“Nothing ages as quickly as yesterday’s vision of the future” For the most part, this statement by film critic and magazine editor Richard Nelson Corliss holds true. Visions of personal jetpacks and flying cars remain forever tied to the sensibilities of half a century ago, proof that people of the fifties had no clue as to what tomorrow would bring.
Retrofuturism is an entire artistic movement based up on these dated visions, many of them absurd and amusing. There are entire subgenres dedicated to alternate realities of fantastical creations that fly or travel at high speeds but powered by dated technologies, such as steampunk or dieselpunk. Of course, there’s also retrofuturism in some mid-century architecture.
As improbable and insane as many of these literal flights of fancy are, every now and then you’ll get a retrofuturistic vision that proves to be a lot closer to reality than you might expect. A prominent example of rather true-to-life interpretations is the 1997 movie Gattaca, a dystopian science fiction drama that takes place in the “not too distant future” and dealing primarily with the subject of genetic engineering. The world of Gattaca is one filled with hard-to-place-the-build-date modernist or brutalist mid-century architecture like the Marin County Civic Center; the roads are brimming with technologically advanced turbine or electric powered cars that are seemingly styled to look like landmark vehicles from the fifties and sixties.
Screen snapshots show the inhabitants of this future world rolling around in cars that looked like Citroen DS Chapron convertibles and even boattail Buick Rivieras…
..or Rover P6 sedans and Continental Mark IIs.
A Studebaker Avanti also cruises the streets of Gattaca world (you can barely see a Volvo P1800 in the scene as well).
What makes the choice of vehicles so astute is that the director, Andrew Niccol, chose vehicles that were generally a view of the future from minds that were not clouded by the prevailing aesthetics of what “the future” should be–the main reason why they work so well in the imagined twenty first century of the film. Any car enthusiast can typically tell the year of an auto show from looking at the concepts on the stands. For example, you flat out KNOW that it’s around 1957 if you see plenty of tailfinned, chrome covered, glass bubble roof concepts of what the next years would bring. Designers like Flamino Bertoni and Raymond Loewy ignored such visions and came up with their own forward thinking solutions which, ultimately, stood the test of time far better than the Homer Simpson car-looking design studies on the stands.
It’s a good flick, but my only wish was that Gattaca featured more examples of these devoid-of-trends choices of cars from the past as future EV transportation (or whatever kind of power that could make that odd whining sound in the film).
Let’s take a look at some possible choices for these genetically engineered future generations to draw upon for their transportation for the sequel (or prequel). Unlike the film cars, we’ll put in some effort to remove as much of the time stamping as possible and allow us to appreciate the shape. It’s essentially restomodding them (but beyond the capabilities of most restomodders) for the movie to look like “new” examples of familiar cars and keep most of the original as is. Can you think of some more examples that might work in Gattaca II: Legacy?
Oldsmobile Toronado
Advanced looking, devoid of cliches, and a bit sinister; this seemed to be a hallmark of the cars chosen for Gattaca, and the early 1966-67 Toronado has that in spades. Likely the largest engine ever in a front wheel drive passenger car, the 425ci V8 transfers power to the front wheels through a two-inch-wide chain (and later powered the iconic GMC motorhome). Such a condensed drivetrain means this flat-floored design would be ideal for whatever power source the people of tomorrow would put under the hood; a nuclear generator or a hydrogen powered turbine? Who knows.
The only thing better would be if Gattaca II featured a Jetway 707- the airport limousine variety of Toronado. In fact, it would totally fit the gestalt of the movie:
Tatra 603
Talk about a car that seemed to be looking for an appropriate time to exist, or even an appropriate planet for that matter. The Czechoslovokia of the sixties where it actually did live seems like a far less logical locale and age for this lozenge-shaped conveyance than Gattaca world. If you were to replace the rear-mounted, air cooled V8 with an ion generator or similar perpetual motion source it wouldn’t seem out of place.
Lamborghini Espada
The Countach might be your choice of ‘car of the future’, but the angular style puts it squarely in the seventies with other Bertone designs of the era. No, the Espada’s rather form-follows-function shape to give full four seat capacity challenges your visual preconceptions of what a grand touring exotic should look like, yet it does so with the restraint of the other cars in orderly-looking environment of the film (it’s also more restrained than the Lamborghini Marzal showcar that begat this thing).
