Fantasy coexists with reality at the Chicago Auto Show. Two types of vehicles draw visitors to the show each year. Plenty of people head for McCormick Place South to look over the new models that are in dealer showrooms–or will be arriving soon. Others come mainly to dream of what might be, rather than to contemplate a purchase.
When Chicago showgoers ogled the defiantly retro Dodge Viper R/T 10 in 1989, few imagined that a production version would emerge. Patterned after the burly Shelby Cobra sports cars of the 1960s, the open-cockpit Viper showstopper even packed a V-10 engine. What were the chances of ever spotting such a machine on the Kennedy Expressway?
Quite good, actually. Largely because of overwhelmingly favorable public reaction at the Chicago show, after a brief appearance in Detroit, Vipers began to trickle into Dodge showrooms three years later–complete with that V-10.
Like other concept vehicles before and after, the one-of-a-kind Viper had more than one purpose. In addition to demonstrating the imaginative talents of a company’s design team, it could be a test bed for new technology. A version of that V-10 engine found its way into Dodge Ram trucks.
Concept vehicles, also known as dream cars and show cars, have been part of the automotive scene since GM’s design chief, Harley Earl, came up with the Y-Job of 1938. During the 1950s, General Motors stylists created a long list of fantasy machines for its traveling Motorama shows. Ford developed an equally tantalizing selection, often working with Ghia, an Italian design studio. Chrysler Corp. showcased the imaginations of its engineers and designers with such futuristic autos as the Dodge Firearrow and DeSoto Flight Sweep.
Nearly all of these “cars of tomorrow” had one thing in common: Tomorrow never came.
With only an occasional exception, such as the Mercury XM-Turnpike Cruiser that turned heads at the 1956 Chicago Auto Show and evolved into a production Turnpike Cruiser a year later, dream cars remained visionary but wispy fantasies that faded away.
Certain elements of the dream cars would turn up on production models a year or two later. The “basket handle” roof on the 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, for instance, had sprung to life on the XL-500 concept.
Even when a show car was transformed into a production vehicle, it typically lost most of the striking features that made it special. And many of the gorgeous concepts of the 1950s and ’60s were destroyed to make sure no one would own or drive them.
The allure of dream cars fizzled in the 1970s, when changing consumer tastes and growing government regulations toned down the auto industry. In the 1980s, though, an occasional concept vehicle seen at auto shows was earmarked for production.
On view in 1983, Ford’s Ghia Barchetta concept evolved into the next Mercury Capri. A Pontiac Trans Sport that appeared in 1986 became the foundation for a trio of General Motors minivans–Chevrolet Lumina APV, Oldsmobile Silhouette and Pontiac Trans Sport–introduced for the 1990 model year. Though the minivans kept the same basic shape as the ’86 concept, they lost the swing-up door from the original.
Dodge’s 1988 Intrepid show car signaled the debut of the shapely Stealth sport coupe for 1991, as a cousin to the Mitsubishi 3000GT, and the Intrepid name went on a new line of full-size “LH” sedans, launched for 1993.
Though the brash Pontiac Banshee concept never made it to production, a variant of its front end wound up on the 1991 Firebird.
Not all of the memorable concepts of the 1980s and beyond were unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show. As the Detroit Auto Show grew in stature in the ’90s, more cars made their debuts in the Motor City. Same with Los Angeles and the European and Asian shows. One concept that did bow in Chicago was the Oldsmobile Achieva sport sedan, unveiled in 1991 and promoted as an example of the direction for a future compact model. A year later, a production version was on sale, replacing the Calais. Pontiac’s Sunfire coupe that year flaunted rear half-doors, which went into Saturn coupes at the end of the decade.
The Lincoln-Mercury Mystique minivan introduced in Chicago in 1991 displayed a number of styling cues of what would become the 1993 Mercury Villager and related Nissan Quest. The concept Mystique even included a VCR entertainment system–an idea that would not emerge as factory equipment until 2000, though aftermarket suppliers leaped on accessory video systems a lot sooner. A knob could control sun shading of the roof, and a T-Drive integrated engine/transmission was installed, features that never made it to production.
Seen first in Detroit in 1991, then at Chicago, the distinctive Chrysler Neon environmental concept bore little resemblance to what would become the production Dodge/Plymouth Neon.
Sometimes, little more than the name survives when marketers decide to build a model.
