10 Futuristic American Concept Cars Of The 1950s And 60s

The 1950s and 1960s were times of rapid and endless innovation. With the Second World War coming to a close, the economy started to boom in the U.S. thanks to a massive increase in consumer spending, subsequently leading to more funds being pumped into countless different industries. the automotive industry was one that saw some of the biggest growth, and with all eyes on the future, some truly staggering concept cars were developed to represent what people could expect in the coming decades.
The concept cars designed in these two post-war decades were heavily inspired by other industries that also benefited from technological advancements. The space and aviation industries were the two that saw incredible progress, finding their way into almost every element of concept cars. The most prominent inspiration was tailfins, which were used to emulate the look of rockets, which at the time were the most impressive feat of engineering.
Alongside the design of these cars, what actually powers them was another area that was able to be explored further. Here are 10 of the era-defining concept cars from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
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TimeStamps:
00:00 Intro
00:17 1951 GM LeSabre
01:17 1953 Chevrolet Corvette EX52
02:13 1954 Lincoln Futura
03:03 1954 Ford La Tosca
03:47 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket
04:31 1956 GM Firebird II
05:39 1957 Ford Nucleon
06:21 1961 Chrysler TurboFlite
07:10 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
08:08 1963 Ford Seattle-Ite XXI
#conceptcar #americancars #classiccars
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Disclaimer
Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
I do NOT own some or all of the video materials used in this video. In the case of copyright issues, please contact me at [e-mail] for credit/removal.

[@trueaussie9230]

Seventy years on and the reliable 'self-driving' car is yet to materialise.

[@j.kevvideoproductions.6463]

His name was Harley Earl. Not Henry. do your research...

[@iflick7235]

At 0:24 The GM La Saber. This car was part of my life. I grew up in Flint, Michigan. It sat in a small museum in Flint for 40 + years. I've seen it many times.

[@futureoftheearth8100]

Americans... you lost the greatest milestone of car building in the history in 1970 Why did Detroit trinity fall down. Huge tragedy..as for me

[@rogerreimer6787]

1962 World fair was in Seattle not New York

[@MGB18]

George Barris customized the Ford Lincoln Futura to create the Batmobile.

[@KevinWhite-zb5os]

No, he didn't. The design was by Eddie Graves and all the work was done by Bill Cushenberry. But Barris would never let that out while he was alive.

[@robertjackson2663]

These DAMN robots can't pronounce most words properly, lets get back to humans that know what they are talking about.Real car people

[@trueaussie9230]

Today's puerile 'entitled' muppets don't even know what the 'correct' words are, let alone how to pronounce them. They rely on Humpty Dumpty (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland) 'language logic' - any word, real or imagined, means whatever they want it to at any particular time.

[@5610winston]

Can't even mispronounce them the same way twice.

[@MonsterHobbiesModelCarGarage]

Henry Earl? I think it's Harley Earl!

[@mortensen1961]

Well, you thought right. Something the announcer failed to mention is that Harley Earl used the LeSabre as his personal car for a number of years. . .

[@MonsterHobbiesModelCarGarage]

@@mortensen1961 - I knew it was Harley Earl, and I knew he used the car for years after. I have a little 1/72nd scale model of that car.

[@jourwalis-8875]

Jay Lenos Garage!

[@danielulz1640]

Artificial Intelligence is just so stupid!

[@user-yn5qt9oc4q]

Oh, son verdaderos joyas an sido aquí debajo del cielo super super...hermosos . Saludos de cusco Perú. Kliment

[@MonsterHobbiesModelCarGarage]

Looking at The 1961 Chrysler Turbo Flight body sides, I can now understand why the 1962 Plymouths and Dodges looked so strange.

[@American.legends]

CORRECTION: the Ford Seattle-Ite XXI was introduced at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and not the 1964 NYC World's Fair

[@imanonattorneyspokesperson5568]

Some of those concept vehicles were sold during the GM collapse of 2009

[@m.i.andersen8167]

The designers shouldn't have taken all those pills!

[@toddaulner5393]

That Nucleon looks like it would faceplant every time you hit the brakes hard.

[@jamesrecknor6752]

Like the early Econoline pick ups

[@arpanpandit280]

Every design looks futuristic.....

