20th Century Classic Cars

20^th Century Classic Cars

Jim Heimann and Phil Patton

Taschen 2009

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Subtitled “100 Years of Automotive Ads”, this book is a strongly American celebration of the automobile, seen through the advertising of the cars and accessories. It is a parade of social life, fashions and automotive styles that looks quaint to us now. We must remember that in the early days a car was very expensive and was a prestige symbol. It was only natural, therefore, that Lozier’s ad would mention “The Quality Car for Quality People”. The book also shows some of the characteristics of early cars. The most notable feature is the chauffeur. He was not so much a status symbol as a necessity. He was the mechanic, driver, washer and polisher and general caretaker of the car just as a stableman would have looked after the horses only a few years earlier. The ads also show the chauffeur in a semi-exposed driver’s seat. The passengers rode in heated and electrically lit comfort in the rear “saloon”.

Much was made of new developments like pneumatic tyres and electric lighting and accessories like the Chase Plush Motor Car Robes. Electric cars like the Milburn and Brush made their appearance. Custom coachbuilding was still a common option. Women were appearing in the ads – were they now choosing the cars or were they just a fashion accessory?

During the 1920s the advertising moved to the family as cars became cheaper. The changing fashions in clothing also changed the appearance of cars. The high roof to allow for mens’ top hats was gone and a lower roofline was more common. Convertibles were portrayed as a more fun image, especially as younger people began to buy cars. In 1927 a new campaign for Stutz advertised “The Improved New Safety Stutz” finally recognising just how dangerous some of these cars were.

“Somewhere West Of Laramie there’s a broncho-busting , steer-roping girl who knows what I’m talking about. She can tell what a sassy pony, that’s a cross between greased lightning and the place where it hits, can do with eleven hundred pounds of steel and action when he’s going high, wide and handsome. The truth is – the Jordan Playboy was built for her”. No, I have no idea what they are talking about either.

“Most automobiles are like most men. They are either all right or all wrong, but seldom one or the other for long at a time. That’s probably why they call it a Woman’s car, its so consistent”. – Willys-Overland advertisement, 1921.

In the 1930s the boxy house-on-wheels look was gradually overtaken by a new styling feature, streamlining. Following the Depression car advertising concentrated more on price rather than luxury. The motor car was now utilitarian and the front seat for the chauffeur (and the chauffeur himself) disappeared. Marketing emphasized miles per gallon. By 1935 the Chrysler Airflow had long, flowing front mudguards, spats covering the rear wheels, a low roofline, white sidewall tyres, an automatic overdrive and a distinctly family look. The running boards still made a reduced appearance but there was no longer room for a chorus line on them. The ad mentioned a fuel saving of up to five miles per gallon, but there was no mention of engine size or number of cylinders.

“The Lincoln Zephyr has a extra roominess”. It had a ten-foot wheelbase but only seated three. Most of the roominess was taken up by a V-12 motor. The American love of V-8 motors was not yet universal. In my younger days an acquaintance owned a Nash ”gangster car” that featured a monumental straight eight cylinder engine. The gentle rumble of this automotive giant at idle could allegedly melt the panties off young maidens at twenty paces. We felt like royalty as we cruised around town behind that seven-foot bonnet, with the car’s top down.

The 1940s brought severe changes to the industry with production turning to war materiel. Cars became shorter and less exuberant, engines became smaller to cope with rationing of petrol. After the decades of flamboyance it was notable that the early 1940s saw the ultimate austerity vehicle, the Willys Jeep. With designers turning to aircraft production it was not surprising that postwar cars adopted some of the styling features more typical of aircraft. Perhaps the ultimate stupidity was in the 1948 Cadillac which featured the first tail fins, based on the fuselage shape of the P38 fighter. The 1948 Tucker “Torpedo” had an extra central headlight mounted in a bulge in the bonnet, also reminiscent of the twin-boom-and-central-cockpit P38. Not surprisingly only fifty were made but the book has a photo of a group of golfers standing around a Tucker and photographing it. Strangely the 1951 Studebaker had a similar looking front.

The book also has an ad for the six-cylinder Chevrolet on which Australia’s first home-grown car, the 48-215 Holden was based. The Chevy was proudly announced as “America’s biggest money’s worth” and it proved to be the same in Australia.

The cars of the 1950s reflected an industry coming out of wartime austerity and loving it – long and low, V8-powered, tail fins of sometimes ridiculous proportions, and half a ton of chrome scattered around the bodywork. The front of the car was a confection of chrome, glass and steel that posed a severe danger to slow pedestrians. Air conditioning was becoming more common. All this had a price – fuel consumption was abysmal.

Towards the end of the decade some enterprising dealers began to bring in more practical cars for the crowded cities. In 1959 the Austin Mini appeared. Although the Mini did not exactly stun Americans with its nimble handling or incredible fuel economy, another foreign company did finally crack the market – Volkswagen. The Kombi van’s side door and frugal fuel consumption appealed to a lot of Americans and prepared them to accept foreign cars. The Volkswagen “Beetle” became a cult car. Luxury cars like the Mercedes made inroads into the market. Jaguar’s E-Type was made by DeSoto. In 1969 Honda made a headon assault on the US market with its small but economic and well-built Honda 600.

The US manufacturers continued to produce their land whales, seemingly oblivious to the tidal wave of imports that was about to engulf them. They simply knew that American motorists preferred big powerful family cars and kept building them, although smaller models were gradually slipping into their range. Every now and then they got it right, as did Ford with its classic Mustang series. The imports generally were in the small-car area and names like Fiat, Toyota, Datsun and Renault appeared. Often these were bought as a second car for Mum or a cheap car for the kids. The quality and handling of these cars was a lesson to Americans, whose big cars were tending to suffer quality problems in the drive to reduce costs. Then the crunch came – world oil shortages.

Suddenly these funny little foreign cars were being eagerly bought. The buyers found they had a car with all the extras included, reliable and tightly built, often sporty and fun to drive, and above all economic. Even after the first fuel crises eased off many Americans stayed with their thrifty little foreigners.

The massive book covers nearly all of the cars in a beautiful hardbound high-quality format. It is so much more than a catalogue of car ads. It is presented in English, French and German in the same volume. Although it is strongly US-oriented the overseas influence is not ignored. I had a lot of fun and nostalgia trips reading or just looking through this wonderful book.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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