As described in science fiction novels and comics, many American concept cars of the 60s looked like they were straight from the future. It looked like they were about to take to the skies. Many did not even know how to move independently on the ground, but this does not make them less beautiful. Visitors to the World's Fair in New York, held in 64-65, were amazed by the appearance of the fantastic concept installed at the booth of General Motors Corporation. The car did not stand on wheels but hovered in the air on brackets, emphasizing its swiftness and futurism.
The GM-X Stiletto was a golden opportunity for a group of young designers from General Motors' Advanced Development Department to express their imaginations without the strict limits of safety and production engineers. The car was designed as a slow-moving model and did not drive a single meter on its own. But he was stuffed to the eyeballs with innovations. Presented to the exhibition's visitors, it captured their imaginations with its fast-moving rocket-like design.
The car did not have side doors. Thanks to this feature, there were no front roof pillars, which provided an excellent forward view - this partially compensated for the incredible inconvenience of landing and disembarking. Demonstrating the capabilities of the company, the designers of General Motors stuffed the car to capacity with the most advanced technical achievements available at that time - for example, there was a climate control that could automatically maintain the set temperature in the cabin, ultrasonic sensors for the distance to an obstacle, a rear-view camera that transmitted an image to a screen in the middle of the front panel (there were a good half a dozen screens of various sizes in the cabin), and glass coated with a water-repellent compound that made it possible to abandon the windshield wipers.
There was no steering wheel in the usual sense - instead, in front of the driver was a tiny aircraft steering wheel, which made only half a turn from lock to lock. At the same time, the wheels were turned not by a common mechanism rigidly connected to the steering wheel but by electric motors that made it possible to change the steering characteristics - for example, in the parking lot, the wheels turned at a large angle with the slightest turn of the steering wheel, and at speed, the gear ratio changed so that even a significant deviation of the steering wheel from zero marks did not knock the car off course.
There were other innovations - for example, an innovative maintenance warning system that warned the driver in a female voice about the need for an imminent oil change (it also cautioned about the need to refuel). For communication with the outside world, a system of microphones and speakers was provided in the car, which was helpful, given that the vehicle did not have roll-down windows. At the demonstration of the Stiletto, the slogan was: "The sports car of the coming decade." General Motors designers were way ahead of their time - this fantastic car seems like an alien from the future even today. Five years later, the Stiletto again appeared before the public - but with a different limber and name - Pontiac Cirrus. He still didn't know how to drive... Today, both prototypes are in the museum of General Motors.
Source: greatest-cars.ru
Images: GM; gorillasdontblog.blogspot.com
