 1950 "Car of the Future".

[Ray B.]

It didn't last long. Now you've got the point. But can you tell us what car I was thinking of when I wrote that it might look familiar?

It's true that the front bumper would be reminded later by the one of the Plainsman.
But, except the Tucker-like front fenders, there is another rare car with whom it shares many styling particularities.

We cannot be sure who in Loewy's team really designed it, but to me there is a definite parenthood between those two cars.

[pguillem]

Oh yes, it definitely looks like the 1953 Ford X-100 concept car at the Ford museum.  I wonder who designed it.

Built on a 1952 Lincoln chassis, this popular show car from Ford's fiftieth anniversary year of 1953 was conceived, like most concept cars, to test new engineering and styling features. The X-100 boasted over fifty innovations, among them a power-opening hood, electronic jacks, dictaphone, and even an electric shaver.

[Ray B.]

Yes, that's the car I was after.
The X-100 was reportedly designed by Elwood Engel and Joe Oros. Both had no connection with Loewy, as far as I know.

[Otto Puzzell]

Bob Marcks worked for Loewy, and at Ford. Maybe the initial sketches were his.