BIZARRE - PONTIAC - CLUB DE MER SPIDER 1956

A Touch of Future It took a couple of years until the US-American group General Motors sharped their idea of a concept car, which went down in the US-American car history as the ‘Club de Mer’ in the year 1956. The initial idea was simply to develop a vehicle, which should embody the “engagement for futuristic design”. The designers of GM had absolute free rein to put their ideas on the paper in the back-then new ‘Technical Center’. Out of over one thousand ideas one final choice was made – primarily by GM vice president Harley J. Earl – and the winner was a design that according to the interpretation of journalists embodied a sports car with comfort, safety, performance and beauty. The chosen design was realized in original size by a team headed by Paul Gillan – head of the Pontiac design department. Through a wooden superstructure as a basic form and through meticulously used body filler a basic mold was built which reflected the final body shape in detail. Over this mold the car body was formed out of metal and plastic parts. The finished car body got a paint coat in a visually noble color selection blue, paired with brushed aluminum. GM presented the car to the public only at the show ‘Motorama’ and at an exhibition in Miami in the year 1956. Media-effectively initiated the visitors crowded around the exhibition stand while a GM-promoter advertised the concept car as the idea of a future sports car. The press department of GM also published promotional pictures so that the concept car was also published in the print media. Of course the car achieved great popularity in this way in the USA. Therewith the car had fulfilled its mission and in 1958 it was internally commissioned to scrap the car.