
There are few things that look more dated now than old films about the future. Which is kind of ironic of course because really you might expect a film that was set thirty years in the future but filmed thirty years ago to look… contemporary? Only that would mean that the prediction would have to be absolutely spot on which would be creepy. Nostradamus sadly never directed any movies in the 80s, so that never happened.
Instead, retro depictions of the future now serve two different purposes. For one, they’ve become kind of chic in an ironic way (as exploited beautifully in the awesome game Blood Dragon). At the same time though, they’re also a rather interesting way to look at the public psyche as it was back then. Seeing what we thought future tech would look like when we didn’t have it tells us a lot about how the tech and politics at the time shaped what we thought was important.
These retro-future car concepts of the 70s and 80s do exactly that and it’s fascinating seeing what they got wrong and what they got right.
The main mistake with retro visions of the future? Focusing too much on style over substance. The future won’t be silver unless it has a good reason to be!
- 1972 Maserati Boomerang
- 1979 Dome Zero P2 2
- 1979 Dome Zero P2 3
- 1979 Dome Zero P2 4
- 1979 Dome Zero P2
- 1981 Citroen Xenia concept
- 1983 Buick Questor concept car
- 1984 Ford Maya concept car
- Alfa Romeo Carabo
- Alfa Romeo Navajo
- Citroen Karin 1980 Dash
- Citroen Karin 1980
- Lamborghini Athon concept car 3
- Lamborghini Athon concept car
- Lamborghini Athon concept car2
- Lancia Bertone Stratos 2
- Lancia Bertone Stratos
- Maserati Boomerang 2
- Maserati Boomerang
- Toyota FCX-80
Source – darkroastedblend