Other "Cars of Tomorrow"

[Tuckerfan1053]

If you're not familiar with the blog "Dark Roasted Blend," its worth checking out as there's almost always something unique on it. Recently, they had a post on futuristic car designs from the 50s and earlier: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2010/03 ... wcase.html

The car on the left is Sir Vival, which was a "safety" car idea that a school teacher came up with in the early 1950s. The prototype set him back some $10K. The design on the right, is supposed to be one of Alex Tremulis'.



The blog has a few other illustrations which look like they might have been done by Tremulis. They have one which for certain was done by Syd Mead, and several others which are indicative of his style. Mead was a student/friend of Tremulis, and Mead (amongst many other things) designed the cars for the movie Blade Runner.

[streamliner]

From a great book, "Yesterday's Tomorrows" (Joe Corn and Brian Horrigan, Smithsonian Institution), credit for that particular design goes to GM's designers in 1966, although there are plenty of Tremulis' planes, trains, and automobiles elsewhere in that book. Syd Mead's unparalleled work is also featured prominently. Both Tremulis and Mead worked closely together on Ford's 1961 Gyron, a dream car that greatly contributed to both designer's departure from Ford. The original concepts for the gyroscopically-stabilized Gyron actually date back to Tremulis' days at Kaiser-Frazer, immediately following his time with Tucker. The "RetroFuture" part of Dark Roasted Blend looks like it could have come directly from the book...




Ford Gyron by Alex Tremulis and Syd Mead

[Tuckerfan1053]

The Paleofuture blog is similar in theme to Dark Roasted Blend and they've just posted a clip from a 1948 short film which features the Davis and Gordon Buehrig's freakish looking TASCO, as well as some other car I'm not familiar with, but vaguely resembles many of the teardrop streamliners which were popular with designers, even though none of them ever made it into production. http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2010/4/ ... -1948.html

[Natalie]

From a great book, "Yesterday's Tomorrows" (Joe Corn and Brian Horrigan, Smithsonian Institution), credit for that particular design goes to GM's designers in 1966, although there are plenty of Tremulis' planes, trains, and automobiles elsewhere in that book. Syd Mead's unparalleled work is also featured prominently. Both Tremulis and Mead worked closely together on Ford's 1961 Gyron, a dream car that greatly contributed to both designer's departure from Ford. The original concepts for the gyroscopically-stabilized Gyron actually date back to Tremulis' days at Kaiser-Frazer, immediately following his time with Tucker. The "RetroFuture" part of Dark Roasted Blend looks like it could have come directly from the book...

I picked up a musty (cough, cough...) copy of "Yesterday's Tomorrows" at a used book sale at the local aviation museum. There are a few references to Tremulis. I scanned them and typed the end-notes below. The book is pretty neat -- if you can pick up a copy cheaply, do it!

[Phantomrig]

That is a very cool find Nataile, thank you for sharing it with us as that is some interesting stuff there.

[streamliner]

I picked up a musty (cough, cough...) copy of "Yesterday's Tomorrows" at a used book sale at the local aviation museum. There are a few references to Tremulis. I scanned them and typed the end-notes below. The book is pretty neat -- if you can pick up a copy cheaply, do it!

Natalie, be careful with that book: You might catch that Alex Tremulis fever hidden in the mold spores between the pages…

Here’s a list of just a few of the streamlined planes, trains and automobiles that Alex Tremulis either designed or ones in which he had a hand in their creation as stylist/consultant. I know I’ve left off many other marques, major projects and hundreds of other styling renderings, but it gives you a glimpse into the evolution of streamlining trends that he generated for the automotive industry. Lots of these can be Googled.

Being involved in just one of them would be a worthy accomplishment, but having a hand in all of them boggles the mind. Tremulis was clearly on a different level of thinking than most of us. Each of these projects had entertaining stories and I’m still trying to gather information on all of them.

