11 amazing concepts that shaped road-car reality

From show stand to showroom

As far back as 1938, and the launch of Buick’s futuristic Y-Job, concept cars have been adding sizzle to motor shows.

An opportunity for designers to let their hair down, for design houses to tout for trade, and for manufacturers to draw attention to the drab real-world offerings on their stands, concepts were as key to motor shows in the 20th century as they are to those in the 21st.

Sometimes, however, concept cars aren’t concepts at all, they’re just a way of teasing the audience ahead of a watered-down production version whose design was laid out months, or even years, before.

But for this gallery we’ve tried to stay away from the fakes and focus on the times dreams really did come true.

1a. 1967 Alfa Romeo Montreal concept

In need of something to wow crowds at the 1967 Montreal Expo, Alfa turned to Bertone, and its junior genius, Marcello Gandini.

Starting with Alfa’s little four-cylinder 105 Giulia coupé, Gandini fashioned a new body featuring slatted headlamp brows cut into the bonnet, and distinctive C-pillar cut-outs.

1b. 1970 Alfa Romeo Montreal

The Montreal show car was a huge hit and Alfa pushed ahead with a production version, Gandini again in charge of the crayons.

Much of the styling was carried over, but the 1970 road car featured retractable headlamp covers and a large NACA duct in the centre of the bonnet that hid a new 197bhp 2.6-litre V8, derived from the V8 in the Tipo 33 racer.

2a. 1964 Pontiac XP-833 Banshee

Given that Pontiac was meant to be GM’s young, fun brand, it seemed strange that it was sensible sister company Chevrolet that got to sell the Corvette.

That’s what Pontiac thought, too, and under the leadership of manager John DeLorean it created the Banshee, a lightweight, slinky two-seater concept powered by an ohc straight-six.

2b. 1968 Chevrolet Corvette C3

Unfortunately for Pontiac, Chevrolet and the GM high-ups didn’t like the idea of Pontiac treading on the Corvette’s toes, and axed the Banshee project before it was due to be shown at the New York Auto Show.

Then, just to rub salt in the wound, it gave the green light to the 1968 Corvette Stingray, a car supposedly inspired by the 1965 Corvette Mako Shark concept, but which looked eerily similar to Pontiac’s little sports car.

Meanwhile Pontiac had to settle for repurposing some of the Banshee’s details for the upcoming Firebird.

3a. 1972 BMW Turbo

BMW’s E25 Turbo was all about the Bavarians showing off to crowds at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

BMW built two examples of the Turbo concept, both featuring gullwing doors and a mid-mounted 2002 Turbo motor putting out a claimed 276bhp.

That engine was one of the few giveaways that under the skin lay the chassis from BMW’s upright, three-box 2002.

3b. 1978 BMW M1

The Turbo concept was exactly that – a concept. BMW never had any plans for production.

But it did serve as inspiration for the M1, the straight-six mid-engined supercar BMW built between 1978 and 1981.

4a. 1967 Pininfarina 1800 Aerodynamica

Looking at the striking tapered nose, sweeping expanse of rear glass and smart Kamm tail of this Leonardo Fioravanti fastback, it’s hard to believe there’s a dumpy Austin 1800 hiding underneath.

Pininfarina and BMC had worked on many projects over the years, but the Italians were becoming increasingly frustrated with the Brits, and unveiled this concept at the ‘67 Turin show to remind BMC how the 1800 could have looked.

4b. 1976 Rover SD1

BMC had neither the bucks nor the balls to reinvent the still relatively new 1800 in the mould of the Aerodynamica, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

The ’67 concept’s influence is clear in cars like the 1974 Citroën CX, Lancia Gamma Berlina and, yes, Rover’s 1976 SD1.

5a. 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo

Another influential Alfa, the Carabo’s striking wedge shape and scissor doors made even contemporary road cars like Lamborghini’s Miura look dated, despite Bertone’s Marcello Gandini having designed both, and just a handful of years apart.

The Carabo, which was based on the chassis of Alfa’s normally curvy 33 Stradale, first appeared at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. But it was still helping shape car design three decades later.

5b. 1973 Lamborghini Countach

Lamborghini tasked Bertone and Gandini with creating a successor to the Miura in 1970, and when the first prototype Countach appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971, it didn’t take a genius to see which of the designer’s concepts it was channelling.

Three years later the Countach reached showrooms in production form, the near-flat screen and those jaw-dropping doors having made the jump from the show stand intact.

