Automotive designers, much like novelists or numerous other creatives, probably only see a small percentage of their work reach the final stage where someone actually consumes or buys it. Along the way, there are many incomplete or discarded projects, yet many of them are so beautiful that it's a shame they were never given the green light. General Motors Design on Instagram has given us some rare insight into some of the sketches created by one of its prominent former designers, George Camp. They provide a rare glimpse into what some of GM's popular vehicles could have looked like relative to the models that made it into production. This account has for long served as a wonderful insight into the world of GM.

Camp was at GM from 1963 to 2001 so worked on everything from luxury sedans to muscle cars. While the former may have declined in popularity, the Chevrolet Corvette is still very much alive. In the first sketch, we can see what looks to be an alternative design for the Pontiac GTO Judge from the early 1970s. Camp's design sketch uses two headlights instead of the quad-headlight setup of the actual car, additional intakes in front, and an absolutely massive rear wing. Below this is what looks like a sleeker fourth-generation Corvette with a more acutely-angled windshield and side-exit exhaust pipes. On the side, you can also see ZR-1 lettering in orange.

Things are equally radical after that. There's a bizarre-looking, very futuristic sports car sketch that was completed in May 1970. It resembles the Mazda RX-500 from the same era which had an engine that could be accessed via dramatic gull-wing doors. A stretched Cadillac coupe with exceptionally long overhangs and an Oldsmobile with a dramatic interpretation of that brand's dual grille design round things out; maybe Camp was way ahead of his time and knew that the era of the giant grille was on the way. Either way, these sketches give us an idea of what could have been and how imaginative designers are with an unbridled hand.