The Petersen Museum's Exhibition on Wedge-Shaped Cars

Marcello Gandini would have loved this: L.A.’s Petersen Museum has just opened “The Wedge Revolution,” an exhibition dedicated to wedge-shaped cars.

The history of the automobile is full of high points and heydays: the formative brass era, the voluptuous streamline era, the fins of the space age, the lithe sports cars of the 1960s, the “Radwood” ’80s and ’90s, and the tech advancements of the 21st century.

One stretch of time remains largely uncelebrated because it was overshadowed by global events and safety developments that put a damper on automotive energy in much of the world. This period—the 1970s (or, more broadly, 1965-1985)—was, in fact, a remarkable era of automotive design and the ultimate inverse reaction to the curvaceous and excessive styling so prevalent in the decades bracketing WW2.

Eschewing the chrome and fins that dominated the cars of the late 50s and early 60s, influential designers in this period emphasized angular silhouettes and faceted planes, with body triangulation from front to rear in a style most commonly referred to as the “wedge.”