New York, NY (December 14, 2016) – “The Future of Automobility” holiday window display was unveiled today at 432 Park Avenue. The display is curated by Stanford University Professor Michael Shanks of the Center for Design Research and the Historic Vehicle Association. On display are the:
Shell Concept Car (2016)
From today — one of the world’s most efficient internal combustion cars. Spearheaded by Shell, the project challenged the limits of current technology. Together, Gordon Murray Design, Geo Technology and Shell created a compact and nimble city car with reduced weight and friction that achieves 89 mpg. This is its first New York appearance.
Courtesy of Shell
GM Firebird II (1956)
From sixty years ago — at the New York Motorama show in 1956, General Motors unveiled a dazzling vision of the future — a gas turbine family car with autonomous driving features guided by maps and a communication system displayed through television screens on the dashboard.
Courtesy of General Motors
Benton Harbor (1896)
From one-hundred twenty years ago — this is the very first automobile built in Michigan. Fifteen years later, Detroit was the automotive capital of the world. This wasn’t evolution — it was revolution. It was disruptive technology that changed virtually every aspect of American life.
Courtesy of Antique Automobile Club of America Museum
Disruption! New York City went from horses to horseless in less than fifteen years. Disruption in automobility is again on the agenda. Will we be safer with driverless cars as first envisioned sixty years ago? Will we love cars with less weight and less room that use far less energy? How will companies collaborate to realize the power of less? These are some of the questions to contemplate as we face dramatic changes in The Future of Automobility.
About
The Center for Design Research at Stanford Universityis a community of scholars focused on understanding and augmenting engineering design innovation practice and education.
The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) is dedicated to preserving and sharing America’s automotive heritage. In 2014, the HVA established the National Historic Vehicle Register and partnered with the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Heritage Documentation Programs and Library of Congress to document historically significant automobiles in America’s past. The HVA is supported by over 400,000 individual historic vehicle owners, key stakeholders and corporations such as Hagerty and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, as well as numerous individual benefactors. Please visit: historicvehicle.org
The exhibit was created in association with General Motors Corporation, Antique Automobile Club of America Museum (Hershey, Penna.), The NB Center for American Automotive Heritage (Allentown, Penna.) and Macklowe Properties with support from Shell.
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