Cars, then no cars, and the music that came out of the gap.
The Buick Wildcat is a full-size car produced from 1963 to 1970. It was positioned between the LeSabre and the larger C-body Electra. It offered two-door hardtop, convertible, and four-door hardtop sedan body styles. It replaced the 1962 Invicta subseries and was itself replaced by the Centurion in 1971.
The 1961 Lincoln Continental is a four-door saloon styled by Elwood Engel. It originated as a rejected 1961 Ford Thunderbird proposal in 1958. Ford executives redirected it into a four-door, four-seat Lincoln. Its success convinced Ford President Robert S. McNamara to retain the Lincoln brand after considering its termination. Engel focused specifically on Lincoln vehicles during his time at Ford.
The 1964 Plymouth Barracuda is a fastback rebody of the Valiant, built on the Chrysler A-body. Its innovation was optical, not mechanical: the largest rear window ever fitted to a standard production car. It offered no new powertrain or chassis architecture at launch — only a new silhouette grafted onto an existing car. It beat the Mustang to market by two weeks, but did not define the pony car category on its own terms. It is significant as a case study in low-risk styling iteration, not as a driver’s machine or engineering departure.
A one-off 1979 concept built to show off Newport Pagnell—and chase a title it never claimed.
The Chrysler Turbine Car was an experimental two-door hardtop coupe designed by Elwood Engel and built by Chrysler with bodywork by Carrozzeria Ghia. It used the A-831 turbine engine, was produced in 55 units between 1963 and 1964, and featured power brakes, power steering, and a TorqueFlite transmission. All were finished in 'turbine bronze' paint.
The Ford RS200 is a purpose-built homologation special: mid-engined, all-wheel drive, plastic-fiberglass body by Ghia, built by Reliant in Shenstone to meet FIA Group B’s 200-unit rule. It exists only to enable a rally car—not as a design statement, luxury product, or road-going evolution.
The Firebird I is a 1953 GM concept car designed by Harley Earl. It was the first gas turbine-powered car tested in the United States. It features a single-seat cockpit under a bubble canopy, a bullet-shaped fiberglass fuselage, short wings, and a vertical tail fin. It was built for the 1953 Motorama show. GM never intended it for production.