35 Retro Futurism Pictures That Show What People In The Past Thought The Future Would Look Like
Back in the 80s, I spent a lot of time buried in sci-fi books, daydreaming about what the future would look like.
Flying cars, chrome cities, space-age everything. The reality we ended up with feels a lot stranger and less predictable than anything those old stories imagined.
That’s probably why I love retro futurism so much. It’s a fascinating snapshot of hope, optimism, and wildly creative guesses about tomorrow from people who were just trying to picture what was next.
These retro-future visions are stylish, weird, and endlessly fun to look back on, especially when you compare their bold predictions to the world we actually ended up living in.
1. This was an actual space suit Grumman Aircraft Corp tried to sell NASA in 1962.
2. We really messed up
3. Self driving cars of the future, circa 1960.
4. Retro-futuristic mid-century faucet
5. Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Moscow, completed in 1980
6. Television Newspaper – some day you may be able to receive the front page of your morning Newspaper this way.
7. Nuke-proof underground city below Manhattan, 1969 (Oscar Newman)
8. Cosplay metropolis
9. ‘Ship’s Cat’ by Keith Spangle
10. The Missle, TIME Magazine, January 1956
11. We all live in a yellow airplane…
12. Wallpaper found under 3 layers of other wallpaper
13. The nuclear-powered bullet train from the 1970’s series “Supertrain”
14. 1939 Duesenberg Coupé Simone Midnight Ghost
15. Trans-Atlantic Cable Car retro-future concept by Gian Andri Bezzola
16. 1981 vision of suburbia after there’s no more room left for suburbs.
17. Whitney Wolverine .22lr pistol, designed during the atomic age.
18. Concept “SuperPlane”
19. Habitable space station.
20. Space Resort
21. Epcot concept art poster I found framed at Goodwill
22. James Bond receives a “text” via his smartwatch in The Spy Who Loved Me.
23. New York Central streamliner “ Mercury “ 1936
24. Citroen’s vision of the future of cars in 1980
25. Bob MUST have slack!
26. Retro Futuristic Living room I painted
27. I got a tattoo inspired by Danny Haas’ retro rocket ships.
28. Saw this picture and thought it looked like something this sub would like.
29. This 14” TV from 2000 was sold only in Japan and included a built-in Sega Dreamcast console
30. From the Paper age to the Digital age (Andy Zito ‘85)
31. 1955 Ford Beatnik Bubble
32. The Motorola Aura really feels like the RetroFuturism Dream Phone
33. Interior of the a 1985 Nissan 300zx
34. Worst space suit design ever?
35. Whitney Wolverine; An atomic age influenced .22 pistol produced from ’56-’57