[@georgevavoulis4758]

That car in the thumbnail lookd best of all

[@johnmay6090]

Dear KZbin, do you ever wonder why we have "ad blockers"?

[@5610winston]

0:40 Harley, not Henry.

[@MGB18]

Who cares. What he created was fugly. lol.

[@peterblair6489]

Damn, they had millions to waste on weird concepts.

[@ericfredrickson5517]

Did anyone else notice the split rear window on the Olds Golden Rocket? It bears a strong resemblance to the '63 Corvette.

[@georgecastiblanco2978]

Que lindos esos carros auténticas joyas de arte.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@auto-Insight-yt]

woow ❤😮

[@jamesrecknor6752]

Only the Cybertruck is as silly as these

[@user-hf2bv7cl6u]

That Firebird looks like it was inspired by the WW2 Horten Flying Wing.

[@warrenpeece1726]

I remember reading that when J Leno drove his turbine car it would melt the plastic bumpers of cars too close behind him at stop lights.

[@patsquach4080]

I. Like. The. Shot. Of. Jay. Leno. Driving the turbine car It’s still in use. Cool. !!!

[@kennethanway7979]

The golden rocket is what happens when a tucker and a 63 split window Corvette have a baby!

[@American.legends]

😂😂👍

[@robertpolnicky7702]

Im glad we still have concept cars. I just wish hay leno was designing tgem.

[@righty-o3585]

Why Jay Leno ?

[@roberto6512]

Top demais só nave !!!!

[@user-xf2my3hq8x]

This is yesterdays news. These cars have been in so many videos that you need to erase this video and do another one that everyone hasn't seen a million times already. Signed-Richard.

[@01greekman]

Great video really enjoyed. In the 1982 there was a book out that showed what cars would look like in the 2000s . I think the designs were from the 70s. I should have brought that book

[@xmo552]

The books are out there for sale.

[@hardyboy1959]

My Ford Nucleon finally lost power and boy, the price of uranium sure has gone up since I filled up 5,000 miles ago!

[@user-wo6cy2lj4mVeirfuna]

Красота дизайна

[@Greatdome99]

4:46: The Firebird II was NOT the first gas turbine family car. Chrysler had a 1954 Plymouth turbine prototype that they drove across the country to prove its worth. 8:07: Chrysler turbine car: Complex maintenance? Hardly. Maintenance was near zero since there were only a few moving parts (two stage turbine, power steering pump, alternator) and no cooling system at all.

[@ubertomariapelosi1169]

Make America visionary again 😁

[@user-yr3wu4bh4h]

何言ってるか分からないけど、ぶっ飛んでてカッコいい車ばかりだ😉👍

[@corilia9529]

The one with the headlights in the middle is definitely weird.

[@richardmiranda640]

Wow

[@paulasturi4199]

Too many factual errors in this video! Just to name a few...The Lincoln Futura was designated as a 1955 model year, not 1954. The Ford Seattle-ite XXI was featured at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, not New York. The Roman numeral XXI in the name designated the "21st Century" which was the main theme of the fair. The 1959 Cadillac Cyclone was completely missed. It had a radar-operated collision avoidance system for goodness sake! Thumbs down for me...sorry.

[@michaelwalston2438]

Did he sat Henry Earl?

[@Greatdome99]

"Century 21" was the fair's slogan.

[@mingology7767]

All these cars makes you feel you’re on Mars before it degraded to it’s current state…

[@hagerty1952]

I dunno, the Firebird II looks like they forgot to assemble half the bodywork... Unique among this list is the Chrysler Turbine since they built more than one and even lent them out for real-world testing.

[@Anthony-bs2tn]

The 51 GM LeSabre is the only one worth tooling up and manufacturing today. Looks like a car.

[@bearlogg7974]

Where's our ages Harley Earl when electric cars need him the most

[@Mountain3180]

The 6 wheel ford was first shown at the 1962 World Fair in Seattle not New York. This car was only ever a 2-3 table model and never as a full size car. The red Lincoln Futura looks like a fiberglass recreation since the real car had chrome bumpers as well as the band of trim down the side. It was only red in the movie It stared with a kiss. It as originally a light metallic turquoise color. The Firebird ll had a titanium body, probably the first titanium car body. Better research and a computer voice would help this video.

