Flying Cars with Venetian Blinds: 1942 Predictions for the Car of the Future

World War II wouldn’t be over for almost two more years, but Americans were already dreaming about their post-war cars.

So in 1942, the Post asked several auto designers what Americans could expect to see when Detroit began making passenger cars again. Author Edward R. Grace reported, “If our seven prophets are accurate, the postwar era will see more people than ever going places sitting down and they will go faster, more cheaply, and more comfortably, and in lighter, handsomer motorcars.”

In this ad for Revere copper and brass, the breadwinner arrives home in his Cloudcar. (Illustration by Holm Gren)

Predictions that Missed the Mark

While some of the designers’ predictions proved accurate, others were wildly fanciful.

Predictions that Came True

But some predictions were spot on: