1957: DKW, which became Audi, arrived with a 3-cylinder, 2-stroke engine, never-before-seen and an all plastic car body

1958: the Panhard Monopoles had "butterfly" doors and one of the DB Panhards had a specific body style that became the "showcase"

1960: all eyes were on the Maseratis with their oversized windshields (still compliant), and the Jaguar E2A prototype, a sort of hybrid with a type D spoiler and the lines of a future E

1961: the appearance of a low-profile DB coach nicknamed the "monster"

1962: René Bonnet innovated its elegant coach equipped with the first mid-engine layout; the same year, the "breadvan" made its first appearance, based on an extremely modified Ferrari 250 GT SWBC, with new lines earning it its nickname; the endeavor was entirely initiated by a Venetian aristocrat, the Count Volpi di Misurata, to whom Enzo Ferrari had refused to sell a GTO

1967: that year, the "white birds of Texas," the Chaparrals - with their futuristic spoilers, automatic gearboxes and aluminum honeycomb frames - captured the imaginations of spectators 

1968: another exotic innovation from overseas, the Howmets with their Continental turbines with a roar remniscent of the Matra V12 powered by an F1 engine

1970: the advent of the monstrous Porsche 917, psychedelic pink paintings of 1971, and the arrival of the Mazda rotary piston engine in a…Chevron, not to mention the Porsche 908 seen in-race in 1970 for the filming of Steve McQueen's movie, with large housings for the front and rear cameras

1973: the first 100% Japanese car, with a twin-rotor Mazda engine installed in the Sigma, participated for the first time...and that was just the beginning

1974: the first turbo Porsche

1975: the first BMW Art Car, designed by Alexander Calder, and the Moynet with its engine bulkhead made of wood

1976: American NASCAR cars participated for a brief moment

1979: the stunning Dome Zéro rebelled against general lethargy and conformity

1980: a pioneer, Thierry Perrier entered a Porsche fueled by a mix of petrol and beet ethanol

1982: the appearance, three decades before today's LMP1s and LMP2s, of a "shark fin" on the Porsche CK5 designed by the Kremer brothers who re-used it three years later on a 956; it could also be seen on a Gebhardt prototype in 1985; closed-body cars, the design of the Lola T600 and T610 - soon copied by March and Rondeau - as well as the keeled rear wheels of the Mazdas and Lancias opened the doors to new aerodynamics which culminated in 1988 in a record of 405 km/h clocked by WM

1987: a Chevron was entered with all wheels keeled, without any success unfortunately

PHOTO (Copyright - Archives/ACO): The Chaparral with futuristic spoilers that certainly made an impression at the end of the 1960s.