A victory lap for Detroit car design

The car, a modern necessity for generations, is undergoing a reappraisal far and wide.

Major cities increasingly ban or limit where they can go. Housing developers are scrapping them. Teenagers wait longer to obtain a driver's license today. A deadly virus has exposed extra virtues of the car, one of the few sanctuaries we embrace amid shutdown orders.

It became a must-have prop and ticket for some of the 2020 campaign's major outdoor rallies. New York's Museum of Modern Art next summer will explore automobiles as modern industrial ware and style statements, as well as their impact on roads, public health and the environment.

The Detroit Institute of Arts, in a celebratory nod, has staged a new survey that looks back at the designers, along with their tools and artistry, who created some of the Motor City's key production and concept cars dating back to the 1950s, perhaps the zenith of automobile styling in America. (The Motor City's leading encyclopedic art museum last surveyed vehicle design in 1985 when it canvassed the automotive form from 1925 to 1950.)

The new exhibition's curator, Ben Colman, in consultation with a committee of designers from General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, as well as the Center for Creative Studies, says the intent is to demonstrate how post-World War II design, technology, tools, materials and consumer needs changed over time, rather than just to present a show that casts about for the greatest hits in America's garages and mall parking lots.

Thus, just 12 models — four each from GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler — constitute "Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950-2020," on view through June 27, 2021.

The familiar supporting cast is all here: soaring tail fins, exotic show cars, carbon-fiber bodies, chrome, long hoods, propeller grilles, fender flares, hood scoops, short rear decks, latch pins and snarly grilles.

Inspired by America's victory on two major World War II battle fronts, and later a space race that had everyone looking to the sky, Detroit's unbridled design — the aircraft-inspired 1951 Le Sabre concept and the 1958 Firebird III, both from GM, under the guidance of famed design chief Harley Earl — lead the parade.

The 1998 Chrysler Chronos concept is the (late) stand-in for the bulbous, melted-chocolate forms that emerged in the 1980s, first with the Ford Taurus, to great success, that later heralded Detroit's penchant for nostalgia. Think the PT Cruiser, Pontiac Solstice, 11th-generation Thunderbird and Chevy SSR. The culmination of retro styling comes in the form of the Ford GT, revived as a 2002 supercar concept and granted production status twice since.

The accompanying sketches, videos and photographs really unmask the talent, trade and imagination of Detroit's designers and their proposals.

Rapid change unfolds across America's streets and highways, often sparked by external factors such as the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Other shifts, such as the rise of imports starting in the 1970s, are less subtle. Just four of the nameplates featured endure today — the Corvette, Mustang, 300 and Ford GT, the latter two revived in recent decades.

The Plymouth Barracuda, celebrated for its raw Hemi power, and the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, heralded for its long, crouching profile, front-wheel drive layout and engineering chops, are long gone, as are the brands.

Is it a snub to exclude Cadillac and Lincoln — two American luxury brands eclipsed in recent decades by Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW? Or the minivan, the quintessential family vehicle of the 1980s? Studebaker, Packard and other smaller companies? Or American Motors, the scrappy underdog that brought us the Gremlin, Pacer and modern Jeep?

More notably, there are no Jeeps, crossovers, SUVs or pickups — vehicle profiles pioneered in America, rooted in the late 1980s and 1990s (SUVs and crossovers), that have exploded in popularity and now deliver the bulk of Detroit's profits. Colman said it was decided early on, after some heated discussions, that Cherokees, Explorers, Blazers, Hummers, Wranglers, Rams and Rangers have their own story and origins (farms and battlefields among them) to chronicle — perhaps enough for a separate survey down the road.

Whether it's the Motor City's annual Dream Cruise, a remarkable auction price for the last Pontiac Fiero built or the prospect of an electric Corvette, Detroit isn't quite ready to abandon its affinity for the car and all of its glorious forms.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, advance reservations are required to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.