1media/Buick_background.jpgmedia/intro panel fA.jpg2020-06-02T12:28:59-07:00Introduction13image_header2020-08-07T11:12:47-07:00The shiny cars rolling off the assembly lines of Detroit’s Big Three automakers were among the most memorable symbols of the future—as it was imagined during the 1950s. Their drew inspiration from the U.S. space program and the aesthetics of jet aircraft, evoking the idealized lifestyle promised to Americans by Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. Automobile designers envisioned a sleeker future, in which drivers traveled effortlessly and comfortably to their destinations. Their innovations took shape against the backdrop of the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, supercharged by the October 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite and culminating in the 1969 Apollo moon landing. Many of the images seen here were originally published in the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, which had the second largest circulation in Southern California when it folded in 1989. The photographs are now a part of the USC Libraries’ Special Collections.
1media/1959_Cadillac_Cyclone_with_a_clear_plastic_canopy-thumb.jpgmedia/Cadillac_04.jpg2020-06-30T11:24:07-07:001959 Cadillac Cyclone with plastic canopy7plain2020-08-24T09:32:50-07:00Famed GM designer Harley Earl’s last experimental car was a two-passenger vehicle that borrowed many features from jet aircraft. With a clear plastic canopy and twin nose cones on the front end that housed obstacle-warning radar devices, the Cyclone was a memorable expression of space age-inspired design. The car also featured an intercom system that allowed passengers to communicate with bystanders without lowering the canopy. While the press dubbed it the “car of tomorrow,” its exaggerated features turned off buyers, and American manufacturers began to focus on vehicles with more restrained styles.
