[mobike008]

As we all car buffs know, Detroit is known as the “Motor City” and that too for a reason. It’s a city that got it’s fame and fortune from the automobile industry as the Big 3 American Corporations-General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) are based out of this city.

From the initial periods when automotive started becoming popular in the US, Detroit designers have always led the way in car design. The futuristic concept cars, roaring muscle cars, and sleek racers designed in and around the city shape our ideas of what a car can be.

Working on paper, in clay, and in metal, their ideas drive American car culture and inform the way we get around every day.

We were fortunate to visit an exhibition that is currently going on and organized by Detroit Institute of Arts will highlight the artistry and influence of Detroit car designers working between 1950 and the present day. They brought together 12 coupes and sedans designed across that 70-year period to highlight significant achievements in style and technology. The 12 cars include unique examples of experimental show cars created for display and iconic production models sold to the mass market. Design drawings*will allow you to imagine the creative and innovative processes that bring a vehicle from the drawing board to the street.

A selection of paintings and sculptures will highlight the conversation between the American art world and the car culture from the 1950s to the present day.*

Unfortunately, our appointment (Yep, due to pandemic they are allowing only by appointment and we got a slot for 4:00pm and Museum closes at 5:00pm, so it was a hurried visit and could not capture most of the displays properly).

Hopefully, we will visit again in near future and will add to this thread. But, this will hopefully give you a quick glimpse into Detroit Style and Culture of Muscle cars.

[mobike008]

There were a total of 12 cars that were present in the exhibition and multiple drawings of how they were conceptualized adorned the walls of the exhibition (Unfortunately, I could not take pictures of the sketches).

There was also a video of how the Detroit designers started with sketch which was later turned into clay models and then became actual concept or production cars.

This post has the following beautiful cars :

a) Oldsmobile Tornado (General Motors)
b) Plymouth Barracuda (Chrysler Corporation)
c) Ford Mustang (Ford Motor Company)
d) Pontiac Firebird (General Motors)
e) Corvette Stingray (General Motors)
f) Buick Le Sabre (General Motors)
g) Chrysler 1960 Model

Each of the above cars in person took my breath away. They were so amazing to look at and I visualized folks who must have driven these cars back in the time must have been wealthy individuals showing off their great motoring taste.

Oldsmobile and Stingray in particular felt really good in the flesh.














































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[mobike008]

Post the concept of muscle cars phenomena that started in 1960's to the efficient designs in 1990's.

I was a bit surprised that other two iconic muscle cars from Dodge were not present (Charger and Challenger). I guess the reason must be that this exhibition is sponsored by some wealthy individuals who have access to these cars and wanted to showcase these styles of erstwhile Detroit designs.

What's even more surprising to know which I didn't know till I visited this exhibition that Lamborghini Portofino was a car designed by one of the chief designers of Chrysler for Lamborghini. While the car didn't look that great from a design perspective but, I learnt something new that day.

The Ford GT concept car that eventually made it to the Lemans was impressive in flesh. They also had the latest version of GT (2017 model) also present in a lovely blue shade that looked something like from our generation .

[mobike008]

I could not do justice to the exhibition due to the time limitation and also could not click pictures of all the iconic cars present. However, I thought of sharing this thread with limited content and pictures to car lovers on the forum so they can get the glimpse of these beautiful cars that took birth in Detroit.

They also had a lovely open area with murals painted on both sides of the walls which showed the automotive workers working in factories back in 1950's

This has been our first visit despite living here for last 3+ years. Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) is a pretty huge museum with many other sections which we could not explore as the museum was closing at 5:00pm sharp.

Hopefully, we get an opportunity to go back again soon to enjoy these beauties before this exhibition wraps up.





















Murals on the walls

https://youtu.be/XZimy8hhndQ

Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) which is located on the iconic Woodword Avenue in Downtown Detroit

P.S : Woodword Avenue is known for putting up a "car show" every weekend from Friday to Saturday where folks come with chairs and just sit on the pavement and ogle at the cars that drive-by. This happens every weekend and is a great pass-time for car lovers

https://youtu.be/5tyz8a50N8E

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!