The Automotive Age dawned in the 1880s, replacing beasts of burden with gas-powered contraptions that became more elaborate as the subsequent decades passed. During the 20th century, the automobile assumed many roles, from unadorned transportation like Ford’s Model T, to luxury statements with names like Rolls-Royce and Mercedes . However it rolled, the industry strove to heighten the allure of the automobile with designs that captured the public’s imagination.
The promise of performance and speed was expressed through aerodynamic shapes that took lessons from a new aviation industry, and styling was often the most sellable feature about a car. Like the airplanes inspiring them, these cars looked fast, even standing still. Everyone, it seems, was imagining themselves behind the wheel of an automobile.
These 17 dream machines gave a glimpse of the future, whetting appetites by foretelling styling and technology trends. Some set new benchmarks for production, others were so outlandish that they could not possibly be more than a one-off, but each is responsible for a segment of the automotive DNA that continues to make up the most remarkable models currently on the market. Alfa Romeo’s Aerodinamica prototype was a radical concept in 1914.
Its novel design was based on the Alfa 40-60 HP, a road and race car made between 1913 and 1922 by the marque that would eventually become Alfa Romeo. In an age when most cars resembled square buildings with wagon wheels attached, the Aer.