Cadillac Seville
WHOA, wait a minute, you’re saying now. I HATE these things! I get it, but we need to look at the overall concept of this misunderstood ride. If there’s ANY company that was lambasted in the 1980s for making cars that missed the mark, it was Cadillac. It’s hard to find one of those ‘Ugliest Cars of All Time’ lists that doesn’t include the 1980-1985 Seville.
This car was essentially a ‘retro’ car before that genre became A Thing; an homage to the Hooper-bodied bustle back Rolls-Royces and Daimlers. I mean, you wouldn’t call the car in the image below ugly, right?
But what if you slapped lots of chrome and fake wire wheels and a front end of a different car on it? Well… then you’d have a problem… and you’d have a 1980 Seville. Still, if we removed much of the malaise-era gilding, we’d be able to appreciate what the Cadillac designers were trying to do. Also, I like the idea of a retrofuture car actually drawing its design from ANOTHER retro car from decades before. Honorable mention: Lee Iacocca’s 1981-83 Imperial could also fit the bill.
Retrofuturism Is Back In Style
So how was Gattaca in any way a true-to-life vision? To once again prove that I am Old As Fuck, Gattaca is now unbelievably over 25 years old and we could, possibly, be living in the future date that it envisioned. We seem to have escaped cloning and class-based genetic monkey business, but AI is running rampant. Also, in an odd twist of fate, we’re beginning to see automakers making the Gattaca world a reality.
Maybe it started with sports vehicles like the original Ford GT, but it’s still growing strong with concepts like the Alfa-Romeo 33 Stradale that updates the vaunted 1967 show car (though the new one could use a LOT more of the restraint of the original car before it would EVER be allowed to appear in Gattaca world).
However, we’re now seeing everyday machines going a Gattaca route, like BMW with their new 3 Series concept, the Vision Neue Klasse, a car that chucks all of the post-Bangle aesthetic chaos of the brand for a modern interpretation of the sixties “Neue Klasse” cars like the 1600 and vaunted 2002.
Will we see more of this retrofuturism trend in our driveways soon? I mean, I’d bet on that before I would on those personal jetpacks and two helicopters in every garage.
The BMW ‘Vision Neue Klasse’ Concept Is Promising A Lot For The Future Of BMW – The Autopian
The Reborn Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale Is A Refreshingly Pretty 207-MPH Supercar Tribute – The Autopian
Nissan Pulsar!
Also, the futurist building from Gattaca with the triangle on top was just demolished because it was built on top of an active earthquake fault.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLA_Building
To me, the Pulsar looks solidly Blade Runner…so not retro-future but rather alternate future perhaps. Still a really cool car, always loved the overall package back in the day and those taillights are still the coolest ever.
Thanks for that trivia on the building BTW!
Flying cars? Wings? 1959 Chevy Impala Steampunk version!
Oh man, my head is spinning! The Muntz Jet, née Kurtis Roadster?
Tuckers? What about Tuckers???
Rich- you know, I’m always thinking Tatra since Jason is such a fanboy, but the Tucker would have been a better choice!
I hereby nominate the Isuzu Vehicross! Hardly anybody remembers it. Pretty rare. Put bigger teeth in the grill, make the headlites angry eyes and it would be perfect for the next reboot of Deathrace 2000!!!
Totally. An alt version of it made an amazing futuristic convertible in Mission to Mars (driven on Earth, I mean). And I suspect Meet Dave Jensen will have something to say here as well… 😉
The retro designs started with Detroit’s foray into reviving the look and feel of late ’60s pony cars. I wouldn’t mind seeing that trend extended to include a few sedans and wagons.
I’m getting bored with all the huge trucks and SUVs. I want to see a modern take on the Vista Cruiser and the Country Squire. Also, the ’65 Riviera is just begging for a revival.
