DESCRIPTION

Cartopia: Mid-Century Concept Cars in Culture will focus on concept car design in the mid-20th century. America's post-war boom brought a buoyant, optimistic mood that found its most powerful expression in self-steering, bubble-topped dream cars powered by jet engines that claimed to predict the future. These designers' fantasies penetrated the culture far beyond auto show stands to appear in ads, movies, TV shows, model kits, and toys that excited the public about a sure-to-come, brilliant future.

Cars were simpler affairs before safety and emissions regulations. They were easier to treat as rolling sculptures. As the automobile was most people's major purchase in a consumer-driven age, autos both expressed and pushed the culture. Freed from the practical considerations of production vehicles, these visions represented imaginative leaps into pure art by the period's most talented industrial designers.

Bio:

Jim Cherry grew up riding in his father's classic automobiles, from first generation Porsches to a Studebaker Hawk. His resume includes jobs as test driver for Ford Motor Company, product introduction coordinator for Lincoln, and writing both online and print articles on automotive subjects. Cherry's focus on design will be featured in Cartopia, his book about 20th century experimental cars soon to be published by Taschen.