See the ’50s wildest sports-car dreams at the Petersen
Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum educates and entertains its visitors with car history from around the world, but the museum especially loves an opportunity to honor one of Southern California’s own. The Petersen’s latest exhibit, located on the third floor in the Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation Gallery, is titled Fast/Forward: Strother MacMinn’s Sports Cars of the Future.
Strother MacMinn grew up in Pasadena, California, before working as a designer for General Motors and the now-defunct brand Hudson. MacMinn returned to Pasadena to teach at the renowned Art Center for Design where his students went on to shape the look of automobiles well into the 21st century. MacMinn’s flair for sleek, sporty designs led him to collect photos and renderings of concept cars for his 1959 book Sports Cars of the Future. Of course, MacMinn showcased more than his own designs; European design houses are some of the book’s biggest stars.
Included in the Petersen’s 2023 exhibit are some of the concept cars that MacMinn selected for his book. All are fantastic examples of 1950s optimism. Among the streamlined, space-age vehicles are the 1955 Chrysler Ghia Streamline X, also known as “Gilda,” which debuted at the 1955 Turin Auto Show.
The car’s space-age design is more than skin deep. Beneath the aluminum body penned by Carrozzeria Ghia is a turbine engine. That jet-inspired tail panel is for real.
Another star of the exhibit is Alfa Romeo’s Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica 7, more frequently referred to as B.A.T. 7. The sculpted aerodynamic study has a drag coefficient of 0.19, which makes the current Prius look like a cinder block.
Rear visibility, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired.
In addition to several concept cars, the MacMinn exhibit includes dozens of gorgeous renderings from this book that also deserve close study. As always, we recommend spending a few hours at the Petersen if you ever find the chance. This exhibit won’t be there forever. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, we suggest buying tickets in advance.
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“Meet George Jetson…”
The hood and fender tops on the Ford Mexico looks like they came from a C2 Corvette.
…and the Mexico’s skirted and befinned rear fenders appear to be a straight copy of the Cisitalia.
Stepping out over the tall door sill, and burning your leg on the hot side pipe would have been fun!
Ahh, middle school social studies class, I remember it well.
The wild dreams of designers that never happened. I wish some of these had become a real car. So cool in their retro-future styling.