[@3RTracing]

Non computer voice you mean

[@rickwightman2366]

Can anyone explain what's going on at 3:44?

[@donaldusanas4347]

Alcune inguardabili, veramente improponibili

[@soundwavs1961c]

0:06 The Cyclops

[@garyfrancis6193]

Henry was Harley Earl’s kid brother.

[@kennethanway7979]

Batmobile!

[@user-zh9sj6oq1q]

Bonjour Robert . La seule voiture que je me rappelle est la Corvette parce qu' elle a été mis en production et disponuble au marché . Il y a aussi la transmission à boutons ; mon onckd Roméo possedait une Plymouth équipé dr ce type de transmission .

[@konstantinafotopoulou7454]

How does the car in the thumbnail turn

[@leoribeiro.]

Deus abençoe América 🙏🏻🇺🇲

[@3RTracing]

Where’s the Brook Stevens Studebaker Scepter?

[@rongendron8705]

I think that the last car was introduced at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair & not the 1964 NYC World's Fair! "(Seattle-lit XXI)

[@American.legends]

yup, i rechecked that, you're right, thanks 👍

[@dorianwright5999]

The first one.

[@bodgiesteve8849]

8:08, 1963 Ford Seattle-ite XXI. XXI is the Roman numeral for 21, not 11. 11 would be XI .

[@kennethanway7979]

The last one looks like the car from the show thunderbirds.

[@American.legends]

yeah 😂, Most of them looks cartoony

[@robertpolnicky7702]

The ones of today lack independence in design style really.

[@edsoncorreia4621]

Só mesmo nos EUA !😮😮😮

[@glennsarka4391]

Lay saber?

[@user-rp4xs2jy1t]

TurboFlite is more yacht than a car. Chrysler Turbine Car is nice.

[@joespinach]

XXI is 21, not 11.

[@mikecoz3d]

Where are these cars today?

[@billolsen4360]

6:00 Can just see a mushroom cloud shooting up into the stratosphere when some poor chump rear-ends a Ford Nucleon with his 52 Buick. Widespread radiation poisoning thanks to the fallout.

[@storiesfromtheoldcowboy8876]

Who's Henry Earle?

[@robertbowyer7239]

Why do they refer the engine sizes in liters? That’s not how they were referred to in the 50’s and 60’s.

[@FirstClass-]

I can just imagine the crash test results…. Especially when hitting a human! …yikes! Antiquated obsolescence…

[@amirbarati38]

👏👏👏🙏🌺❤️🙏

[@user-up5vx5dv7h]

Это тот случай, когда фантазии художника - дизайнера, перекрывают весь здоавый смысл. Машина должна ездить и возить, а не выглядеть как бред алкаша, и не стоить как Бруклинский мост.

[@peteykwia2752]

❤❤👍👍👍🥂💫!!!

[@ronjohnson4566]

looks like all of them are straight from MAD MAGAZINE

[@raross6119]

Want them all

[@HADJEE]

Harley Earl

[@charlescarter1529]

Henry Earl? You mean Harley Earl? More AI misinformation.

[@toddaulner5393]

La-Say-bur

[@whatsamattayu3257]

AI narration is extremely annoying.

[@davidlawrence6089]

What does this have to do with A I ?

[@DocDoccus]

@@davidlawrence6089 LOTS. These "informational videos" are not made by Americans, but from countries that barely speak English. They have to use AI voices because their real voices would give them away. I got suckered into this video, but will avoid this channel or any other with any "car" in the thumbnail that looks computer generated and with "RAREST" or something similar in the picture. I will not come back to this channel. XXI = "eleven", indeed.

[@chrismoody1342]

I don’t know; was LSD a thing back then ?!

[@peterlucas2998]

Ahhhh, excuse me. It's Ford Seattle-lite 21. XXI is twenty one in roman numerals not "the eleventh" nice short story over all.

[@BB1951]

Just push a button and the car practically drives itself. Yeah, right... oh wait, Tesla. I guess this is the future.

[@draconpersistente220]

Esfuerzos por diseñar el más bello auto. Creo que solamente interesaba la espectacularidad del diseño y no la economía, comodidad, versatilidad, velocidad. Fue parte de la evolución automotriz.

