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Object Timeline

1961	Work on this object began.
2017	We acquired this object. We photographed this object.
2018	We photographed this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Concept Car

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Pete Wozena and from the office of General Motors. It is dated 1961 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is color pencil, graphite, brush and gouache on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Pete Wozena’s 1961 concept car drawing embraces a later use of an aircraft design scheme, in this case with an unusual and striking three-wheel model with bold pointed hubcaps. The panoramic windshield would have provided the driver with an immersive view of the landscape. Car designs that looked like aircraft were most popular through the 1950s—the vision of flight stemmed from an obsession to find a way to effectively use a turbine-engine in a car, and the style reflected a desire to see the automobile as a retreat and escape from the drudgery of everyday life. The 1959 Cadillac Cyclone was GM’s last Motorama dream car with direct design influences from aircraft, and Wozena’s drawing was likely towards the end of this sweeping trend in automotive design.

It is credited Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.

Drawing, Pontiac GTO Concept
color pencil, marker, graphite on paper.
Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions....
2017-18-19

Red, rectangular piece of stainless steel cut from an E-class 210 Mercedes Benz with a slightly wavy contour and glossy surface; the reverse with unpainted metal closures is barely visible.

The Droog Collection Mercedes Benz Brooches Series Brooch
fragment cut from painted steel body of a mercedes benz.
The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
2016-34-77

The colorful advertising poster is for a sleek aero- car. Fantasy inspired vehicles were commonly used as a marketing tool during the middle of the 20th century to inspire and awe consumers. This poster is made up of several key images. Prominently placed horizontally in the foreground occupying most of the lower segment of the poster is a long missile shaped vehicle, above it and to the right is a large pierced spherical globe which is balanced at the base by two diagonal supports and lastly in the background and slightly to the left is an obscured low-rise building block with an attached slim rectangular tower reaching upward and off the pictorial space. Overall, the aero car has a tapered elongated front, reminiscent of birds’ beak, it appears to be in motion at high speed, pointing toward the left of the frame. The body is a deep red hue with two silver torpedo shaped engines on the underside, one has a bright whitish yellow flame emanating from the rear. An individual dressed in a hat and coat is presented from the waist up behind a transparent curved windshield. Wires are faintly apparent below the vehicle, supported by inverted V-shaped struts with oval openings, giving the illusion of a fanciful horizontal launching platform as the aero-car is poised to take flight. Swirling fog fill the lower half of the dreamlike image, and stylized letters, widely spaced, spell the designer's name, W-O-Z-E-N-A, barely perceptible along the border.

Drawing, Concept Car
color pencil, brush and gouache on paper.
Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions....
2017-18-8

Its dimensions are

H x W: 33.7 × 59.7 cm (13 1/4 × 23 1/2 in.) Frame H x W x D: 57.2 × 71.8 × 3.8 cm (22 1/2 × 28 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.)

It is signed

Signed in black color pencil, lower right: WOZENA

Cite this object as

Drawing, Concept Car; Designed by Pete Wozena (American, 1918–2006); Office of General Motors; color pencil, graphite, brush and gouache on paper; H x W: 33.7 × 59.7 cm (13 1/4 × 23 1/2 in.) Frame H x W x D: 57.2 × 71.8 × 3.8 cm (22 1/2 × 28 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-18-21

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2FYVCF/
Accession Number 2017-18-21
Object ID 1108806803