81 Epilogue: Wedge Shaped Car Design Going Forward Wedge cars have captured the attention of the public since their inception. We have noted in this review that the Tesla CyberTruck regenerated interest in folded paper and wedge designs. The announcement of the Tesla Cybertruck in 2019 followed by its official debut in November, 2023 may keep wedge design in the forefront of the public’s mind for the foreseeable future. In July 2021, the 42nd Concours d’Elegance of America, held in Plymouth, Michigan, featured a wedge car class, simply called “The Wedge”. Designer, Richard Vaughn was tasked with introducing the wedge class in the program. He began with referencing architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who advocated that often, less is more. Beauty, being best expressed through simplicity of line and economy of form, Vaughn said of van der Rohe thinking. In 2024 the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will host one of the largest classes of cars ever presented on the lawn—20+ wedge cars from the 1960s thru the early 1980s. In addition, a Discussion Forum on the history of wedge cars prior to the concours will bring added emphasis to this design going forward. Giorgetto Giugiaro employed van der Rohe rules in his folded paper designs, noted earlier in our review. Vaughn generously concluded that the wedge car movement “was one of the most important trends in the history of the automobile”. This is a debatable claim, but we acknowledge that wedge car design elements continue to intrigue. Vaughn also noted that wedge designs emerged at a time when major manufacturers, probably to Strother MacMinn’s chagrin5, took a more is better approach in the late 1960s and 1970’s; loading cars with excessive decoration on blocky shapes. Today the timeless nature of wedge design elements still has a presence in modern automobile design and will most likely continue as the century moves forward.
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