Legendary
Concept Cars
Cars that were never produced — or that became something else entirely. Announced as five parts from the start: the world's first concept car, a jet-age turbine dream, the car that became the Batmobile, a nuclear-age vision with atomic fins, and the original mid-engine Mustang prototype. Five legendary automobiles that shaped the future without being tamed by it. Die-cast metal. Wheels turn. The series is complete.
The World's First Concept Car
General Motors design chief Harley Earl created the Buick Y-Job in 1938 as an expression of what a car could become — not a production vehicle but a design statement. Its wrap-around bumpers, flush door handles, waterfall grille, and hidden headlights were a full decade ahead of production car design. The Y-Job was the car that invented the concept car as a form. Every auto show concept vehicle produced since 1938 is a descendant of this black convertible.
The Jet Age on Four Wheels
The 1953 GM Firebird I was designed in the image of a fighter jet — a single-seat turbine-powered concept that imagined the automobile as an aerospace vehicle. Its aircraft-style cockpit, jet exhaust, and fighter-plane nose were pure 1950s optimism about the future: that the same technology transforming aviation would transform the road. The Firebird I ran on an actual gas turbine engine. No fighter pilot ever felt more at home in a car.
The Car That Became the Batmobile
The 1955 Lincoln Futura was Ford Motor Company's vision of the automobile's future — a two-seat bubble-top concept with dual windshields and a spectacular swept silhouette. It toured auto shows for years. Then in 1965, customizer George Barris purchased it for $1 and six weeks later delivered it to ABC as the Batmobile for the Batman television series. The most famous vehicle in television history was originally a Lincoln concept car, and the Keepsake ornament captures it before its destiny became clear.
The Atomic Age Made Automotive
The 1959 Cadillac Cyclone concept car was the nuclear age's most extravagant automotive expression — missile-nose front pods, aircraft-style canopy, radar sensing systems in the protruding nose cones, and fins that made even the 1959 production Cadillac look conservative. Designed when America believed the atom and the automobile would define the century together, the Cyclone is pure futurism: a car that looks exactly like 1959 believed 2001 would look.
The Original Mustang — Before the Mustang
The 1962 Ford Mustang I was the original prototype for the Mustang concept: a mid-engine, two-seat, open-wheel racing roadster that had very little in common with the 1964½ production Mustang that followed it. The production car borrowed only the name. The concept — the genuine vision of what a Ford Mustang might have been — was this small, pure sports car with a race car's stance and a sports car's ambition. The series closes with the road not taken by the most famous American muscle car.
Cars That Shaped the Future Without Being Produced
The Legendary Concept Cars series was announced in 2018 as a five-part collection, the number and sequence planned before the first ornament was released: "Each ornament in this new, five-part series will feature a legendary concept car that helped shape the future of automotive technology and design. Collect all five (one per year) to complete the series." The 1938 Buick Y-Job — the world's first concept car, designed by Harley Earl — arrived in 2018 in die-cast metal, 1.64" × 1.14" × 4.15", wheels that turn, capturing every feature that made it historic: the wrap-around bumpers, flush door handles, waterfall grille, and hidden headlights that would not appear in production cars until the 1950s.
The five cars span 24 years of concept car history — 1938 to 1962 — and together constitute a survey of the most consequential show cars ever produced: the Y-Job that invented the form, the Firebird I that imagined the car as a fighter jet, the Lincoln Futura that became the Batmobile, the Cyclone that embodied nuclear-age futurism at its most extravagant, and the original Mustang prototype that has almost nothing in common with the production car that borrowed its name. Each one a die-cast metal ornament with turning wheels, each one a vehicle that influenced automotive design profoundly without itself ever going into production. The series is, in automotive terms, a collection of what-ifs — and the what-ifs are the most interesting cars ever built.
"This die-cast metal Christmas tree ornament of the 1938 Buick Y-Job, the first concept car ever, captures all of the futuristic features that made it famous, including wrap-around bumpers, flush door handles, waterfall grille and hidden headlights. Each ornament in this new, five-part series will feature a legendary concept car that helped shape the future of automotive technology and design."
— Hallmark packaging, 2018 Legendary Concept Cars #1 · 1938 Buick Y-Job · QX9336 · Die-cast metal · 1.64" W × 1.14" H × 4.15" D
1955 Lincoln Futura — 2020 (#3)
The 1955 Lincoln Futura toured auto shows as Ford Motor Company's vision of the automobile's future — a two-seat bubble-top concept with dual windshields and a spectacular swept silhouette. In 1965, customizer George Barris purchased it from Ford for $1. Six weeks later, it became the Batmobile for ABC's Batman television series. The most famous vehicle in television history started life as a Ford concept car, and the Keepsake Legendary Concept Cars ornament captures it as it looked when it was still just an automobile — before it became something else entirely.
Shop the Lincoln Futura — Before It Became the Batmobile →
1938 Buick Y-Job — 2018 (#1)
The Y-Job is the reason the other four entries exist — it invented the concept car as a form. Harley Earl created it at GM in 1938 as pure design expression: features it introduced (wrap-around bumpers, hidden headlights, flush handles, the waterfall grille) would not reach production cars until a decade later. The Hallmark ornament captures it precisely — black convertible, 1.64" W × 1.14" H × 4.15" D, die-cast metal, wheels that turn — in the exact image of the car that changed how the automobile industry thought about the future of design.
Shop the Y-Job — The First Concept Car Ever →Tips for the Collection
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01Display all five in chronological order — 1938 to 1962 — to trace the arc of the concept car era. From Harley Earl's Y-Job (1938, which invented the concept car) through the jet-age Firebird I (1953), the Lincoln Futura (1955), the Cyclone (1959), and the original Mustang prototype (1962), the series tells the story of American automotive futurism across 24 years. In order on adjacent branches, the collection reads as a complete timeline of the most ambitious postwar car designs.
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02The 1955 Lincoln Futura (#3) is the collection's most remarkable story. The car in the ornament eventually became the Batmobile — but the ornament captures it before that destiny. Knowing what the Futura became turns the ornament into something more than a concept car tribute: it is a portrait of a famous vehicle at the moment before it became famous, in a different context entirely. Display it prominently for visitors who know Batman.
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03The 1962 Ford Mustang I (#5F) is the collection's most surprising car for Mustang fans. The production 1964½ Mustang had almost nothing in common with this mid-engine, two-seat, open-wheel concept — only the name was kept. The series finale is a portrait of what the Mustang might have been: a pure sports car rather than a pony car. For any Mustang enthusiast, this is the most thought-provoking entry.
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04All 5 Legendary Concept Cars ornaments, 2018 through 2022, are at Already Christmas. The complete five-part series — every legend, every die-cast metal build, every turning wheel — is in the collection. The cars that shaped the future, on the tree.
Every Legendary Concept Cars Keepsake — 2018 to 2022
The world's first concept car · a jet-turbine dream · the future Batmobile · atomic-age fins · the original Mustang. Click any car to shop.
A black 1938 Buick convertible in 2018 — the world's first concept car, wrap-around bumpers and hidden headlights, die-cast metal at 4.15 inches long. A jet-turbine Firebird. The Lincoln Futura that was purchased for $1 in 1965 and became the Batmobile six weeks later. The Cadillac Cyclone with its missile-nose pods and atomic fins. The 1962 Ford Mustang that was mid-engine and open-wheel and nothing like the production car that followed — only the name was kept. Five concept cars. Five legends. The future they imagined, on the tree.
All five here. The series is complete.
✦ Part of our Collection: Hallmark American Series, Explored ✦