des Pudels Kern

“Dear, Jack, 2012”

Pininfarina’s version of the W113 series “Pagoda” Mercedes-Benz 230SL was the work of 28-year-old American designer Tom Tjaarda, who retained the platform, interior, much of the glass, optics, and the radiator grille from the original SL while completely restyling the bodywork. Presented at the 1964 Paris Motor Show, Tjaarda’s SL was a hardtop coupé planned for small-scale production, but it remained a one-off.

The Autobianchi A112 Giovani was a beach buggy concept based on the Autobianchi A112 hatchback with an Abarth-tuned engine. The fibreglass body was designed by Diego Ottina at Pininfarina, had a removable targa-style roof. Presented at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show, it remained a one-off. 

Munich, BMW’s hometown, hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, and to mark the occasion, the city’s car maker created a concept car to showcase the company’s expertise. Designed by Paul Bracq, the BMW Turbo featured futuristic gullwing doors and a rudimentary radar-based distance warning system. Powered by the 4 cylinder 2.0 litre turbocharged engine from the 2002 Turbo, only two prototypes were ever built.

In 1970, Marcello Gandini designed the BMW 2200 Ti Garmisch concept, presented on the Bertone stand at the Geneva Motor Show. It proposed an update to the styling of the BMW range and significantly impacted the design of the first generation (E12) 5-series and many subsequent BMWs. The original Garmisch was mysteriously lost, its importance was acknowledged in 2019 when BMW Classic meticulously recreated the concept (pictured).

The 1969 Volvo 142 Concept was a proposal created by Carrozzeria Coggiola. It was designed as a styling exercise to demonstrate how modern Italian aesthetic principles could be applied to Volvo's boxy and utilitarian 140 series. The design prioritised safety, demonstrating that sleek, streamlined forms could still incorporate Volvo's core structural requirements for occupant protection. It remained a singular design study that never made it into Volvo’s showrooms.

For the 1969 Turin Motor Show, Pininfarina prepared a beach-buggy concept based on the then-new Fiat 128. The 128 Teenager was designed by Paulo Martin, with a foldable windscreen, a CB radio, a built-in cassette player, and a lockable compartment for valuables under the rear seat. 

Designed by Citroën's then design director, Trevor Fiore, the Karin was revealed at the 1980 Paris Motor Show and was the company’s first concept car presented after Peugeot had taken control of Citroën in 1976. The striking pyramidal shape with a central driving position was never intended for production but was created primarily because the company had no new models to debut at the Paris show that year. The prototype was built by Carrozzeria Coggiola in Turin.

A retro-style kei-car concept revealed at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show in 2005, the Suzuki LC (Life Creator) paid homage to one of Suzuki’s first cars, the 1967 Fronte 360. Despite a positive reception at the show and the popularity of heritage-inspired cars at the time the LC didn’t make it into Suzuki’s showrooms.

Bertone presented the NSU Trapeze concept at the Paris Motor Show in October 1973. A radical rotary-engined prototype with the compact Wankel motor mounted amidships between the rear seats. Designed under Marcello Gandini, the Trapeze was compact at 4.03 m long but wide (18 cm wider than a Porsche 914), allowing the trapezoidal arrangement of the seats.

After its debut in 1967, the NSU Ro 80 became the company’s most famous product but also pushed NSU to the point of bankruptcy and into the arms of Volkswagen. It was voted Car of the Year for 1968 by European motoring writers. The car developed a reputation for unreliability because of its rotary engine in particular suffering from heavy wear on the rotor tip seals in addition to other issues. By the 1970 model year, most of the rotary engine’s problems were resolved, but the damage to the car's reputation and NSU's financial situation was irreparable. Plans for a 3-rotor version were abandoned. It remained in production until 1977 under Audi management but took the NSU marque with it when it was discontinued.

Presented at the 14th Tokyo Motor Show in 1967, the Mazda RX-87 concept had been designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was working for Bertone at the time. It was powered by Mazda’s 13A twin-rotor Wankel engine. Uniquely for Mazda, the rotary engine drove the front wheels. It entered production, with a number of modifications, in 1969 as the Mazda Luce R130, but only 976 were made. It remains the only front-drive rotary-engined Mazda

In 1975, Volvo experimented with a hatchback version of the 200 series, which would have competed directly with Saab’s Combi Coupé. They made 240 (243 DL 4-cylinder) and 260 (263 GL V6) prototypes, but at the time, there was an informal agreement between Saab and Volvo not to compete directly in the same market segments, so the project was abandoned. 

Volvo Cars of North America planned to have a series of 50 262C convertibles built by the independent company Solaire in California. Only five Volvo 262C "Solaire" models were built in 1981, using the 262 (a US-only 2-door version of the 264) as a base. Production was stopped due to concerns over the car's safety in a crash.

Launched at the 1960 Turin Motor Show, the Prince Skyline Sports Coupe was designed by Giovanni Michelotti. It was the first Japanese car to be styled in Italy and was made in very limited numbers. It was also the first of multiple generations of Skyline coupes. Prince Motors had an aggressive product placement policy, and the Skyline Sports Coupe can be seen in many Toho films of the early 1960s

Designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone and first presented at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show, the BMW 2800 Spicup was a proposal for a targa-style sports car. The name is a portmanteau of “spider” and “coupé.” The concept was based on a shortened BMW E3 platform. The roof panels slid out from a compartment in the roll bar.

The Toyota Publica Sports Concept of 1962 was a ground-breaking small sports car prototype with a sliding canopy roof that could be removed completely. It was designed by Shozo Sato and engineered by Tatsuo Hasegawa, a former WWII aircraft designer who prioritised advanced aerodynamics and weight reduction. It was powered by a compact 697cc air-cooled, horizontally opposed two-cylinder engine. It was put into in 1965 as the the Toyota Sports 800 minus the sliding roof but with doors