6a. 1971 Maserati Boomerang

Gandini didn’t have a monopoly on wedgy concepts in the early 1970s. Giorgetto Giugiaro, his equally young and equally talented opposite number at Ital Design, was at it, too.

The Boomerang was revealed as a non-running concept at the 1971 Turin Motor Show, where it wowed visitors with its crisp geometric lines and a novel dashboard design that housed the instruments (and most of the switchgear) within the steering wheel.

6b. 1976 Lotus Esprit S1

The Boomerang would influence dozens of Giugiaro’s later designs, from the humble Volkswagen Golf to the ambitious twin-skinned De Lorean DMC-12.

But its most direct influence was on Giugiaro’s S1 Lotus Esprit, which appeared in concept form a year after the Boomerang, and was released in production form in 1976.

7a. 1967 Lamborghini Marzal

The star of the ’67 Geneva show was another Gandini design for Lamborghini, this one a four-seat coupé based around a stretched Miura chassis and featuring half a Miura V12 mounted behind the seats.

Called the Marzal, its doors were glazed above and below the belt line and the interior was crammed with hexagon shapes, a fetish of Gandini’s at the time.

7b. 1968 Lamborghini Espada

Ferruccio Lamborghini wasn’t a fan of the Marzal’s see-through gullwing doors and the mid-mounted configuration proved unworkable.

But with a V12 up front and a toned-down design borrowing cues from another ’67 Gandini concept, the one-off Bertone Pirana, the Marzal morphed into the production Espada.

8a. 1985 MG EX-E

By 1985 the MG name was mostly relegated to a sporty trim level on some very average Austin Rover family cars. Which made this pretty, 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show concept a real shocker.

The 3.0-litre, mid-mounted V6 came from the Metro 6R4 rally car and the styling, by Roy Axe and Gerry McGovern, would certainly have drawn crowds to showrooms.

8b. 1995 MGF

Sadly, the EX-E didn’t make it to production. But compare the rear views of both cars and you don’t have to squint too hard to see its influence on the Gerry McGovern-designed MGF that Rover launched a decade later.

9a. 1978 Pininfarina XJ Spider

The Jaguar XJ-S is a respected classic these days, but back in 1978 it was still getting flak from E-type fans who felt the new car wasn’t up to scratch.

Pininfarina tapped into that feeling by unleashing the swoopy XJ Spider on a Birmingham Motor Show crowd in 1978.

9b. 1996 Jaguar XK8

Jaguar – which had given Pininfarina an XJ-S chassis for the XJ project – was sufficiently impressed to start an F-type programme in the early 1980s.

That programme, codenamed XJ41 (coupé) and XJ42 (convertible), was killed off by new owner Ford in the late 1980s, but some of its engineering transferred to the Aston Martin DB7, and you can see the Spider’s influence in the 1996 XK.

10a. 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero

Sandwiched between Bertone’s ’68 Carabo concept and ’71 Countach prototype, the 1970 Stratos Zero is the wildest show car of the lot.

Standing a tiny 84cm (33in) from the ground, the Zero made even a GT40 look lofty, though with a 1.6-litre Fulvia V4 providing the muscle, it was hardly in the same league for performance.

10b. 1973 Lancia Stratos HF

Bertone hadn’t seriously designed the Zero with production in mind – it was merely a means to get Lancia’s attention with a view to working on future projects.

Which is exactly what happened. Lancia commissioned Bertone to create a purpose-built rally car that retained the striking wedge shape and Stratos name, and went on to dominate rallying in the mid-1970s.

11a. 1989 Dodge Viper concept

Inspired by Chrysler President Bob Lutz’s original AC Cobra, work had begun on a spiritual successor to the famous snake in 1988.

So the concept that appeared at the ’89 North American Auto Show was less flight-of-fancy, and more putting-the-feelers-out to gauge public reaction.

But the idea of a tyre-shredding, windowless two-seater still seemed pretty wild coming from a company more famous by the ’80s for its minivans.

11b. 1992 Dodge Viper RT/10 Roadster

Inundated with orders for a car that didn’t yet exist, Chrysler gave the Viper project the go-ahead following that ‘89 show appearance.

Early prototypes used Chrysler’s ancient 360cu in V8, but by the time production commenced in December 1991, the engine bay was stuffed with an 8.0-litre aluminium V10 delivering a suitably Cobra-like 400bhp.