The Coolest Cars

The Coolest Cars Detroit Never Built
Concept where car concept are going in the future.
Auto shows are the perfect venue for carmakers to show off not just their newest models, but also their extreme ideas for the cars of the future.
In the 1950s and '60s, concept cars were all about alternative propulsion--vehicles powered by jet engines or even nuclear reactors.
Indeed few concept cars ever make it into production. Styling cues from Ford's 2005 Iosis concept--Ford called it "kinetic design"--are reflected in the newly redesigned Ford Focus, for example.
Ford's group vice president for design, J Mays, wishes that Ford had produced the 2005 GR-1 Shelby concept, an aluminum sports car. But as Ford tumbled into financial troubles, "we were concentrating on everything but sexy sports cars."
The 2007 Ford Interceptor concept was a modern interpretation of an All-American rear-wheel-drive muscle car. "We were well on the path to making a rear-wheel-drive global platform," says Mays. "But the gas crisis happened and that just turned the faucet off."
Likewise, the 2006 Super Chief, a massive, locomotive-inspired pickup featuring extreme interior indulgence, went nowhere.