Cars ahead of their time

[mikehamid]

Hey Guys. I was thinking earlier today about cars which were not popular at the time of launch, but would have been in later years. The reason being because they had created a new niche which was daring, but later to become popular.

I'll start off here with the original Honda Insight. A hybrid vehicle when the price of fuel was comparatively more reasonable. Smart thinking, however not for the time.



For the same reasons, the first Toyota Prius too.

[hairnet]

[Deleted]

when this came out it was ahead of it's time certainly for styling compared to it's predisesor even if the underpinning were quite traditional.


You either loved it or hated it when it was launched, but within a couple of years it was common place, even if it put off Ford being ambitious again for a long time.

[Porsche]

1901: Porsche Builds The World's First Hybrid

Yes, we're talking about that Porsche. At the tender age of 26, Ferdinand Porsche built a four wheel drive gasoline-electric hybrid car.

Although famous for his conventional automobiles, Porsche got his start at the Béla Egger Electrical company in Vienna, Austria, where he designed an electric hub motor. Fatefully, he joined coach builder Jakob Lohner & Co. in 1898.

Porsche incorporated a pair of hub motors in the first Lohner-Porsche design, which resembled a carriage with electrically powered rear wheels. It was easy enough to create a four wheel drive version simply by adding two more motors to drive the front wheels, and that's exactly what Porsche did to create the Toujours-Contente, intended as a record-setting racer. The vehicle required almost 2 tonnes of lead acid batteries to run, severely hampering performance and practicality.

By James Grahame.

[adam73bgt]

The big german car companies all seem to be making coupe styled versions of their saloon cars, think VW Passat CC, Audi A5, Mercs, BMWs et al. Many seem to put this down to the Mercedes Benz CLS but surely the (or one of the) first coupe styled executive car was the Rover SD1?

[luckyseven]

Mar 14, 2014 20:31:29 GMT Porsche said:

1901: Porsche Builds The World's First Hybrid

Fascinating thing it is, too . Certainly it'd have presence on the road even now, back then it must have looked like the Starship Enterprise. If the Starship Enterprise had been invented then, that is...





My vote would predictably go to anything rotary really... except for the fact they don't really seem to have caught on even now

[DWDarkWheels]

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought the Mini-based Alto Duo kitcar beat the Smart by a decade.

[MK2VR6]

I just knew I'd see an RO80 somewhere on this thread.
This totally blew the competition away and deserves the ultimate 'ahead of its time' accolade.

[joe90]

The Tucker Torpedo www.carstyling.ru/resources/classic/1948_Tucker_chassis_1010.jpg was way ahead of its time, safety features included a central headlight that moved as the steering wheel turned, a pop out windscreen if the car rolled, seat belts as standard, ect.
Did have a good film made about the cars conception and demise called A Man And His Dream.

Bryan

[bl1300]

1st small/budget car with automatic transmission.
1st car to feature a CVT
Technology used in it was way ahead of any other budget car in 1959. The variomatic never really caught on then but today they are becoming quite common amongst hybrids and city cars.

The OSI city was an idea ahead of its time as well with doors that are appearing on car like the new meriva and asymetric design but sadly that never got past the prototype stage

[Deleted]

1934 peugeot brought out the 601 which i think was the 1st retractable hardtop, followed by ford in 1957 with the fairlane then it reappeared with the mercedes slk in 1996.

[Smiler]

Mar 14, 2014 20:18:25 GMT @moore said:

when this came out it was ahead of it's time certainly for styling compared to it's predisesor even if the underpinning were quite traditional.


You either loved it or hated it when it was launched, but within a couple of years it was common place, even if it put off Ford being ambitious again for a long time.

The underpinnings were far from traditional. A lot of people seem to think that these were still Cortinas under the skin, not so. The engine and gearbox were the same but that's all and that doesn't make the car. The Cortina used an american style double wishbone front suspension set up on a subframe. The Sierra used McPherson struts up front attached straight to the body shell. The Cortina used a 4-linked live axle in the rear, the Sierra used trailing arm independent rear suspension. So the whole thing was new.

[Mystery Machine]

[Del]

^^^
I'd disagree and say:


Introduced in 1983, the year before the Espace.

[fred]

Mar 14, 2014 22:33:59 GMT Mystery Machine said:

This one smouldered for a short time as the public hadnt seen such a thing,
then the whole world wanted one, it was at the time the best of the best

[Dorset_Clive]

Everyone is raving about the BMW 1-series: a big engine in a small RWD car... from 1978

And two 4wd that were 'game changers' in their own way:

[Clement]

It's what it says on the tin. A bit too far ahead perhaps, most ironically...

[TurboDieselWeasel]

You can't have a thread like this without a bit of Tucker Torpedo

[moggyman]

1980s styling in 1970

[adam73bgt]

Mar 15, 2014 8:16:46 GMT Clement said:

Renault Avantime

It's what it says on the tin. A bit too far ahead perhaps, most ironically...

I saw one of these in a car park yesterday and I was thinking it is ahead of its time, I just couldn't work out when its time is