This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.
Chrysler Concept 70X
First Shown: 1969 Chicago Auto Show
Description: Large-car design exercise
Sales Pitch: “It’s two concepts in one!”
Details:
First seen at the 1969 Chicago Auto Show, the Chrysler Concept 70X was a large-car design exercise most notable for having two doors on the driver’s side, and just one door on the passenger side. The concept incorporated elements of Chrysler’s new “fuselage” design language, and though Chrysler never made this clear, was almost certainly built on the maker’s C-Body large-car architecture. The press release called the Concept 70X a “an idea car,” and referred to it as two concepts in one.
The odd door arrangement was made somewhat odder by how they opened. Similar to those found on modern minivans, the Concept 70X’s doors open by sliding to the side. The passenger-side door opened to the front of the car, while the driver’s side front door opened forward, and the back door rearward.
An interesting technical feature of the 70X was its sonar-based rear- and blind-spot detection system. If a vehicle came within 50 feet of the 70X, a light appeared on the inside rear-view mirror.
Forgotten Concept: Ford Probe III
CG Says:
Love the look, question the utility. While the sonar-detection system was an inspired harbinger of modern obstacle-detection systems, the door arrangement was odd, and I’m pretty sure it was seen as odd back then, too. Great looking car, and I’m sort of surprised it isn’t better remembered.
Chrysler Concept 70X Gallery
(Click below for enlarged images)
