(EXPANDED FROM 6/1/2023)
The November 1940 issue of Popular Mechanics included an article about the just-introduced 1941 car models. However, curiously enough, Detroit’s latest wares were overshadowed by a cover story about the “automobiles of tomorrow.”
Designer George Walker — later to head Ford Motor Company’s styling department — wrote about a fantastical future. He pictured cars with engines placed in the rear, a swoopy body made of plastic, and seating arrangements that could be reconfigured for eating or sleeping.
Indie Auto respects copyright — click here to see the Popular Mechanics article
“Entirely practicable, such a car could be built now — and introduced along with the new 1941 motoring creations — except for one thing and that is a part of the psychology of the car buyer, himself.” Walker suggested that although consumers were “greatly intrigued by sweeping innovations and radical departures in motorcar designs,” they also did not accept “great changes rapidly” (1940, p. 120A).
Walker argued that putting the engine in the rear “will take up far less space.” That change, in combination with eliminating running boards, would result in a much roomier “home on wheels.” New seating arrangements would be possible, such as a “fixed driver’s seat and a movable divan and easy chair.” A portable table could also be set up and there would be “plenty of convenient storage places, even little refrigerated cupboards for food and drink” (1940, p. 120A).
Idea of a transparent top was less fun than the actuality
Walker’s ideas may have been at least partly inspired by the Stout Scarab of the 1930s. He envisioned a car of the future that was somewhat like the camper vans first offered in the 1960s. These were roomy and flexible enough to offer living room-style accommodations.
However, one big difference was that Walker envisioned a car made of plastic that had a sleek, rounded shape. Synthetic glass would allow “airplane-style windshields” and curved windows would be “well-nigh unbreakable” and “will not fog or freeze or collect condensation” (1940, p. 120A).
Despite the large expanses of glass, the car’s driver could maintain “whatever type of automatic ‘weather’ he desires, winter or summer, simply by setting a handy control dial” that cleans, dehumidifies, cools and circulates “a constant supply of new air” (1940, p. 120A).
The closest that postwar cars got to transparent tops were high-end Ford and Mercury models from 1954-56. They didn’t sell very well because they “cooked the passengers on even mildly warm, sunny days, and was intolerable in the Southwest” (auto editors of Consumer Guide, 2024).
Who was slower changing: Consumers or executives?
I give Walker credit for thinking outside the box — and focusing on design ideas that made cars more versatile. However, he didn’t do a very good job of predicting the future.
More than 80 years later, the most popular vehicles in the U.S. market still have front engines, steel bodies, fairly boxy shapes, openable windows, and relatively few ways to reconfigure seating positions. Perhaps the most prominent advancement has been transparent tops that don’t cook their passengers.
Was Walker right that automotive design evolved slowly because consumers could be intrigued by new ideas but didn’t accept them quickly when it was time to buy a car? Or was the bigger brake on design innovation the conservatism of U.S. auto industry executives?
This may well be a chicken-and-egg situation, but I suspect that overly cautious executives were the bigger problem, particularly once industry consolidation in the mid-50s squeezed out a substantial amount of design diversity.
NOTES:
This story was originally posted on June 1, 2023 and expanded on Sept. 10, 2025. Product specifications and production figures from Flory (2009).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2024. “Crown Victoria: The Gem of Ford’s 1955-56 Fairlane Series.” How Stuff Works? Updated April 29.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2009. American Cars, 1946-1959: Every Model, Year by Year. McFarland & Co.
- Walker, George; 1940. “Automobiles of Tomorrow.” Popular Mechanics. November issue: pp. 666-667, 120A.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Plymouth (1941)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Ford Crestline (1954); Ford Econoline (1975)
To me, Walker’s concept sounds like the Stout Scarab.
Good point. I need to fish out my photos of a Scarab and see if they are decent enough to post.
As a baby boomer, I equate those acres of glass with the melted crayons on the dashboard and package shelf that everyones parents had. BTW, it’s not just the article in the link, it is the entire magazine and well worth the read,especially the pages and pages of ads. I can’t decide whether to become a saw sharpener, frog farmer, or learn the secrets of the mystics of Tibet.
Oh, yeah — the Popular Mechanics’ issues from that era are hilarious.