Hats off to Chris! Had a 65 Riviera! Yellow with black diamond tuck interior with wood trim. Teak wheel. Looked like it had been customized right from the factory. Vertical hideaway head lights! Tail lights frenched into the rear bumper. I never got tired of looking at that car…or driving it. I got t-boned in an intersection by an idiot in a Mustang trying to beat the light. I had no where to go and covered up as he hit the passenger door at about 45-50:mph! Shoved the Riv sideways about 10 ft. I wasn’t hurt thank goodness. Thinking could have been the stout X-frame Gm used back then. Bill Mitchell’s stylists had it going on back then!
A few months back, I saw a ’90s Town Car on the road. In great shape, but what really struck me wasn’t necessarily the car itself, but rather how was how it looked in comparison to everything around it – so low and wide, presenting such a sleek image in comparison to all the boxy, upright SUV/CUVs surrounding it.
It made me think of how ’60s sedans look in comparison to models from the ’50s.
Yes! So glad they didn’t wreck the Riv in Roadhouse! Patrick Swayze’s character had good taste in that film!
I think the main attraction for Dalton was the hidden headlights so he didn’t have to replace them every night after closing time at the Double Deuce. That, and the massive trunk that could accommodate four full-size spare tires.
That still was a beautiful car, even as a beater.
I can’t explain it, but I’ve always liked the looks of the Rover P6. It’s one of those designs that’s instantly recognizable.
As for the Jetway 707, I think they should have used it to ferry all those Gattaca Aerospace astronauts wearing Men’s Warehouse space suits to the launchpad.
I enjoyed that bit, that astronauts go to space in sharp double breasted suits and dark ties. I guess it was an artistic choice, but it did kinda feel like the budget had run out at the very end of the shooting.
My understanding is that it was budget-driven, as was the rest of the film’s look and feel. There really isn’t much futuristic tech in Gattaca, other than the biotech that explains how their system of genetic apartheid works. Even that’s more or less on the level of Star Trek TOS–tricorders and bioscanners.
The film reminds me a lot of the PBS production of The Lathe of Heaven, which was also low-budget and used modernist architecture (in Dallas) to portray a futuristic setting. Both stories are also primarily character-driven, so the technology is really just a MacGuffin.
It actually works pretty well in the film’s universe. Space travel is so routine at Gattaca Aerospace that it’s almost boring. That, combined with the society’s arrogance (we’re perfect, therefore nothing can go wrong) makes launching into space in business attire totally plausible.
Everyone is so driven by what society expects of them that they’re basically robots. They’re convinced they are only as good as their genetic profiles. Jerome couldn’t deal with being second-best because he was engineered to be a winner, while Irene is limited because she believes she can do no better than what her genes tell her she can.
The only people in the whole story who exhibit any real passion are Vincent and Gattaca Aerospace’s director, Josef.
Props for the Lathe of Heaven mention – I love it, and am still kinda sad PBS didn’t make more of these thought-piece scifi movies as it had planned (I think there’s one more it made – Overdrawn at the Memory Bank – but it’s largely unavailable). And to make my comment pure autopian, George is seen driving a Citivan electric car at one point!
Agree that Gattaca did such a good job at hinting at but not showing the tech. For me, it’s the scifi equivalent of how the best horror movies show very little of the monster, knowing your imagination can create something much more personally scary than they ever could.
Spot on with the horror movie comment. Our imaginations are always scarier than the real monster.
The Lathe of Heaven is on DVD, but I think you have to dig through YouTube and hope someone uploaded Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.
I’ve only seen bits and pieces of Memory Bank that looked like they were recorded directly off tv (which seems fitting, somehow), so this is a good reminder to check again – thanks!
Memory Bank was actually shot on videotape to save money. Still, it featured the incomparable Raul Julia, who could make reading the phone book entertaining.
Man some great cars but I say the real reason flying cars, possible duplicating drone design, will never exist in our lifetime is most drivers don’t pay attention and cannot safely drive in two dimensions. There is no way more than 2% of the population can safely fly cars, and to make it open to all morons the safety rules and equipment would not work.
Honestly a great take. It’s always been a really hard thing to accomplish, but I’d agree that it’s been killed by the smart phone
Haven’t read it yet but shouldn’t that be Gattaca? If you are talking Sci fi future with the most most exotic and beautiful Halle Barre I think so.
