Sometimes your wallet won’t stretch to purchasing your dream motor. But don’t worry too much, there are some cars that even the biggest bank balances can’t buy, the dream cars that will forever remain a dream. These are the concept cars that never go into production.
Oldsmobile Starfire
Named after the Lockheed F-94 Starfire jet-fighter, the Oldsmobile version was described by the critics at the time as a dream car for its styling and innovation.
The Starfire certainly had plenty of star quality, much of which was born from a revolutionary plastic bodyshell, which allowed the concept to achieve ridiculous curving and airflow. The Starfire would also incorporate a 200 hp Rocket V8 engine and a wraparound windshield, which ensured a super-charged driving experience, with the top down, but the aim of protecting the passengers of the worst of the air-turbulence. The Starfire would also feature a combination bumper-grille which became a staple of the most classic cars of that period.
The interior featured bucket seats and was finished with a turquoise and white leather colour scheme, to match the turquoise bodywork.
Though not directly designed by concept pioneer Harley Earl, it was his team that led the project at Oldsmobile and as with many of the more famous concept of the time, it was debuted at Motorama in 1953.
This was not a concept which didn’t capture the imagination of the public, or was too expensive to produce. The idea behind the Starfire concept was to gauge public reaction to some of its more ‘out-there’ styling features.
The fact that we see many of these styling elements in the classic cars of the 1950s, including the Corvette tells us as much as we need to know about the success of the Starfire concept.
Oldsmobile certainly deemed the Starfire concept a success, so much so that they rekindled the name for two different generations of cars through the 1960s and 1970s.