It’s the inside (click!). A perfect example is this showroom opened in 1913 by the “Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft”. At the turn of the previous century Benz motor cars were sold by independent sales representatives. When the names “Benz” and later “Mercedes” became well known, showrooms were opened in cities like Paris, London, Berlin and New York. But as these were still owned by individuals, it was therefore in the interests of DMG to develop its own sales network. They needed a meeting point for interested -and appropriately wealthy- customers. DMG’s first showroom was located in Berlin at Unter den Linden 50/51. The Mercedes Palace, as the building soon came to be known, was an elegant piece of architecture, using high-quality materials and the latest technology. Three enormous display windows afforded a glimpse into the large showroom, where finished Mercedes cars stood next to the bare chassis of other Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft vehicles on sale. But the building’s key feature was its restaurant which rapidly became a focus of day-to-day life at the Mercedes Palace. Managed by the proprietor of the long-established Weinhaus Dressel, the restaurant’s exquisite cuisine and well-stocked wine cellar enjoyed the attentions of Berlin society. It was soon doing a roaring trade, which of course positively affected Mercedes sales. The building no longer belongs to DaimlerChrysler but still survives. (source Daimler AG)

September 27, 2007

Some of us collect complete motorcars, some collect brass headlamps, others only hood ornaments or petrol cans. If you have a large collection, the problem is that it takes up lots of space. But what to collect if you don’t have the space? Stamps with a motoring theme are an option, but have you considered phone cards? There's a wide range available with a motoring theme, like for instance this card, issued in 1990 by the Japanese telephone company NTT as part of series of Japanese cars. This one shows a 1936 Toyoda AA from the Toyota Museum. Interested? Then hurry. Since the explosive growth of the use of mobile phones, cards are getting scarce more and more.

September 23, 2007

This cartoon suggests that as a Bugatti owner you can, in fact, take it with you when it’s your time to go. It was drawn in 1976 by Charles (or Chas) Addams in a gentle stab at the behavior of the upper class. He was the perfect person to do such a thing as we all known him as the gothic cartoonist in the New Yorker and of course as the creator of The Addams Family. From the beginning of his career in the 1930s Chas Addams developed a sophisticated and rather morbid style of humor that made him a very popular cartoonist. Addams was also an enthusiastic lover of vintage automobiles and has owned a whole array of them. Because many of his cars were used as a theme in his drawings and cartoons, the Bridgehampton Historical Society in New York State has, together with the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, mounted an exhibit called “Cars and Car-toons”. It shows a cross-section of Addams’ automotive drawings with many never before published cartoons. The exhibition will last until October 31st 2007, but if you can’t make it, there’s always the possibility of trying to find the catalogue, which is loaded with cartoons by Chas Addams’ and pictures of his many antique and classic automobiles.

(With thanks to the Bridgehampton Historical Society and Jeffrey Vogel)

August 25, 2007

The title above comes from the wonderful song Frank the Scab written and performed by Australian singer/songwriter Colin Buchanan. The song is about a man who loves driving to the local tip because there’s always something worth taking back home. When I heard it, I immediately had to think of my own passion: The yearly trip to the Beaulieu Autojumble. Now in its 41st year, the event seems to grow year by year and there’s always something to find that you never knew you so desperately needed. Beaulieu will be held during the second weekend of September. How to describe Beaulieu? Again Colin Buchanan’s song says it all: “You’ll come back with a grin and a trailer load!”

August 23, 2007

When you think of US Highways, the first one that springs to mind is Route 66. But before US Highways were numbered they had a name. The very first was the Lincoln Highway. Carl Fisher, who had already built the Indianapolis race track and would later develop Miami Beach, foresaw that the country needed a highway across the continent. He organised the Lincoln Highway Association, named after Abraham Lincoln to give it patriotic appeal. To fund his idea he asked for cash donations from auto manufacturers and accessory companies. The public could become members of the highway organization for five dollars. Starting in Times Square, New York the Highway ran for 3400 miles through many states and finished in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Although directness was an important factor and many cities and scenic attractions were bypassed, the Highway brought great prosperity to hundreds of cities, towns and villages along the way. In 1925 the system of named Highways was substituted with the now familiar system of numbered U.S. Highways. While the other named highways were quickly forgotten, the Lincoln Highway was not. The Lincoln Highway Association was reactivated in 1992, and is now dedicated to preserve the Highway. (photo courtesy Lincoln Highway Association)

