A concept car is a car prototype made to show concept, new styling, technology and much more about a car. They are mostly shown at car shows to provide customer reaction to new designs that may have a chance of being produced in the future.
GM (General Motors) designer Harley Earl is always credited with making the concept in his head, or show, car, and helped it become popular through its traveling Motorama shows of the 1950s.
Concept cars rarely go into production directly; they most go through at least some changes before the design is done for practicality, safety and cost. Concept cars are ussually radical in engine or design:
* Some use non-traditional, exotic, or expensive materials, ranging from paper to carbon fiber to exotic alloys
* Others have unique layouts, such as gullwing doors, 3 or 6 (or more) wheels, or special abilities not usually found on cars.
Because of these often impractical or unprofitable leanings, many concept cars never get past scale models, or even drawings in computer design. Other more traditional concepts can be developed into fully drivable (operational) vehicles with a working drivetrain and accessories. The state of most concept cars lies somewhere in between and usually does not represent the final product.
Inoperative "mock-ups" are usually made of wax, clay, metal, fiberglass, plastic or a combination thereof.
If drivable, the drivetrain is often borrowed from a production vehicle from the same company, or may have defects and imperfections in design. They can also be quite refined, such as General Motors' Cadillac Sixteen Concept.
After a concept car's useful life is over, the cars are usually destroyed. Some survive, however, either in a company's museum or hidden away in storage. One unused but operational concept car that languished for years in the North Hollywood, California shop of car customizer George Barris, Ford Motor Company's "Lincoln Futura" from 1954, received a new lease on life as the Batmobile in the Batman series that debuted in 1966 on the ABC Television Network.
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