Future Retro: Drawings from the Great Age of American Automobiles

A great view of the work of truely talented designers. I enjoyed this book greatly. Great value for money.

A book of 1940s through 1960's automotive concept art done by mostly-GM designers whose job it was to think ahead. Fun to look at the different media used, as well as to try to identify what then-far-out styling features actually made it onto actual cars. These days, when all an automotive designer has to do is draw a boiled sweet potato and add windows, headlights, taillights and tires, it's great to relive an era of tailfins, chrome, baby moon hubcaps, whitewalls and two-tone paint jobs.

The drawings comprising Future Retro: Selected From The Jean S. And Frederic A. Sharf Collection consider a fine era of American auto design: the 1940s through the 1960s, when the focus was on futuristic vehicles from Detroit. Over fifty color drawings - many seeing print here for the first time, so don't anticipate repeat performances - capture futuristic, retro and sometimes downright odd vehicles pack a presentation inspired by an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. All the drawings are from the collection of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf, are presented in full-page color, and capture some of the ground-breaking dreams of auto design of the era. A 'must' for car fans and students of Americana.