Early Concept Cars

Detroit born concept cars from the early 50’s and well into the 60’s have recently gotten a lot of press due to the huge numbers that they are pulling at national auctions. We lost most of these cars to the crusher as the big three learned from their successes and failures, so it only makes sense that the remaining cars hold so much value.

Zumo recently posted a link on the H.A.M.B. featuring photos of almost all of the more prominent concept cars from the era.

Our favorites? The Virgil Exner designed 1954 Plymouth Explorer and Belmont. Virgil had joined Chrysler in 1949 and quickly worked his way to the top of the design department. By early 1952, Virgil found himself as the lead designer for a company in a whole lot of trouble. The GM vs. Ford war was in full swing and Chrysler was left on side lines with declining sales and very little market share. The Chrysler big wigs thought Virgil just might be their answer.

In 1954, Virgil designed and built two cars for the show season in an attempt to rekindle interest in the lowly Plymouth line of Chrysler products. The first was an elaborate roadster concept tagged the Belmont. The second was an elegantly thought out coupe named the Explorer (seen above).

It’s not a stretch to assume that both of these cars were reactions to Chevrolet’s Corvette and Ford’s Thunderbird. Ford and GM were dominating at the time and it was all Chrysler could do to keep up. Rumors were floating around Detroit about the new sports cars and Chrysler had to do something. If the two seat sports car was the next battle ground, Virgil wanted to make sure that Chrysler at least had some weapons.

He did so with the Belmont and the Explorer. Of course, neither car made it to production but the artful direction of the lines and the undeniable Italian influences can’t be held responsible. These were gorgeous cars.

I think my pick of the two would go to the Explorer. I love the way the big bold American body lines, sketched during the infancy of the jet age, mix with the light and sculpted top taken from the hills of Maranello. It’s a car of contrast and balance with looks so perfect that you can feel the utter “non-productability” of it all just by looking at these old pictures. Perfection that only a concept could ever capture.