His was truly a life well-lived…

1934 Duesenberg Model J LeGrande Walker-bodied Coupe/Convertible (6 built)
Numerous other Duesenberg one-offs through Walker (as yet to be ID’d)
1935 Auburn 12 cylinder coupe
1935 Newport/Durham Aerocar
Modified/Hotrodded 1935 LaSalle convertible
Modified/hotrodded 1935 Ford (personal car)
1936 Hupp
1937 Oldsmobile
1937 Crosley
Dozens of Cord prototypes (monstrosities as Alex described them)
1937 Cord 812/SC sidepipes
1938 Cord 814 prototype (1 built)
“Alcibiades” a modified/hotrodded 1940 Lincoln Zephyr (personal car)
1939 Modified/hotrodded Cadillacs and others through Custom Motors (now Giorgio Armani on Rodeo Drive)
1940 Chrysler Thunderbolt (Briggs)
1940 Packard Clipper (Briggs)
1940 Packard steering wheel
1940 American Bantam coupes and convertibles, Hollywood and Riviera
1940 Austin-Western streetsweeper(!) Model 40 (along with Glenn Tammen, of post-war “Tammen and Denison”)
1941 Bathroom sinks and fixtures
1942 B-29 illustrations
1943 Torpedo Prop Boat
1943 Personal Helicopter
1943 Lady in Red supersonic jet (Bell X-1 design competition)
1943 George Cornelius Aircraft designs
1943 Wyse motor scooters
1943 Streamlined steam engine
1944 Vertical Takeoff Interceptor (precursor to Dyna-Soar, precursor to Space Shuttle)
1946 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith (unknown coachbuilder)
1946 Novi-powered streamliner
1946 Ab Jenkins’ Jet-powered LSR car
1946 Ford Monte Carlo (Lincoln) proposal
1946-1949 Tucker ‘48
Modified/hotrodded MG-TD (personal car)
1950 Lincoln Coupe and Convertible proposals
1951 Kaiser Allstate
1951 Kaiser Maharaja
1951 Kaiser turbine-powered TurboDyne
1951 Kaiser dual-cowl Phaeton
1952 Kaiser 105
Ford Lincoln La Turbo
Ford Lincoln La Tosca
1956 Ford Mexico Thunderbird
1956 Ford Taj Mahal
Ford Maxima
1960 Ford Thunderbird
Ford X-1000 and X-2000
1961 Ford Allegro (precursor to the Mustang)
1961 Ford Gyron
1962 Ford Seattle-ite
1963 Ford “Big Red” 600hp Turbine Semi Tractor Trailer
Modified/hotrodded 1957 Thunderbird (personal car)
John Hudak’s 1963 “Live in Peace” Zeppelin
1963 STP/Granatelli/Novi Indy Cars
1964 Duesenberg Revival proposals
Modified/hotrodded 1965 Mustang fastback (personal car)

LSR cars and motorcycles at the Bonneville Salt Flats:
Tremulis/Leppan/Bruflodt Gyronaut X-1
1964 “Spirit of Ab Jenkins” LSR car
Jack Lufkin’s #646 Sports Racer (Canopy)
Ermie Immerso’s 1965 Thunderbird I and 1986 Thunderbird II Turbine Cars
1965 Craig Breedlove’s “Spirit of America”
1964 Art Arfons’ Green Monster Jet car
1964 Walt Arfons/Goodyear Wingfoot Express
1967 Mickey Thompson’s Indy/LSR Lakester (canopy)
1965 Summers Bros. Goldenrod
1969 Noel Black’s Motion I
1970 Travoy-26 Motor Home (Tremulis-driven to LSR)
1983 Ky Michaelson & Kitty O’Neil’s Rocket Car

1967 Gyro Dynamics “Gyron I”, and Trail Cycle
1968 Evel Kneivel’s Sky Cycles
1968 Lunar Rover
1968 Compu-Spark for Jim Gaylord
1968 Cornelius Aircraft designs
1969 Corvette Graphics for astronauts Cernan, Young and Stafford (Apollo 10 crew)
1969 Granatelli Indy Car proposals
1969 STP-Plymouth-Keith Black Indy Car
1969 35 Passenger Commuter Helicopter
1970 Majestic Motor Home
1974 Reed Hummercraft Helicopters
1974 AMF Patrol Cars
1975 Bricklin proposals
Subaru Brat
Subaru X-100
Subaru Winter Olympics Graphics
Tons of other Subaru proposals

[Natalie]

I picked up a musty (cough, cough...) copy of "Yesterday's Tomorrows" at a used book sale at the local aviation museum. There are a few references to Tremulis. I scanned them and typed the end-notes below. The book is pretty neat -- if you can pick up a copy cheaply, do it!

Natalie, be careful with that book: You might catch that Alex Tremulis fever hidden in the mold spores between the pages…

Well, believe me, the "sickness" is already in full swing. Depending on the day, Google either brings the fever up or satisfies enough to get me to "normal" for at least a few hours

Thanks so much for the list, Streamliner, you are truly an enabler!

[Larry Clark]

The list of projects is of great historical value. Alex Tremulis was an incredible individual and stylist. Larry