Car Articles

The Pontiac Bonneville Special concept car was unveiled at the General Motors Motorama in 1954. It was, indeed, the first 2-seater sports car Pontiac ever produced. It was an experimental car that had some amazing features like an all-plexi canopy with gull-wing panels on a sleek fiberglass body. The design of the Special was heavily inspired by America's fascination with aeronautic and rocket design in the 1950s, and employed a wind-tunnel inspired profile and high-tech bright work throughout the body, hood and grill.

Some of the very distinguished features in the car were Glass covered recessed headlights, like those on the 1953 Corvette, two rows of louvers on the fenders and twin "silver-streaks" on the hood that lead to functional air scoops.

The rear end styling was one of its most royal visual designs. There was this ultramodern twin exhaust chrome-ports featured between two bold and aggressive fender fins. Yeah, it looked similar to what we see on today's Porsches. Also featured on the Pontiac Bonneville Special was a custom spare tyre enclosure with space-age wheel disc that gave the car a jet-powered appearance.

Interior styling in the Special was one of best in its days, and would give a run for its money to the current computer-designed automobiles. The sleek dashboard flaunted a clean horizontal layout of working instruments which made the interior look quite futuristic. Even the gauges were sealed in by a contoured metal facia with brushed finish.

A matching metal, center console with functionally modest gear shift handle, twin vent-control levers, and ignition key slot lay between the parabolic shaped, leather bucket seats. We could get a hint of Corvette styling in the three spoke steering wheel that also housed the large speedometer that read a top speed of 120 mph.

One of the 2 existing 1954 Bonneville Specials made its appearance during the 2006 Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction and sold for $2,800,000 (+8% commission).

The De Lorean DMC-12 sports car was manufactured by the De Lorean Motor Company. It remained in production for just about two years and was popularly known as the De Lorean. It was also the only model produced by the company. The DMC-12 featured gull-wing doors with a brushed stainless steel body and Yes, it is the same car that was featured in the Back to the Future trilogy.

The first prototype was unveiled in March 1977, and production of the car began in 1981 at the DMC factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. The production version of the car included several new changes, such as the hood (bonnet) style, wheels and interior. At least 8,500 DMC-12s were made before production ended in 1982, and as of 2006, 6,000 are estimated to still exist.

Though the car was manufactured in Northern Ireland, the DMC-12 was intended for sales in the American market. Hence, all the production models were left-hand drive, designed to be driven on the right side of the road. Some of the cars were converted to right-hand drive by specialist mechanics in the United Kingdom. But the company did not make any of the right hand drive DMC-12, which made it quite unpopular in the United Kingdom.

In the year 1941, Chrysler was growing and it wanted to show the world that their technology and styling was among the best. The company manufactured just six of these new cars and showcased them across the country in various shows. Each of these had different trim and color schemes. The car quickly gained popularity as the "pushbutton car", which was because of its push button feature. You just needed to push a button to open the rear deck lid, doors, and windows.