The Heyday of Cursive Script

17Jan12

by J. Kraus

1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS. A masterwork in the annals of badging: cursive lettering, gold-anodised finish, canted 45-degrees, and unique placement flowing over the curved transition from rear deck to rear quarter panel

Free-flowing cursive script is not often seen on automobiles today. It still survives at Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Maserati and Porsche. Outside this quartet it is rare indeed. In days past, cursive was common throughout the industry.

Such longhand script was often utilized to enable casting a complete badge out of a single piece of metal. The alternative was to either run block letters together, or connect individual block characters with a bar across the top (à la Ferrari,) a bar at the bottom (typified by BMW and Mercedes-Benz) or through the center in the style of Alfa Romeo and Volkswagen.

Prewar cars used cursive scripting almost exclusively, although badging itself was generally minimal or nonexistent. In the 1900’s manufacturer nameplates were usually affixed only to the front of the radiator, and model designations were not displayed. I the thirties, even this practice declined, with most vehicles displaying the manufacturer’s name only via a stylized logo atop the radiator shell. After the war, marque and model badging began proliferating and begat its own art form.

Filed under: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Austin, BMC, Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Porsche, Renault, Style & Design, Volkswagen   |  4 Comments

Image from the Past

12Dec11

A BMW Isetta 300 Moto Coupé displays Christmas spirit

Filed under: BMW, Images From the Past   |  Leave a Comment

The Cars of James Bond: Triumph Stag

12Dec11

by J Kraus

Peter Franks arrives at the Port of Dover in his Saffron Yellow Triumph

Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh James Bond film, marked the return of Sean Connery as Secret Agent 007. Early in the film, operating under the cover of an assumed identity, he commandeers a Triumph Stag.

The evolution of the Stag began in the mid-sixties, around the time Goldfinger was being filmed. It was originally intended to be simply a convertible drophead version of the 1963 Triumph 2000 saloon. However, during its extended development the concept was revised to become more of a gentleman’s grand tourer and partly as a result, the Stag did not go on sale until 1970.

Filed under: Cars of James Bond, Triumph   |  2 Comments

Eine Woche in Volkswagenwerk, 1953

12Nov11

by J Kraus

VW bodies travel on overhead conveyor from paint shop to final assembly, Wolfsburg, Germany

In April of 1953, German photographer Peter Keetman (1916-2005) spent a week at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg. Peter was a founding member of Fotoform, a group of German photographers whose work meshed abstraction with objectivity, often incorporating close-ups and repetition. The images resulting from the Volkswagen project eventually became some of his favorite and best known.

When Herr Keetman visited, VW was at a pivotal point in its history. The Beetle and the Type II Transporter/Microbus were the only two products Volkswagen produced. However, a third model, the Karmann Ghia, had been developed and was little more than a year from introduction. The Wolfsburg plant was still VW’s only automobile manufacturing facility, but their second European assembly plant (Hanover) was in the planning stage, and Volkswagen do Brazil was in the process of beginning pilot production.

Filed under: Art and the Automobile, Volkswagen   |  2 Comments

Art and the Automobile

13Oct11

“Autumn Fuchsia” by Norman Parkinson. Rover P4 90, 1957

Filed under: Art and the Automobile, Rover   |  1 Comment

Forgotten American Cold War Artifact: CONELRAD

13Oct11

by J Kraus

Bendix AM radio, Volkswagen Deluxe Sedan, 1956. In the event of imminent thermonuclear attack, simply set the dial to one of the white triangles and stand by for further instructions.

In 1951, the U.S. government initiated the CONELRAD (CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation) system in an effort to prevent the possibility of incoming Russian bombers using transmitting signals from U.S. broadcast antennas as navigational aids.

Filed under: Vintage Technology   |  1 Comment

Flights of Fancy: The Space-Focused Nomenclature of the Jet Age

12Sep11

by J Kraus

1956 Aston Martin DB2/4 Supersonic by Ghia

The weapons of World War II gave the public their first-ever glimpse of the power and speed of jet and rocket engines. As hostilities drew to a close, engineers labored over their drawing boards to harness these new power sources for peacetime use.

The rocket-powered Bell X-1 airplane broke the sound barrier on 14 October 1947, achieving supersonic speed for the first time. BOAC commenced commercial jet travel in May of 1952. In 1958, commercial transatlantic jet service was inaugurated, and construction began on the Pan Am World Airways tower in New York City.

A number of auto manufactures found it desirable to infuse their products with a bit of this jet age glamour and space age allure.

Filed under: Aston Martin, Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors   |  3 Comments

Image from the Past

23Jul11

A pair of lovely ladies admire the fringed surrey top and wicker seats of the new Renault 4CV Ghia Jolly, 1962

Filed under: Images From the Past, Renault   |  Leave a Comment

Ahoy! Amphicar 770

23Jul11

by J Kraus

Amphicar 770

I can think of no other vehicle that so epitomizes the unbridled optimism of the early 1960′s that pervaded Western Europe and the United States than the Amphicar 770.

This confidence in the future, born of an unwavering belief in technology and general good feeling at having survived wartime austerity (and indeed, the war itself) produced a unencumbered embrace of anything that appeared new, advanced or modern. The Amphicar certainly qualified on all counts.

Filed under: Amphicar, Tributes   |  3 Comments

The Cars of James Bond: Sunbeam Alpine

11Jun11

by J Kraus

Lake Blue Alpine in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica

The Sunbeam Alpine featured in the film Dr. No is significant to Bond aficionados because it is the first time audiences see Bond driving his “own” (although portrayed as a hire-car) vehicle, as opposed to a car commandeered from a foe.

Bond drives the car in Jamaica in order to rendezvous with the enigmatic Miss Taro at her Magenta Drive residence in the Blue Mountains above Kingston, whereupon she becomes Bond’s first cinematic feminine conquest. On the way, Bond is pursued without success by Dr. No’s henchmen.

Later that night he drives the Sunbeam down to the shore to meet up with Quarrel and Felix for a clandestine boat trip to Crab Key.

Filed under: Cars of James Bond, Sunbeam   |  2 Comments