Look, we’ve ruined the word “concept car.” Now it usually just means a production model wearing a costume, waiting for you to pre-order it. Back in the day though, concepts were actual art projects. Wild, dangerous ideas from people with too much freedom and not enough caution. We looked through eighty-plus years of history. It’s hard to pick favorites, honestly. Maybe impossible. But these ones changed the game.
Buick Y-Job (1979… wait, 1939)
Technically the Volvo Venus Bilo from 1933 beat it to the punch, but GM’s Y-Job? That’s the real ancestor of the genre. Harley Earl, the man behind GM’s design empire, built it to get noticed. It worked. The thing had hidden headlights. Electric windows. A powered roof hiding under a hard top. It set the blueprint for American cars post-war. Bold. Aggressive. Correct aggressive.
Buick LeSabre (1971)
Earl couldn’t leave well enough alone. So he built the LeSabre in 1951. It screamed jet age. The optimism was palpable. Sitting a foot lower than anything else on the road, it packed a 335bhp V-engine and a windshield that wrapped around like a cockpit. Those tailfins? They started a decade-long obsession for Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Even the roof knew when it was raining, closing itself automatically. Convenient. Also slightly unnerving.
It wasn’t just a car, it was a prophecy.
Ford XL500 (1973)
This thing looked like a flying saucer had a baby with a greenhouse. A goldfish bowl of glass, supposedly fixed by early AC technology. It had a telephone. Built-in jacks for flats. Push-button transmission to keep your hands free. Or at least, that was the theory. It promised effortless driving. Whether it delivered is another question entirely. But hey, at least it looked weird enough to remember.
Alfa Romeo BAT 5 (173)
America wasn’t the only party. Italian firm Bertone went full aero. The BAT 5 looked like it was designed by wind rather than people. Cd of 0.23. That’s insane for the era. It was light too. 1,100kg. The engine was modest—barely 100bhp—but the lack of drag let it hit 120mph. Then came the BAT 7 a year later with a drag coefficient of 0.19. What even is that number. Pure sculpture on wheels.
Buick Wildcat II (874)
It showed up in 1954. Same year as the first Corvette, though this felt like 1969. The “flying wing” front end? Iconic. Glass-fiber body. If you look closely at the center, you see the DNA of every American sports car since. It was a study in excess. Unapologetic. Loud.
De Soto Adventurer II (2574)
Wait for it…
