Concept cars are massmarket test beds, especially in the webisphere erai All those blog comments? Carmakers are paying attention, and all of it matters. Southern Californias Metalcraft- ers began life in the 1960s doing work on exotics like Ferraris. Today, it makes show cars for major manufacturers in as few as four months, with up to 80 staff ers working double shifts. Most Metalcrafters cars run and drive, but the cosmen'cs are custom, from interiors to the metalor, these days, carbonberiskini Custom cars not only get production-unfriendly curvy glass, but Metalcrafters often tints greenhouses to lend showcar interiors a subtle warm or cool hue. Sadly, this cant be scaled for massproduction and wouldnt pass DOT laws even if it could. GENERATE BUZZ , TIME: 1334 MONTHS Concept cars are total crap, says one executive, who asked to not be identi ed. Theyre almost always cobbled together in a rush, curvy sheetmetal atop unsexy donor platforms. A few months postshow, they start to droop and sag, trusses beneath the sexy exteriors giving way. And no, there isnt really a V16 under that hood. Cost? Up to $3 million, with every element custombuilt. The old joke about the paint not being dry as the car hits the stage is based in fact. One of the easiest tells that a show car is just that: a shoulder line canted extremely inwardre ferred to as tumblehomeiwhere the windows cant retract, since they dont t inside the doors. The Ford Bronco concept that debuted at the 2004 NAIAS in Detroit used an engine from Fords Ranger pickupione that died the night before the show, The project manager then yanked the V6 engine from his personal truck overnight, dropping it into the Bronco, and the concept drove onto the stage the next day. After the show, he put the V6 back into his Ranger i , , and somebody is probably still driving it If a canoe IS dragged on stage with Its wheels xed, its easiiy DOA. Underneath is a mohilator, a robot cart that gumeys the lifeless con- cept around. Theres no work ing drivetrain, and there may be no main from HQ toward production, either. 52 ROADANDTRACK.COM n NOVEMBER 2013 ONCEPT CARS E LIKE REAL-LIFE COMMERCIALS, AN UNCOMPROMISED, CONCEPT THAT SHOULDVE SEEN PRODUCTION: 1999 CHEVROLET CONCEPT FAIL 9, THAT WAS BORN ANYWAYV 1953 Isuzu VEHICRos Off-the-record exec Any time they do an auto show and a car has to drive out on its own power, its total anig.