5 Spectacular Concept Trucks We Wish Were Real

Concept vehicles are created by carmakers who want to show off new technologies and test out new designs. They are the automotive equivalent of the flashy outfits seen at fashion shows, meant to sell a vibe or hint at more subdued production versions, not necessarily intended to ever hit production.

Because concept vehicles are one-off projects, manufacturers often get creative, designing imaginative cares of the future that will, sadly, never come to be. The silver lining is that concept cars let manufacturers and car designers play in spaces they wouldn't otherwise be able to. They can dream up cars and trucks which are truly unique, vehicles which fit inside automotive history while also standing a little bit outside of it. And, thanks to car shows, they sometimes get to build those cars and share them with the rest of us.

While concept cars usually get most of the attention among automotive aficionados, there have also been some pretty sweet concept trucks over the years (mostly in the '90s). These are some of the coolest.

Geo was a relatively short-lived brand which first hit the market in 1989 with a relatively subdued lineup of compact cars: the Geo Metro, Spectrum, Prizm, and Storm. The Geo Tracker was the company's single standout, a mini-SUV which has remained beloved among drivers looking for something both sporty and compact. As the '90s began, Geo unveiled a handful of flashy and brightly colored concept vehicles, including the Hugger.

As the name suggests, the Hugger was a modified Geo Tracker with a squat body, tiny cargo area, open door panels, and the color palette of a rainforest tree frog. The Hugger was a quintessentially '90s vehicle, capturing the Trapper Keeper aesthetic of the era.

In case the exterior wasn't enough to convince you of the Hugger's adventurous spirit, designers ditched the roof, the rear seats, associated hardware, and other components to create an open-air, two-person min-SUV. Geo designed a second more subdued version, the Hugger II, which kept the top hardware, Popular Mechanics reported at the time, and sported a canvas top, kept in place by zippers and hook-and-loop.

Dodge has a decades-long history of making small, powerful, fast trucks that people fall in love with. Perhaps most notable among them is the 1978 Lil Red Express which married power with a striking design. The LRE was short-lived but its legacy lives on. In 1990, Dodge unveiled an updated version for a new age.

At the 1990 North American International Auto Show, Dodge unveiled the LRT, short for Little Red Truck. The LRT was built on the foundation of the 1986 Dodge Dakota, with aesthetic elements of the Dodge Viper, which was only a concept at the time. It conjured nostalgia for the LRE while offering an exciting new visual style.

The LRT's sharp red coloring paired with smooth, curving lines, to produce something which was both classic and modern (for the '90s) at the same time. The combined effect practically begged you to fill it with your best friends and hit the beach. Promotional images showcase the truck loaded with an ATV, which could be loaded and unloaded using a built-in tilting bed and winch system. While the LRT never hit production, some of its design elements were folded into the Dodge lineup.

As the 1990s kicked off, many car manufacturers were trying to reimagine their brand image and court younger consumers. In the leadup to the release of the Ford Explorer in 1991, Ford unveiled the Explorer Surf, a modified concept version stylized to appeal to a younger driving crowd and indicative of what was to come.

The Ford Explorer helped kick off the era of SUVs in the early '90s but before the first one rolled off the factory floor, the Surf made its flamboyant if brief debut. Marketed as a leisure vehicle, the Surf came with everything young people care about while missing some of the basics.

The Surf featured wheel covers to keep sand and dirt out while beach driving, four roof-mounted spotlights and four more in the grill, and swing-out party speakers to provide the bonfire soundtrack. It lacked any sort of covering over the back half vehicle, leaving it open to the elements. It might be the ideal party vehicle, as long as you're cool with partying rain or shine.

If you found a Jeep Mighty FC languishing in a museum somewhere, you'd never guess it hails from 2012. The concept's look hearkens back to the designs of yesteryear, delivering something that would look more at home on a midcentury battlefield than on a modern highway. It's a tall and slender truck which raises passengers above the truck's guts and well above the ground.

The Mighty FC (short for Forward Control) made its debut at the 2012 Moab Easter Jeep Safari, alongside five other concept vehicles. Unsurprisingly, the Mighty FC was modeled after midcentury cab-over pickup trucks and built on the skeleton of a two-door Wrangler.

It looks like it was designed by someone who saw a truck one time in a dream, like the pictogram of a truck found on an ancient cave wall. Its uncanny nature is why it never hit production but it's also why it still lingers in our imaginations. There's something delightful about it, even while no one (or almost no one) would actually want to own one.

Trucks are usually bulkier and boxier than other passenger vehicles. They're meant for hauling or climbing, not for cruising the lanes, your hair blowing in the breeze. In 1997, Dodge wondered why not, with the Dakota Sidewinder concept truck.

The Sidewinder was both truck and convertible at the same time, a curvaceous red truck with a removable cloth top. It made its debut at the 1997 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas. It didn't just have an appealing exterior, it also had the muscle to back up such an unconventional design, with a 640-hp V10 8.0-liter engine from the Viper GTS-R.

While the Sidewinder almost demanded attention, its hybrid nature was betrayed anytime you put the top up. The vision of a convertible truck cruising down the highway has a certain appeal, there's something dork about the Sidewinder when the cloth top is on, which is a fatal blow for a vehicle so reliant on cool factor.