Top 10 Wedge designs of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Most of us younger generation will not know what a wedge car is, so let me explain. Between the 60s through to the 80s designers (in an attempt to make more aerodynamic cars) created vehicles which has resembles to a wedge used to stop doors for closing. The Italians lead the pack in this segment although the Americans, Japanese and Germans also jumped on the band wagon. These cars we not particularly popular with many people and were desired by even less, however today we do a top 10 of the magnificent car concepts that still had major impacts.

Number 10.
1972 Lotus Esprit M70.

We kick off our top ten list, with a car that actually did quite well, even filling in as a James Bond car. In the 1977 Bond flick The Spy Who love Me. After positive reviews, Colin Chapham decided to put it into production, using a widened and lengthened Europa chassis. In 1987 when GM took over they rebuilt it with many of its original design cues.

Number 9.
1989 Vector W8.

It took builder and head designer, Gerald Wiegert 20 years of development before it was revealed to the public. This was meant to be a U.S built Lamborghini competitor had aeronautical building technique as its main sale point but low budget and bad built quality eventually sent this company under.

Number 8.
1972 BMW E25 turbo.

Initially designed as a celebration to the 1972 Munich Olympics, it also spawned of many other BMW's such as the M1, 8-series and Z1. The back of the Turbo had 2 BMW badges to represent its good quality. It is also one of the best extreme concept sports cars in history.

Number 7.
1978 Dome Zero.

Dome is a racing car manufacture that tried to make a road going race car. Unfortunately they did not pass Japanese homologation laws and then had to go back to the drawing board adding and added U.S market bumpers and extra safety equipment, unfortunately it didn't help and all the investors pulled out ending the Dome to a Zero.

Number 6.
1970 Lancia Stratos Zero.

This car was launched at the Turin motor show and was the design platform that created many technologies that went onto the HF. The car was so low (838mm) that conventional doors didn't work, so to solve it they made the whole front lift to enter.

Number 5.
1972 Maserati Boomerang.

This car in 2005 was sold at christien's for a cool $1 000 000. It sat next to the Lotus Esprit M70, creating a lot of buzz (which is hard to do next to the lotus), not the lowest car at 1070 mm it still had a 15 degree rake windshield ( the lowest to see).

Number 4.
1969 Holden Hurricane RD001.

This car was ahead of its time, the front opened the seats lifted and the steering moved out the way. It was very low and very fast, it had a V8 engine. It is the 1st research and development car from GM Holden sadly not many more came out.

Number 3.
1970 Ferrari PF Modulo.

This magnificent design won 22 awards and gained quite a reputation. Its amazing to think that it almost was never created and went so far as to postpone the launch by one year because Sergio Pininfarina was happy yet. It was inspired wile after Paulo martin was designing the dashboard of a Rolls royce.

Number 2.
1971 Lamborghini Countach.

The Countach name was derived from the dialect of the Piedmont region in northern Italy, literally meaning astonishment and amazement. The Countach was featured in the 1981 movie, The Cannonball Run, and is one of the most replicated cars to date. The wild scissor doors were said to be used because the chassis is wide but we think its beacuase it looks so awesome.

Number 1.
1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo.

The unique name "Carabo" and its green paint were derived from the small green beetle, Carabus Olympiae. This is the car that inspired all the other wedges, Designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone fame, it was revealed at Porte de Versailles in Paris in 1968 to an absolutely stunned crowd. It is also the car that came first with the notoriously cool scissor doors.