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The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

FH Joanneum Graz - KTM project

Industrial Design students in the 6th term at the University for Applied Science, FH Joanneum Graz, Austria showed concepts created in a KTM-sponsored project entitled 'KTM Superbrand' earlier this summer. Unlike typical transportation projects, this project called for students to create a product that would develop the transportation brand and push it to the next level. The brief asked students to develop a '2, 3, 4 or no wheel' niche product, which translated KTM values into a world 10 years from now.

Cars in the living room--art or furniture?

It takes a special kind of person to put a $100,000 supercar in the living room instead of the garage, but we say if you have the means, go ahead and do it. A photo collage that appeared on www.home-designing.com last week showed Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis sitting in houses as showpieces, like the works of art they are. Our enthusiast side says the owners should be out driving these spectacular pieces of machinery, but something tells us that if you have a Gran Turismo in the rumpus room, there's probably another one in your garage, too.