Future Retro (Paperback)

~ Frederic Sharf (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

These drawings from a private collection showcase the beauty and ingenuity of automobile design, focusing especially on presentation drawings used to showcase concepts, present fun design ideals, or act as selling tools. From preliminary sketches to carefully drafted full-color illustrations, many of these drawings have never before been published. Future Retro looks at cars from a landmark period in automobile design in America: the 1940s to 1960s, providing a rare glimpse into the thinking of premiere Detroit auto makers. The text by Bill Porter, formerly chief designer for General Motors, details such matters as the role of the designer in auto styling, the demands and expectations of the major manufacturers, and the ways in which airplanes, rockets, and emerging technologies influenced postwar car design. Over 40 color plates showcase the drawings themselves, introducing us to cars that are highly retro, sometimes decidely wacky (a number of them were too outlandish to build), and always very, very cool. Future Retro offers an ideal lesson in car design and history lessons to practitioners and students of graphic and industrial design...as well as to anyone who has ever succumbed to the lure of the great American automobile.

Essays by Frederic A. Sharf.

Paperback, 11 x 8 in./88 pgs / 45 color.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: MFA Publications (May 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878466894
• ISBN-13: 978-0878466894
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164,225 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must' for car fans and students of Americana, October 10, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

The drawings comprising Future Retro: Selected From The Jean S. And Frederic A. Sharf Collection consider a fine era of American auto design: the 1940s through the 1960s, when the focus was on futuristic vehicles from Detroit. Over fifty color drawings - many seeing print here for the first time, so don't anticipate repeat performances - capture futuristic, retro and sometimes downright odd vehicles pack a presentation inspired by an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. All the drawings are from the collection of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf, are presented in full-page color, and capture some of the ground-breaking dreams of auto design of the era. A 'must' for car fans and students of Americana.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Cars Were Cars, July 7, 2009

By	Kenneth Smith "artistmac" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A book of 1940s through 1960's automotive concept art done by mostly-GM designers whose job it was to think ahead. Fun to look at the different media used, as well as to try to identify what then-far-out styling features actually made it onto actual cars.

These days, when all an automotive designer has to do is draw a boiled sweet potato and add windows, headlights, taillights and tires, it's great to relive an era of tailfins, chrome, baby moon hubcaps, whitewalls and two-tone paint jobs.