Presented altogether for the first time, 12 of GM’s most significant, dramatic and one-off concept cars were on display from August 3 – November 11 at the esteemed Audrain Automobile Museum in Newport, Rhode Island. As the first curated exhibition GM has ever allowed on the East Coast and with so many of its precious concept cars, this exhibition represented an extraordinary opportunity for the public to have access to some of the highest expressions of American automotive style. Cars including the 1938 Buick Y-Job, 1951 Le Sabre Concept and Chevrolet Aerovette were generously loaned to the museum from the General Motors Heritage Center in Warren, Michigan and the Lingenfelter Collection in Brighton, Michigan.
“Since my first visit, I have loved the unique vision of the Audrain Automobile Museum. It was an honor to create this exhibition working closely with both GM and the Audrain to celebrate such an important part of American design history,” says Co-Curator Donald Osborne. “To be able to present the innovative concepts and extraordinary creations developed under Harley Earl’s direction and that of his successors that shaped consumers’ tastes and tested the latest technologies before any of it was considered commonplace was very exciting for me.”
As expressed in the Audrain’s original announcement, ‘Harley Earl was hired by General Motors in the mid-1920’s, and was put in charge of GM’s newly formed Art & Colour section in 1927. This was the automobile industry’s first in-house design department introducing sophisticated looks that stood out from the engineering-driven designs seen heretofore. This design shift differentiated the status of each car from others within the General Motors brand family. The 1938 Buick Y-Job was the auto industry’s first ‘concept car’, a car designed and built not to go into production, but instead to provoke the public and draw their attention to the brand’s future products. Later concepts like the Cadillac Le Mans and Chevrolet Corvair were designed to be shown at Motorama, an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961 to highlight the best of their current products, design and technology… Developments like the rain-sensing convertible top on the Le Sabre Concept and turbine engine powered Firebird III were well ahead of their time, and demonstrated to the public that of which GM was capable.’
The ’Styling the Future: A History of GM Design & Concept Cars’ exhibition coincided with the inaugural Newport Concours & Motor Week in Newport, Rhode Island, October 3-6, 2019.