BMW Spicup by Bertone

This, folks, is why I love concept cars. They're designed to always look forward into the future, and that's what makes them interesting.

Sometimes, they're a total shot in the dark. Sometimes, a production version eventually hits the road…sharing nothing in common with the concept. And sometimes, the two are so close you wonder if the production car was made before the concept.

Rarely, a concept car comes around that is able to predict an entire decade of design cues, from garishly green metallic paint and pop-up headlights, a removable roof and brushed silver trim. (More on its long-term durability in a moment.)

The 1969 BMW Spicup by Bertone is so 1970s that it must have time travelled back from years in the future...

…Ahem.

An Orwellian time where heavily-surveilled, oppressed and lied to populations wouldn’t own anything without an engine cover — where the lucky ones got emails about how some neglected old concept car from the late 1960s had to be saved from its termite-infested wooden parts and leaking roof joints?

True story.