If we’re going to look at the good sci-fi cars, it’s only fair to look at the terrible ones, so hopefully we can get a Timecop article next week
Lola T70
CRX89- now you have me thinking of the chase scenes in THX1138 where they used those in the BART tunnels of San Francisco before they put the subway tracks in.
*Gattatra
Also worth mentioning is the all white minimal “future” caddy from the insanely awesome movie “Equilibrium”
Oh good call on a wonderful under the radar movie. I actually enjoyed how a low budget didn’t allow them to go all CGI nuts on the gunkhata bit. Made it seem more real.
Puppy cuteness saves the world
“I was conceived in the Riviera. Not the French Riviera, the Detroit variety.”
That line comes to mind every time I’ve seen a Buick Riviera since 1997.
I tell people I was born in Pontiac (city in Michigan). I get asked, “born, or conceived?”
Since it has been 26 years since Gattaca, I think a Gattaca II: Even More Electriky Boogaloo, should have cars that are ~25 years older than the originals.
A few suggestions:
Mustang SVO
Ford Sierra/Merkur XR4Ti
1st gen Infiniti Q45
Fieros
Subaru SVX
Subaru XT
1st and 3rd gen Toyota MR 2’s
Dustbuster minivans
They’re apparently actually developing a continuation miniseries for streaming, HBO or Showtime I think, so great timing!
I recall the GM dustbusters being prominent in one of those ’90s Knight Rider made-for-tv movies that took place in the not-too-distant future.
MaximillianMeen- I’d agree with most of those if we follow your logic. The Subarus are an especially good choice, and I think an early light bar Mercury Sable could almost work as well. I was about to say an 1986-88 Cougar as well (with most trim removed, of course) since it’s such an odd shape. Maybe the MR2s but I might go with second gen Supra first.
I was also considering a 1st gen Ford Probe which would have similar esthetics to the 2nd gen Supra, but I didn’t want to seem like a Ford fanboi.
I forgot to include the big baddie’s car, an Aston Martin Lagonda.
I nominate the NSU Ro80, as it’s a 60s car that looks like it came from the 80s, and being an early experiment in rotary power, it was very much a car from an idea of the future that never came.
I also nominate the 1953 Studebaker Starliner, as if you saw it, you would not guess that it was made in 1953. It’s unusually clean, sleek, and restrained for its era and certainly fits in a world where the Citroen DS also fits.
Speaking of Citroen, the SM needs no explanation for why it would fit, nor do numerous other Citroens. Screw it, French cars in general from the mid 50s-80s all fit this aesthetic.
Also google the Jehle Saphier, the wedgiest wedge car to ever wedge, a car that defies categorization and anyone’s vision of the future but its own.
A few more timeless car recommendations for Gattica2 that require nothing but EV conversion – in no particular order:
1965 Buick Riviera
1969 Aston Martin DBS
Maserati Quattroporte III
Series III Jaguar XJ6
1st gen Audi TT Roadster (sans rear spoiler)
1st gen Toyota Century
2nd gen Chevrolet Corvair
“Pagoda” Mercedes-Benz SL
Volkswagen SP2
Renault Alpine A110
Urban Runabout- some nice choices there! The early Riv especially, or even a ’67 Eldorado. Really any of the GM top end personal luxury coupes from the late sixties would be on point here. That QPTIII is also a good choice, and the VERY rare Citroen SM-adjacent QPTII might be even better:Quattroporte II (1974 – 1978) – Maserati Classic Cars | Maserati USA
Tell that to John Brunner, who wrote “Stand on Zanzibar”, “Shockwave Rider”, and “Sheep Look Up”, all of which were eerily close to our present day, nearly a half century ago. Politically/philosophically, “The Space Merchants” by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth was also quite eerie.
Kornbluth was a Boss. He also wrote The Little Black Bag and The Marching Morons, which inspired Idiocracy. It’s a damn shame he died so young.
I remember the production of Minority Report had a bunch of “futurists” consulting on the city of tomorrow, and all they came up with was ridiculous magnetic jellybean train-cars.
