Weird ONES Most of the concept cars were so ridiculous and too futuristic that they never reach the production line. But that's what makes them extraordinary, where they are able to catapult our dreams and made us to forget at a moment about car insurance, mileage, gas and car repairs instead think about other things that are considered more important such an autonomous driving inside vehicles like hovercraft on the streets.
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| The IAD Alien Concept was a highly futuristic proposal for an advanced mid-engine supercar, and intended to be an attempt to out-Lamborghini Countach. (Picture from: Diseno-Art) |
It was done by
IAD (International Automotive Design), a design consultancy based in West Sussex, the UK and it is known that one of the design works of this company was the
Mazda MX5 (Miata) in 1989. According to
Wikipedia, the company developing not only the exterior and interior style for the vehicle in the UK/US (California) but also building prototypes locally prior to volume production in 1989. Unfortunately the company should ceased all its activity in January 8, 2013.😢
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| The IAD Alien Concept was a non-running prototype and is launched for the first time at the 1986 Turin Motor Show. (Picture from: Diseno-Art) |
1. IAD Alien Concept
Before that, the company introduced a unique car concept named the
IAD Alien at the
1986 Turin Motor Show. According to the designer, the
IAD Alien was a highly futuristic proposal for an advanced mid-engine supercar, and intended to be an attempt to out-
Countach.
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| The IAD Alien Concept offered unique futuristic design steering including advanced dashboard appearance inside its cabin. (Picture from: Diseno-Art) |
How come? It could be happened because at that time the
Lamborghini Countach
design was considered very futuristic and sophisticated so it was not
surprising that many designers tried to outperform the design, and one
of them was this concept made by this UK-based design consultancy.
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The IAD Alien Concept has modular construction which meant that the rear mounted engine could be swapped out quickly and easily for upgrades, maintenance or just to suit the driver or different occasions. (Picture from: Diseno-Art)
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This car has a design that is fairly unique although not as radical as the provocation design made by
Luigi Colani based on the
Lamborghini Miura in the 1970 called the
Miura Le Mans Concept, where the such car design consists of 'two-part hybrid car' with a
Lamborghini Miura rear chassis section and front passenger cabin designed 'like a glider cockpit'.
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| The IAD Venus Concept is launched for the first time at the 1989 Turin Motor Show and powered by an inline 4, 16-valves engine which was taken from the Lotus Elite Type 83. (Picture from: CarStyling.ru) |
Furthermore its design not only highlighted the
IAD's typical styling ideas, it also showcased innovative and unusual engineering solutions. One of those interesting ideas, if perhaps a bit over complicated, was the modular construction method which meant that the rear mounted engine of the car could be swapped out quickly and easily for upgrades, maintenance or just to suit the driver or different occasions, besides the
IAD Alien’s wheels were enclosed for aerodynamic efficiency reasons.
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| The IAD Venus Concept has unique wheel coverings which almost entirely encased the wheels. (Picture from: Diseno-Art) |
To access the interior traditional doors were dropped in favor of a one-piece canopy which tilted forward and provided almost unhindered entry and exit. The passenger compartment was well protected thanks to an integrated roll cage and sturdy side-impact bars. Unfortunately the car was a non-running prototype so many of these ideas were purely theoretical.
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| The IAD Venus Concept offered futuristic design steering wheel including advanced dashboard appearance inside its cabin. (Picture from: CarStyling.ru) |
2. IAD Venus Concept
It seems that the efforts of
IAD to exploit the
Alien design idea has not stopped here. Three years later, at the
1989 Tokyo Motor Show, this UK based company founded in the 1970's has launched another concept vehicle that has a similar design to the
Alien, called the
IAD Venus.
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| The IAD Venus Concept also applied unique scissor-type doors that allows two passengers access its cabin. (Picture from: Diseno-Art) |
Unlike the previous
Alien concept which was not installed with a propulsion engine, the
Venus concept adopted the
Lotus 912's inline 4, 16-valves engine with a capacity of 2,174 cc which was taken from the
Lotus Elite Type 83.
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