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Krause Publications |
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American Dream Cars 60 Years of the Best Concept Vehicles by Michael J. Fumkin and Phil Hall |
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Reviewed By Doug Hamilton, #21985 |
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MSRP: $12.00 USD Published by Krause Publications, this 348 page soft cover book isn’t really aimed at modelers. However, that isn’t to say it isn’t a handy reference guide to some of the most exotic cars ever produced. Beginning right after WW II, US automakers were looking for new designs and dreaming of future products. In order to showcase many of these new ideas hot off the drawing boards they designed and built what became known as a concept car to show off at auto shows. These ranged from the truly sublime to the absolutely ridiculous. The authors have researched this subject quite extensively and have put together a fine collection of photos and drawings accompanied by a brief text overview of each vehicle. Many of the photos were taken at auto shows or are manufacturer-released photos, and all are of very high quality. Most are in black and white, but a 31 page color spread is one of the book’s highlights. The layout of the book - alphabetically by manufacturer, then chronologically by design - is very easy to follow and makes locating a particular vehicle easy. The book’s layout makes it easy to follow the design trends coming out of Detroit over the years. Many of the features we take for granted in our cars and trucks today most likely started out on a concept car somewhere along the line. The book makes an interesting study of cars that are no longer in existence, hidden away in some corporate storage facility, or displayed in a museum. Some will be easily recognized as being available on the hobby shop shelves. But others will make you wish there were models available. Having attended many New York auto shows in the late 60’s and early 70’s, many cars of this period came back to me in these pages. Concept cars go beyond being only exercises in design for street cars. Also shown in the book are purpose-built race cars such as the recent Cadillac LMP, 1963 Ford Twister Dragster, and the gorgeous AMX 2. Pickup trucks also have received the concept treatment, and let’s not forget the easily recognizable Batmobile from the 1960’s Batman TV series, which started off as the Ford Futura concept vehicle in 1955. This book is a very good look at this type of vehicle, and no automotive library would be complete without a copy of this book someplace on the shelf. Its value is very high in regard to documenting this fascinating portion of the magic we accept as Detroit, and the lifestyle we as Americans have come to know in our cars and trucks today. I highly recommend it to any student of automotive history, anyone looking for an offbeat subject to model, or studying automotive design. I enjoyed looking over the book and reading the descriptions of the vehicles included in this great work. My thanks go to Krause Publishing and IPMS 1st VP John Noack for supplying this copy for review. |
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