Blackbird – From Spy Plane to Saab Concept

Back in the early 90s, the Lockheed SR-71 was a very hush-hush governmental project that saw the birth of a new breed of airplanes. The Blackbird, as it was nicknamed, flew higher and faster than most of the planes of the day and was mainly used to spy on what other people were doing.

Taking that concept and signature shape, designer Mark Kruse just revealed a new concept car for Saab motors and, surprise-surprise, it's called the Blackbird. If you squint your eyes and look from the side, you can actually see a few similarities between the two.

We don't know whether the Scandinavian nature of the project took its toll on the designer, but the car does have a lot of similitudes as far as general lines go to a clog, you know, the wooden shoe they wear down there in Scandinavia. The rear of the car in particular gives that woodsy vibe.

The car is covered in a “solar skin” that powers 4 motors hidden in each wheel and a few more gadgets on board. Like the driver's dashboard and the passenger's entertainment system, which, by the way, consists of a wraparound LCD screen since there are no windows for the back seat. This LCD can provide live feed from the outside of the car, stream videos or be used for internet surfing.

There are only two seats in this car, one in front of the other, and they are both adjustable not just in lengths but also in width. Still, the rear passenger sits dangerously close to the back of the car which could spell bad news in case of a rear collision. But no matter how weird the shape, nothing comes close to the wheels which frankly look like something out of a cartoon.