Flying car and Firebird to feature in new V&A exhibition exploring 130 years of cars

A flying car is among the four-wheeled wonders zooming into the V&A for an exhibition about the advance of automotive technology.

The Pop.Up, created by designers from companies including Airbus and Audi, will go display in the UK for the first time.

The vehicle consists of an electric chassis with a pod for the driver under a drone quadrocopter.

It will be displayed alongside a Fifties bubble car, a model for a nuclear-powered vehicle and a General Motors Firebird.

Also included in the show, which opens later this year, are a 1922 Hispano-Suiza Skiff Torpedo and a 1925 Ford Model T, the first car to be made on an assembly line making it more affordable. Curator Brendan Cormier said: “You can’t tell the story without the Ford Model T because that’s the car that took this object from being a luxury bespoke object crafted for the one per cent and unleashed the ability to make millions and millions of them.”

The show also includes designs of futuristic vehicles from science-fiction, an 1888 Benz Motorwagen and the Czech Tatra T77, whose aerodynamic curves were later copied in designs for everything from hats to radios.

More gruesome is a sculpture by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini which was commissioned by the country’s Transport Accident Commission to raise awareness of road safety.

Mr Cormier said: “They asked her to imagine what a human being would look like had they evolved to survive car crashes so it’s this kind of grotesque figure that has no neck, its chest inflates like an airbag and it has no ankles. It’s a grisly representation of the idea that we make the machine and the machine then shapes us.”

The exhibition will also examine sub-cultures, including California low-riders, Emirati dune racers and Japanese truck drivers, and how car use has impacted the planet.

Mr Cormier added: “It’s a timely time because we are at this massive turning point and nobody really knows what the future will be — even car experts say they can’t predict it — so it’s a really good moment to look back at 130 years of the car and design.”

Cars: Accelerating the Modern World runs from November 23 to April 19 next year.