World debuts at the 1992 Chicago Auto Show included a Toyota Avalon four-door convertible. That one never made it to production, but an Avalon sedan did a few years later. Also unveiled in Chicago was an Infiniti J30 sedan with four-wheel steering. That model went on sale as an early ’93, but Infiniti especially wanted to showcase the steering technology, an option on the production sedan.
The luscious Lincoln Marque X convertible that drew crowds in Chicago suggested the shape of the coming-soon Lincoln Mark VIII coupe.
Hyundai exhibited a concept HCD-II convertible in 1992, intending to develop it as a Miata-fighter. A revised version appeared in ’93. Though it fizzled, Hyundai did introduce a sporty Tiburon coupe for 1997.
Chicago showgoers were the first to see the Toyota Sidewinder concept in 1993, based on the then-new T100 pickup truck. Though Detroiters got to gaze at the retro-look Plymouth Prowler first, Chicagoans were equally ecstatic in their praise for the two-seat convertible, which borrowed its styling from street rods of the ’50s. Chrysler elected to produce the Prowler, based on the favorable comments for those who saw it at the auto show.
Despite its metallic purple paint job, Hyundai’s Accent show car, displayed in 1994 as a precursor of the 1995 minicompact replacement for the Excel, was best described as tame. The Lincoln Contempra concept, shown in 1994, suggested some of the design cues for the Continental that was to be redesigned for ’95.
Visitors to the 1995 Chicago Auto Show got a first look at the Mazda concept M Speedster, an offshoot of the Miata with a cutdown windshield and flared fenders. Sadly, Mazda decided against production of the rakish sports car, which might have sold for twice the price of a Miata.
Honda planned to release a new mini-sport-utility vehicle as a 1997 model. But Chicagoans saw the Civic-based CR-V first, at the ’96 auto show. Honda’s stand also featured an SSM sports car, seen previously at the Tokyo Motor Show. Though Honda was planning to market a two-seater, the S2000 did not arrive at dealerships until the 2000 model year.
Isuzu unveiled a Deseo concept sport-utility vehicle at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show, though production was not anticipated. Subsequent Isuzu concepts, however, contributed to the design of the 2002 Axiom, which goes on sale in April.
Toyota chose the 1997 Chicago show for the initial presentation of a Solara concept convertible. Flaunting speedster styling with a wraparound windshield while onstage, the Solara would look somewhat different when it arrived at dealerships–first as a coupe and later as a convertible. Lexus, in the same year at Chicago, introduced a concept Sport Luxury Vehicle, based on the ES300 sedan. Two years later, a car-based Lexus RX300 sport-utility was on the market.
Another Chicago “first” in 1997 was the Dodge Sidewinder pickup, but production never took place. GMC, on the other hand, showed a concept Envoy, a version of its Jimmy sport-utility vehicle, and an Envoy soon became part of GMC’s lineup.
The lovely red Ford Libre four-door convertible that Chicago showgoers saw first in 1998 was never a candidate for production. Prospects for convertibles with more than four doors have not been good since the Lincoln Continentals of the early 1960s. GMC that year exhibited a concept Sierra DEUCE Sportside truck, a year before the debut of redesigned full-size pickups. Toyota gave Chicagoans an early look at a hint of a truck to be built in Indiana. The concept was called T150, and Tundra grew out of it in 2000.
Chicago was the site of the first viewing of Toyota’s concept MR-Spyder, in 1999. At the time, Toyota promised a production version in about a year. An MR2 two-passenger sports car debuted in 2000, taking its name from the mid-engined MR2 coupe of the early ’90s.
Subaru had a distinctive offshoot of its Forester at the 1999 Chicago show, wearing woodgrain bodyside trim like station wagons and minivans of the past. Production was not intended.
When launching the Chevrolet Traverse concept at the 2000 Chicago Auto Show, GM President Rick Wagoner said it “looks like the future of the sedan.” It blended the utility of truck with the comfort of a sedan and the convenience of a station wagon.
Production is expected to develop, following the lead of Buick, which is introducing its “hybrid” Rendezvous as a 2002 model. The odds that you’ll see even a tamed version of the youth-oriented Pontiac Piranha, also introduced at the 2000 Chicago, are a lot longer.
What will happen to the concept cars that are appearing at this year’s Chicago Auto Show? Will any of them–or parts of them–be earmarked for production a year or two down the road? You’ll have to go and find out for yourself.
