James Kraus
Vintage scale model Coca-Cola cab-over delivery truck
The Coca-Cola Company adopted Things Go Better With Coke as their new advertising tagline in 1963. It then became a jingle, performed by leading pop acts of the decade including Jan & Dean, Tom Jones, Petula Clark and The Supremes.
At the same time, automotive designers were thinking that maybe things went better with a Coke shape. Continue reading
A Maserati A6 G 1500 speeds through Northern Italy between outsize bottle-shaped billboards for Cora Amaro and Cora Extra Old Red Vermouth in Story of a Love Affair (Cronaca di un Amore). Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950
by James Kraus Porsche Color Combinations
1966 MG 1100 Saloon in Glen Green over Pale Primrose. A distinctive (and distinctly British) combination.
In response to my November article on the rich history of automotive colouration in comparison to the monotonous and uninspiring colour combinations most often seen today (centering almost exclusively on black, grey and beige), I received a number of photos from owners of quite distinctive vehicles that took a stand in the battle against chromatic mediocrity. I am sharing the best of them with followers of Auto Universum in the hopes that they will offer inspiration to others.
by James Kraus
1968 BMW 2800CS riding on unusually elegant alloy wheels featuring a polished chrome centre cap discreetly concealing the mounting lugs. Visible fasteners on a contemporary automobile are generally considered to represent a lack of refinement, yet seem to be embraced when they appear on otherwise highly stylized wheels. These were produced for BMW in Italy by FPS (Foundry Pedrini Siena).
Today, alloy wheels are all but ubiquitous and are used by automobile manufacturers as a key styling feature, often used to differentiate model ranges and equipment specification. They started becoming popular with the general public in the 1980’s, but were in fact offered sporadically since 1924.
Previous to the development of the alloy wheel, wheels were formed of two pieces of pressed steel, the rim and the disc, either welded or riveted into a single unit. Or, they were fabricated of a steel or aluminium rim, connected to a centre hub by metal spokes. A transitional design was a hybrid utilizing a steel disc for strength and an aluminium rim for weight saving. Such a design was used by Porsche and Jaguar in the 1950’s. Another example was the Borrani Bimetal, used on several Italian sporting models.
Maserati 5000 GT with body by Pietro Frua at the Salon de l‘Auto in Paris, 1962. Chassis Number 103.048
by J Kraus
Newly revised Citroën logo
Word has recently reached me, at my secluded compound in the Bernese Oberland, that Citroën and Lancia both have announced that they were both revising their classic logos. This only a year after Fiat found it necessary to “revise” the storied Abarth badge.
The Citroën logo managed to survive 90 years before being the current debasement. The classic badge was a representation of the double helical cut gears that were the original product of André Citroën. The dual pattern allow the silent meshing of normal single bevel gears without generating side thrust. They had been very difficult and time-consuming to manufacture until André obtained patents and licensing rights for new processes that would allow the gears to be machined cheaper and more accurately. When Citroën began building cars in 1919, the logo followed. It adorned all their ground-breaking designs: the Traction Avant, the 2CV, the DS, the GS, and the SM.
Removing the old sharply defined points leaves the new logo appearing less like gear teeth and a bit flaccid. It in fact calls to mind a pair of boomerangs. I am aware that things are changing quickly, but last I looked, Citroën was still domiciled in France, not Australia.
