Forgotten Concepts

[Satty]

Ok, so these two are old, very old.

The Backpack was a 1995 concept that was, frankly, cool. Almost useless (c'mon, a pickup with a 3ft bed?) but totally cool. Should have been produced just for the sake of producing it.

The Expresso (wikipedia lists it as a Plymouth, the website the pics come from says its a Chrysler), on the other hand, should have had a coathanger abortion before the public could be subjected to it.

Just a couple random Plymouth concepts from back in the day.

[CARBIZ]

Okay, you're trying to make the Toyota concepts look good, aren't you?

BTW, the heading should read: BEST FORGOTTEN Concepts.

Now look what you've done: my eyes hurt!

[Satty]

Dodge Copperhead anyone?

[ocnblu]

That Expresso looks like something from the 2008 Bejing Auto Show.

[Sixty8panther]

The Bakpack's "storage bin" bed was more like 13" long, not three feet.

Ok, so these two are old, very old.

Old? Very old?

Now THIS is an old concept car (1965 Plymouth VIP)

And this is a VERY old Plymouth Concept (1958 PLymouth Cabana "idea car")

[mjdecker]

One of my favorites is the the Pronto Spyder

And browsing on Google I came across this...

1988/89 (listed both on some sites, idk what year it's really from) Dodge Intrepid concept...

seems Dodge was very 'Stealthy' on that one...

[Satty]

Old as in I hadn't yet hit puberty when I actually saw them, yet they are modern enough to be nearly relevant in the modern market.

[Sixty8panther]

Well O.B. took the words right out of my mouth... the Chinese

have a whole team of car "designers" who are working on a

car that will make the Expresso look attractive by comparison.

[Cory Wolfe]

Wasn't "Espresso" a trim package on Plymouths for a while? I recall seeing "Espresso" in fancy script on the side of more than one Voyager, Breeze and Neon.

Yes, it was.

[ZL-1]

I remember the Backpack: cute beyond description! The Expresso makes me laugh

[Satty]

The Backpack seems like something that would sell in cities, like a Smart, only larger and slightly more useful.

[§carlet §wordfish]

The Portofino and Charger R/T are my favorite Mopar concepts; the coolest sedans never made.

[ZL-1]

The Backpack seems like something that would sell in cities, like a Smart, only larger and slightly more useful.

[douglask]

The Backpack looks like a Kei class pickup. Suzuki exported a number of Kei class pickups/SUVs.

Australia got the Suzuki MightyBoy in the 1980s :

Both Australia and the US got the Suzuki X-90 (which is more of a 2 door SUV than pickup ) in the 1990s:

While the MightyBoy was popular in Australia, the X-90 was a flop in both the US and Australia.

[!!!TED!!!]

My favorite Chrysler concepts of the nineties (by division):

1994 Dodge Venom

1998 Jeep Jeepster

1998 Chrysler Chronos

[Drew Dowdell]

A Subaru Baja without the utility and good looks ? Sign me up!

[Diehard GrandPrix Fan]

I have a few as well that are largely forgotten:

Buick Bengal Concept:

Buick Wildcat Concept:

Daewoo Bucrane Concept:

Daewoo Joyster Concept:

Daewoo Mirae (meaning future in Korean) Concept:

Ford Splash Concept:

Hyundai HCD 1 Concept:

Hyundai HCD 3 Concept:

Pontiac Club De Mer Concept

Pontiac Salsa Concept:

Pontiac Stinger Concept:

Pontiac Trans Sport Concept:

Ssangyong WZ Concept:

Volkswagen Scooter Concept:

Edited April 14, 2008 by Diehard GrandPrix Fan

[BrewSwillis]

I always thought the Jeep Treo was stupid, but I guess it was supposed to be a city car for Japan's crowded streets. It carried two bikes on the back:

[CMG]

My favorite concept forgotten in this thread is the Chrysler Firepower..

[ZL-1]

The Plymouth Pronto Spyder was a very cool concept! Too bad Chrysler never produces it.

That Intrepid concept looks like a cross between the Dodge Stealth and GM's CERV concepts. It makes clear where the design elements for the Stealth's front and rear came from.

Edited April 18, 2008 by ZL-1

[cire]

I think Chrysler LLC should use the Copperhead and ZEO concepts as inspirations for design cues for car products for the Dodge division. To me, Dodge should be the sporty, affordable, mainstream division for Chrysler LLC. The cars should be sleek and sporty. I think that most of their current car products have taken on too much of a "Ram Tough" truck theme; this theme is fine for trucks and SUVs (and maybe crossovers or minivans to a lesser extent?), but not for the car products. I think taking a sleek and sporty approach would make their car products stand out more in the mainstream market.

[Sixty8panther]

As far as grilles go there's no new ideas past few decades,

it's just a bunch of the same recycled ideas, sometimes

well executed but usually jut the same old same old.

The one cool thing about Daewoo's styling was that semi-

cool art-deco grille deisgn. vertical waterfall grille in the

center flanked by two horizontal ports. I thought this one

design cue had real potential!