Bet You Haven't Heard of This

Behold, quite possibly the best known car of the 1960s: the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car.

William Schmidt, Lincoln-Mercury's chief designer, supposedly came up with the design when he went scuba diving. He saw a shark cutting through the water and dreamed up a wide car with sharp fins.

Whatever the inspiration was, it worked. It has a very '50s futuristic feeling. Think the Jetsons stamped into angled, sharp metal.

The rear end just looks pissed, especially in color.
It's going to eat anything that comes too close.

The interior is like any other concept car. It looks really cool, yet is incredibly impractical.
The speedometer, odometer and every other possible instrument and idiot light is crammed into the middle of the steering wheel. All the dashboard controls were concealed behind rolling metal covers.

A compass is on the top of the driver's side of the dash and a clock on the passenger's side.

Oddly, this is one of the few driveable concept cars. Everything, even the instruments in the steering wheel, worked.

So how is this the best known car of the '60s? Because the Lincoln Futura became this:

Yes. Lincoln built the original Batmobile. Kind of.

Instead of getting scrapped at the end of the '50s, George Barris bought it. When ABC called and needed a Batmobile in three weeks, Barris decided to modify the Futura.
On closer inspection, it's fairly obvious. Barris just slapped on some extra fiberglass, some props and altered the front end a little.

He didn't even change the interior that much.
Chop off half the steering wheel, change the instrument pod, and there you go.

Its good that the Futura managed to live on even if it had to get customized in order to survive. Most concepts from the '50s got scrapped. Even if it managed to survive that fate, history would've forgotten the Futura.

Instead it got a second life as a child's dream car. After all, who wouldn't want a jet powered two-seater?