1955 Flajole Forerunner Coupe  

William Flajole thought he knew exactly what people wanted to see in future cars in 1955. Then again, so did every other car nut with a pen in his hand, and Flajole’s track record (the Nash Metropolitan, among others) proved that, while his ability to think out of the box certainly remained strong, his prognostication abilities left much to be desired.

One of the most beautiful and innovative concept cars of the 1950’s, The Flajole Forerunner was stylist Bill Flajole’s vision of the future. Featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in September 1955, the Forerunner was the result of over 7000 hours of design and construction, and over $80,000 in build cost, and keep in mind this was 1955! The subject of numerous magazine articles, Motor Trend featured the Forerunner on the same cover as Ghia’s groundbreaking Gilda design study. Sports Cars Illustrated gave the Forerunner a three-page feature article in October 1955, Mechanix Illustrated wrote about the car in September of 1955, and the car was recently featured in Octane Magazine. Designed and built by automotive designer Bill Flajole, then Advance Styling Consultant for American Motors, and a well known industrial designer, the Forerunner incorporates many futuristic design elements like its retracting tinted Plexiglas roof, headrest bucket seats and contrasting color fender coves, well before any of these items were put on a production car. Its chassis is among the best of its day, Jaguar’s high performance 180 horsepower XK 120M with an SCCA race class win to its credit while Flajole’s studio was creating the Forerunner’s body. The glass fiber body employed molded-in open louvers and elaborate compound curves never before attempted in fiberglass. Its windshield header-mounted rear view mirror foreshadows later designers’ use of periscope optics. This important one off automobile has been completely restored, and was shown at Amelia Island in 2010. The car is complete with magazines that featured the car when first built as well as photos of the car taken during its construction in the Flajole studios in the 1950’s that have been supplied by Bill Flajole’s daughter . A fabulous one off concept car with an impeccable history .

Hyman Ltd. has the Flajole Forerunner for sale at $350,000!

From Hyman’s description:

"Bill Flajole began his automobile design career right out of high school at Chrysler in 1933 later moved to General Motors Murray Corporation and Ford where he worked with Bob Gregorie on the design of Edsel Fords original Continental. He designed a small sportster the Nash NXI which eventually became the famous little Metropolitan. Like many other designers of the early Fifties he was fascinated by the Jaguar XK120 and began sketching his own ideas as applied to the XKs 102 wheelbase six cylinder dual overhead camshaft engine and low slung chassis. The Forerunner is the embodiment of those ideas. Created in fiberglass in Flajoles own studio with tall fenders dropped hood wide grille integrated with the bumpers and an innovative retractable roof that slid down to hide under a dramatically sloping fastback rear deck its final iteration included an innovative translucent roof panel and had dramatic recessed cove panels behind the wheels design features which foreshadowed Corvettes adoption of them in 1956. The interior incorporates supportive aircraft-type seats with head restraints years before other designers appreciated the value of supportive seats in minimizing accident injuries. Bill Flajole used it for his personal transportation until the early 1970s. It was restored in its present dramatic livery of metallic purple with white coves and matching white and purple leather upholstery with chrome wire wheels and thereafter was proudly displayed in the Blackhawk Museum for many years."