He predicts a wider, stubbier car, a higher roof and engines located in the rear; thirty to fifty miles on one gallon of gas; foam-rubber type upholstery; sliding doors; back seat arranged as couch; livable inside space; ventilated air; elimination of instrument panel; indirect lighting; adjustable spring system; probable elimination of springs in lighter cars; non-bouncing tires; independent wheels with knee action.
How much of this came to pass? My '87 Volvo still has an instrument panel, although the speedometer doesn't work.
I read that article with much glee. I think he was, for the most part, describing my 1973 Chevy Vega. It had “engines in the rear” when I pushed it to the shop. That gas mileage was never achieved. The “ventilated air” could have come one of two ways; either through the rust holes in the body, or the air conditioner they actually tried to put on the engine. If you ran the air and came to a stop light, you had to put it in neutral and give it gas or the compressor would kill the engine.
So, yeah, some of this did come to pass. But no way did he forsee the era of muscle cars, like my 1972 Mustang Mach I. It’s a rule of American life that your first car is a beater (the Vega) and your second car is the one you wish you still had when you are 40 (the Mustang was stolen in Chicago while I was at a Cub game, June 23 1984).
Homer: "How much of this came to pass?"
Sounds a lot like the first two cars I ever owned -- a 1956 Volkswagen, about 35 mpg, and a 1969 Corvair, well, maybe 30 mpg... downhill. ;-)