Much like yourself after drinking an entire 64oz Big Gulp of your preferred beverage (I’m guessing a mix of Ginger Ale and Grape Fanta, a combo you call a Minnesota Viking) and then going on a 6-hour road trip, modern automotive journalism really adores a good leak. Usually, the exciting leaks are when a car that’s been kept a secret gets photographed so everyone can see it, but if you have no spy photography, sometimes you gotta make some guesses.
Those guesses are usually seen as CG renders today, or I suppose now even AI-based ones are getting more popular, too. But back in the day, these were all just hand-drawn sketches, sketches based on rumors and verbal descriptions of upcoming cars, with the artists left to fill in a lot of gaps.
I happened to see some of these sketches in a March 1974 issue of Popular Science, and I was really charmed by the ones I saw, because they were so delightfully wrong, but wrong in a way that made me kind of wish they were right.
These drawings were speculative sketches of rumored new smaller cars to come from Chrysler, and as you can see, they look pretty much nothing like what ’70s Chryslers looked like, but perhaps maybe resembled the “captive import” Mopars of the later ’70s and into the ’80s. Kinda.
Like, take that Challenger up there; it’s a pretty sleek design, very removed from what Challengers at the time looked like, which was this:
Those are great, but they’re huge, and clearly not the expected downsized cars that this old article was speculating about. Also, what the hell is the Hamburglar doing out there? Is that his funky dune buggy back there? Should Challenger Couple be concerned?
Illustrator Harry Bradley I think did a fantastic job on these sketches, and I love the novel designs he came up with. I think he was basing his drawings on rumors about Chrysler’s upcoming captive imports from Mitsubishi, like what became the Challenger in 1978:
With that in mind, you can sort of see where cars like this imaginary Barracuda may have come from:
That kink in the rear hatch/glass is pretty novel; the proportions are sort of strange, but I kind of like this, too. that rear glass opening almost feels like an open truck bed? Proportionally, it feels a little Lambo Urraco, too?
These smaller Dodge ideas are oddly appealing too, feeling sort of European/Opel-ish, but that could be the illustrator’s disregard for US lighting regulations, because rectangular lamps like those would not have been legal in America of 1974. The grille is interesting, too, feeling like more of an intake instead of just a grille, an idea that really gets pushed far in this sketch:
Look at the front end of this Dart sketch; it uses what look like correct-proportion US-spec rectangular sealed-beam headlights (1974 was the first year those were legal) but what really interests me is that grille: look how it waterfalls down from under that cantilevered hood, also really emphasizing that space as a place to suck some air the fudge in.
It’s weird, but I like it.
Like this wagon design:
That’s such a clean and crisp little wagon! Look at all that glass, it’s so airy! I really like this, especially the nice integration of the side marker lamps into the bumpers.
Somewhere, I suppose, there’s an alternate universe where these were Mopar’s cars of the late ’70s and ’80s, and I suspect that changed everything. If you don’t believe me, just as Empress of the Americas Grace Jones. She’ll set you straight.
Love the pencil thin pillars of old. Such good visibility
The drawing of the Plymouth Barracuda from the rear is the perfect prediction of the first generation Celica Supra! The glass section between the B and C pillar on the Celica looks quite similar as it got the same kink in it, but then the C pillar doesn’t have a kink in it and the tail lights are taller and more like a square. However, the first generation Celica supra did get horizontal tail lights, so that’s a perfect match!
What these images show is the difference between being able to create a good sketch, and the ability to create a good design.
Because the sketches are wonderful but the designs are shit.
What is the deal with these vertical white lines separating a segment/detail of a car from the rest of the sketch? Are these used to show different options or colors? Doesn’t look that way, especially in the Dodge GT drawing – the hood line is lower, but that’s it?
I think these images were probably across the fold and Torchinsky made a bad job of scanning them because he’s a hack.
aaaah, ok. Here I was, thinking this is some sophisticated designer’s choice.
The front of that Dodge Dart Sedan was the inspiration for the Dodge Charger Daytona EV pass through grill. True Story! (That I just made up.)
I’d almost forgotten these sketches, usually teased on the cover as FIRST LOOK! They were like horoscopes; you could put what you wanted out there, and when you were wrong, nobody would remember.
The one time I recall they nailed it was for the ’79 GM E-bodies. MT or C&D got pretty close; the artist must have seen something in person.
You mean the Berry Mini-T?
https://live.staticflickr.com/7746/17660853542_188718e6f6_b.jpg
My guess is that the two-door wagon concept drew from the Vegas and Pintos then offered and the expectation that Chrysler would go into any product niche in which GM and Ford could be found.
They’re very GM-adjacent, but I do like that Dart 2-door station wagon. Probably would’ve turned out as rusty as the Volare, though.
HAH! I also read that entire popular science that you linked to the other day. Thought these were great
So this is what The Bishop was doing in the 70’s.
That Mitsubishi Challenger front end just gives me such Pontiac vibes. Like 70s Sunbird or 80s 6000.
These remind me of the sketch a CIA agent made when trying to recall what the AK-47 looked like before it had been revealed outside the Soviet Union.
I like that Barracuda. If that expensive rear glass hatch ever breaks you don’t have to replace it because now you’ve got a Barra-ute-a.
That woman is clearly counting on the interstitial man to maintain a safe distance from the Hamburglio getting his quarter-pound fingerprints on the window.
Maybe the ad company was going for a Wacky Races/Speed Buggy crossover?
Bingo, the usual I-just-dropped-acid ad design.
I assumed the Burglarmeister had molested one or both of them in their early teens and maintained a strange and close mentor-manipulator relationship ever since.
Lol why does the Hamburglar always bring out the darkest jokes in us
He burgles our youth and our innocence as well as our lunches.
In this case, maybe it’s because he looks like he’s 100% there for the guy in the dark shirt. He’s about to make a sandwich, but not the kind you get at McD’s.
Because every time you eat a burger from that place, it makes you feel queasy and disgusted.
But no extra cost for the Ecoli Burger.
What a place!
I sort of get Dodge Omni 024 from the “Challenger” sketch above as well.
And Chrysler Laser/Dodge Daytona (the K Car sports coupes)
That’s probably where the kibosh on the 2-door wagon came from, the VW Rabbit was truly revolutionary and with Simca/Rootes already planning a clone it stopped being a question of “which sporty-coupe-adjacent derivatives can we build from this?” and more of “do we build a sporty coupe or the upright Euro 5-door hatchback or can we afford to do both?”
As it turned out they built both to lasting success and had budget for a pickup derivative, the Rampage, which was not but Chrysler only lost money on the unique body tooling as the unique rear suspension and most of the subframe carried straight over onto the T115 minivans.
I long for the days when you could dress in the same color as your car. I guess if we did that today we’d all look like bankers.
Coincidentally I am wearing all grey today. Mostly faded black, if I’m honest.
Yesterday a man took my lime green and purple motorcycle away to fix it, so I thought I’d dress to suit my mood.
Or White Party attendees.
Hmm. These look kinda sketchy to me.
Your pun almost gave me a stroke.
It’s best not to draw any conclusions from them.
I guess I was reading between the lines.
Y’all throwing shading now
Depends on your perspective.
I wish I could erase all these bad drawing puns from my memory.