1965 Barracudas,1967 Marlins, lots of different Lincolns, squared-off Chryslers and Imperials, Pagoda SLs, Porsche 928s, TR7s…it’d be great to go to a custom car show and see a new trend.
Not quite the same, but the show “Hello, Tomorrow!” on Apple TV has some fun with cars.
Jimmy7- yes, Imperials in particular hold a certain sinister appeal. From the early sixties ones with the separate headlights to the Green Hornet ones that came later, and even the seventies ones inspired by Syd Mead drawings and of course the 1981-83 model.
The TR7 is one of many cars that Harris Mann (who died a few weeks ago) created nice concept sketches for that got bastardized in production by British Leyland.
A lot of the fuselage Mopars of the seventies might work. Or we could just have everyone driving Honda Es and Ionic5s because we ran out of budget.
Nice article. Reminds of the vehicles from In Time or The Umbrella Academy’s use of the Toyota Century
I don’t know why people are so freaked out about human genetic modifications. Do they LIKE cancer? Or diabetes? Or heart disease? Or gingers?
I like ginger on my sushi.
I like Sushi on my Ginger
This is the correct take.
Gingers are Hot
Well everyone’s got their own kind of freak…
Cheap Bastard- hey, a ginger here! You make it sound like we’re a bunch of freaks that sit alone doing antisocial shit like drawing Tesla lawnmowers and mail truck campers all day when in fact we…oh…never mind.
Well, former ginger at least, before the ginger hair decided to take a leave of absence.
So now you’re a daywalker?
If they started genetically engineering perfect human specimens*, then everybody would end up looking like me and you wouldn’t be able to tell us all apart.
*Defined as a middle aged guy with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and a bit of a gut.
AAHHHH!!! It’s like I’m looking in a mirror!!!
That’s what sketchy tattoo parlors and too much booze is for.
There was talk of gerbils.
Nobody here is gonna get that reference.
Why did you bother typing it out?
Somebody will.
And then I will know they are good people.
Lemmiwinks?
Team Coco.
Gotta pretty good idea what a future Wrangler will look like. I think Corvairs and the AMX would fit the Gattica aesthetic.
Canopysaurus- yes, exactly! The novice would say “Pacer” but a person of taste such as yourself knows that the understated shape of the Javelin would be a better fit.
I think either Corvair would work, either the covered-bathtub model or the gorgeous later model.
1960 Corvair 4 door with the cantilevered roofline.
This is just wonderful – Gattaca is one of my favorite movies, and Andrew Niccol one of my favorite directors! The look of Gattaca largely created the now-familiar visual trope that it’s the future when things look old.
But he beat you to the punch with the Olds. Niccol’s latest, Anon (with Clive Owen) features exactly such a Toronado I believe!
Jack Trade- it is indeed! A ’66 or ’67. I didn’t know about that.
I know they don’t have the budget to “update” the cars for the film (and most viewers don’t care), but I would love to see it. I mean, updates BEYOND those cool green headlights!
I recalled it b/c given one of the movie’s premises (everyone has implants that provide a field of vision HUD for an augmented view of reality), the car is specified when Owen’s detective looks at it.
Niccol did some good low budget work crafting the Dodge Charger police cars for In Time too I thought.
Regarding big FWD powerplants, the Toronado-adjacent Cadillac Eldorado got a 500 ci/8.2 liter V8 starting in 1970. I believe that would be the largest engine powering a FWD passenger car.
Prizm GSi- I should have said “at the time”, since even Olds went up to a 455 a little while later. Thanks for the catch!
And zero torque steer, thanks to that Unitized Power Package
Zero torque steer thanks to a 500 cubic inch engine putting out 170 HP.
In the early Toronado, it would have been a 455, with 400hp and 510 lb/ft
I dunno Jared- I will say that I recall Cavalier and Sunbird rental cars with well under 100HP that pulled the steering wheel to one side when accelerating. GM doesn’t need power to give you torque steer!
This just proves to me that you could build a new car with identical outer sheet metal skin to the ’66 Toronado and it would look totally fine today
As someone who’s not generally that into cars older than me, the Toronado has always held a lot of appeal. They are damn good looking cars.