Object Timeline

1963

  • Work on this object began.

1973

  • Work on this object ended.

2017

2018

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Concept Cars

This is a Drawing. It was from the office of William M. Schmidt. It is dated ca. 1968 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is brush and gouache on illustration board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

These two automobile designs by Bill Schmidt Studio represent the transformed aesthetic of late 1960s American automobiles. The heavy chrome and fins popular in 1950s cars are here replaced with the elongated hoods and bodies of 1960s sports cars. The raised hood at the center of the lower design typically indicated the insertion of a high-powered V8 engine—similar hoods appeared in designs for Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Barracudas. Schmidt’s design may represent options for both a hardtop coupe and convertible automobile in the same series, a practice implemented by many major automotive companies as they expanded selection for these popular models.

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

  • Drawing, Concept Car
  • color pencil, graphite on paper.
  • Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions....
  • 2017-18-6

Its dimensions are

39.4 × 63.5 cm (15 1/2 in. × 25 in.)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Concept Cars; Office of Bill Schmidt Studio (American, active mid-20th century); brush and gouache on illustration board; 39.4 × 63.5 cm (15 1/2 in. × 25 in.); Museum purchase through gift of Paul Herzan and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-18-25

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108806823/ |title=Drawing, Concept Cars |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>