[@cars20080]

Вы бы видели концепты авто ваз

[@raross6119]

Show us

[@rogerrendzak8055]

Ok, if you want people to ACTUALLY READ, those 'Most Notable Features' in-boxs, common sense should tell you, to leave them up there, long enough, so normal reader's, can read them🤨!!! On the Ford La Tosca, I've would of NEVER KNOWN, that was just, a remote-control, model, if the last footage didn't have, the full-sized woman, standing next to it. "The GM Firebird ll, featured a vertical tail, replicating the wing that featured on space shuttles". SPACE SHUTTLES??? C'mon now, was the space shuttle out, in the 1950's😆⁉️ Informative, but dopely initiated.

[@DocDoccus]

These "informational videos" are not made by Americans, but from countries that barely speak English. They have to use AI voices because their real voices would give them away. I got suckered into this video, but will avoid this channel or any other with any "car" in the thumbnail that looks computer generated and with "RAREST" or something similar in the picture. I will not come back to this channel. XXI = "eleven", indeed.

[@3RTracing]

More errors than I can count on my fingers and toes. BTW Ford Seattleite: 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair NOT New York.

[@marvinellis1517]

Robot commentator ...thumbs down 😮

[@digeier4995]

nee die Amis quatschen so komisch! 🥴 19.2.2024

[@fgeiger41]

And the writer! "Henry Earl? " 😂

[@johnathanstevens8436]

I'm pretty sure it's pro-nounced Lee-Sabre (sighs)

[@ralphe5842]

Computer controlled? What have you seen the size of an IBM 360 from the 60s and while gas turbines were a bad idea nuclear powered car was just stupid even for a nonfunctional model

[@Greatdome99]

An IBM 360 is a digital computer. Analog computers--electrical and mechanical--have been around since WW2.

[@utuBrV1oI]

The '53 corvette does not belong on this list - not only not futuristic, but has a primitive heavy stovebolt strait 6 & 2 speed powerglide trans. Left off & #1 should be firebird III ! #2 should be firebird IV - for styling alone, tho it had no drivetrain.

[@MGB18]

Not to mention the corvette was fugly!

[@3RTracing]

53 Corvette did not have the stove bolt six it has a blue flame six.

[@utuBrV1oI]

@@3RTracing Ok, but isn't that straight 6 also 190 !! lbs heavier than the late '60s 230 & 250 cube chevy straight 6?

[@user-pf6ib3ue5s]

English please

[@carpediem673]

written by AI and voiced by AI.

[@ericbrammer2245]

Chrysler Turbo-flight is 'aerodynamic'?? WTH?! NO! The front-end is a Turbulence DISASTER!! Really? Do You Not KNOW how Air Flows?

[@josephwilson5450]

Computer generated audio / voice. THUMBS DOWN, DO NOT RECOMMEND CHANNEL ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[@patsquach4080]

The. Editor of this video. Should read the comments and take notes as to properly understand what it takes to. Do a proper job….

[@kakarottvegeta2897]

fallout cars

[@daDurvis]

there's an artist who does really kool similar futuristic flying cars, hot rods and such with very provocative willing to be ladies as models, for those who don't know

[@billiewender49]

So then they made up for it in the 70s 80s 90s and 2000s by building cars that were absolutely crap. Built by SEVERELY OVERPAID AND SEVERELY UNDERWORKED Union SLACKERS.

[@jamesrecknor6752]

Glorious, revolutionary, lazy unions helped make Detroit the pristine, prosperous, socialist people's paradise it is today.

[@stanwebb3480]

Tax write off for the car companies!!!!

[@rejmons1]

All of them are the signs of those times: Full of idealistic (but very naive) ideas about humanity who will touch stars in a near future... Rubbish and phantasmagorias!

[@SDRIFTERAbdlmounaim]

Ai narrated ?

[@gengisquand1621]

Les concepts cars est une connerie beaucoup d argent... dépensée de temps perdu pour un véhicule qui ne verra jamais le jour.. en supposant que le projet sorte..les tarifs seront inaccessible....donc ... connerie..

[@user-bc7tj3ej3y]

コンセプトカーってなんでいつも不細工なのかな

[@patrickporter6536]

Even worse than the cars being manufactured at the time... 😂