Object Timeline

1952

  • Work on this object began.

1962

  • Work on this object ended.

2017

2018

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Concept Car

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Glen Winterscheidt and from the office of General Motors. It is dated ca. 1957 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is airbrush and ink on illustration board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Glen Winterscheidt's concept car design, probably drafted early in his career at General Motors, reflects his background in flying and aeronautical engineering. The vehicle's tailfins prominently extend off the rear. While serving little functional purpose, car tailfins, with which Winterscheidt specialized, evoke the speed and prowess of military planes. With the United States freshly out of World War II and the Korean War, the visual link between planes and cars is potent. The car is similarly enhanced with a protruding dagmar just behind the rear wheel. Named after the curvaceous 1950s starlet, Dagmar, this chrome projection was popular from the mid-1940s through the 1950s as another cosmetic addition.

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

Its dimensions are

24.1 × 52.1 cm (9 1/2 × 20 1/2 in.)

It is signed

Signed in pen and black ink, lower right: Winterscheidt

Cite this object as

Drawing, Concept Car; Designed by Glen Winterscheidt (American, 1929 – 2020); Office of General Motors; airbrush and ink on illustration board; 24.1 × 52.1 cm (9 1/2 × 20 1/2 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-18-20

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108806793/ |title=Drawing, Concept Car |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>