June 10, 2007

Tony Clark, a collector of motoring art, found this painting of a 1927 Crossley (possibly a 18.50 or 20.9 Fabric Saloon). The size of the image had been reduced with white snowpake. Tony assumed it was recently applied to mask out the name of a magazine and possibly the artist's signature at the bottom. After carefully removing the snowpake, Tony was left with the picture above. No text, no signature and the conclusion that the snowpake, despite its bright white colour, was 1930s and had been deliberately used to reduce the image size to that shape. The picture has similarities to the work of the famous artists F.Gordon Crosby and F.T. Steerwood, but some of the detail is a bit week and for that reason it could be the work of a lesser known artist. However, it was quite common in the design studios that one of the top men would draw the car and a junior would paint in the background. So what are we looking at? Could it be the cover of a sales brochure rather than the front cover of a magazine? And who could be the artist? Any ideas?







(Images courtesy Tony Clark)

June 2, 2007

In the background of this advertisement for Johnny Walker you’ll see a painting on an easel in the background. The painting is called Speed Demons of 1904. Both painting and advert were made by famous artist Peter Helck. When in 1944 Esquire Magazine published a calendar with a series of racing scenes painted by Peter Helck racing, his career as a motoring artist really took off and nowadays a Peter Helck painting will fetch a high price at an automobilia auction. The car in the foreground with number 16 was also owned by Peter Helck. It was a Locomobile (ddavid.com) which he bought it in 1941. The car was never restored and still carries the original grey paint and racing number from the 1908 Vanderbilt race. It went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn after Peter’s death in 1988. (With thanks to Timothy Helck, Peter’s grandson, who built a website celebrating his grandfather’s work).





May 28, 2007

This street scene in Gloucester was painted in 1934 by Edward Hopper, in my opinion one of the great painters of the twentieth century. He was a late starter, but developed his very own, instantly recognizable style of painting. Impressionist, yes, but his light is clearer, his shadows darker and his point of view unusual. In 1927, Hopper was already 45, he and his wife Jo bought their first car. They used it extensively to go places where they could paint. See the painting "Jo in Wyoming" below. Some fifty of Hopper’s oil paintings, thirty watercolours and twelve prints are now on exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The exhibition focuses on the period of Hopper’s greatest achievements -from about 1925 to mid-century- during which he produced many works now considered icons of American art. One critical note though: to us old-car lovers surely one of Hopper’s best paintings must be gas (moma.org). It’s a pity this painting is not part of the exhibition.




















Photos courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

May 20, 2007

I have written before that it is still possible to spot a prewar car, by just paying attention at your surroundings. You’ll see ‘m everywhere, in paintings, in murals, on statues or in an ornament like the one above. It’s the closing stone of a small bridge in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and according to local legend it depicts Henry Ford in a Model T. The stone was made in the 1930s by Leendert Bolle, of whom I have shown other work a few years ago. However, this stone is rapidly deteriorating and the head of Henry Ford is now no longer recognizable. Too bad there are no plans for a restoration.





























photos Rutger Booy

May 6, 2007

This man who is racing towards the finish line while being cheered on by many spectators is no less than Emile Levassor. And he deserves this monument because in 1895 he finished first in the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris road race. But, despite averaging a mind-blowing 15mph, Levassor was denied the first prize of 31000 francs because his car only had two seats in stead of the reglementary four! In September the following year, Levassor was leading the Paris-Marseille-Paris when a dog rushed out in front of his car: Levassor swerved and his car overturned, tipping both him and his mécanicien d'Hostingue into the road. Levassor's chest hit the tiller as he exited the car, smashing a rib and receiving internal injuries. He continued, but had to retire due to the pain. He remained in poor health and suffered a fatal coronary embolism in April 1897. A year after Levassor’s death in 1897, the Automobile club of France commissioned the monument, and selected sculptor Aimée-Jules Dalou, known for his monument to labor, to execute it. Working from contemporary photographs, Dalou made two studies for the piece, from which bronze models were cast. Sometimes called “Monument to the Automobile”, these bronzes, of which there is no precise record of the number made, were sold commercially. Following Dalou’s death, the project was entrusted to his pupil Camille Lefèbvre, who elaborated on Dalou’s design. The final monument resembles a Greco-Roman triumphal arch, except that the arch itself is occupied by the sculptural portrayal of Levassor’s triumph. Finally, ten years after Levassor´s death, the monument was erected at the Porte Maillot in Paris, on the spot of the finish line of the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris road race.



























photos Rutger Booy

April 14, 2007