Pete’s PowerPoint Practice

Art and the automobile—no matter howyou slice it, no two are ever the same,in concept, design or intent. Which, of course, is where the fun begins.

Above left, the Alexander Calder “Art Car” BMW. Other “Art Cars” were done byAndy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others. At right is a Kustom (with a “K”) remakeOf a Detroit classic, the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.

Foreign is always good, but let’s begin in Detroit, shall we?

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In the earliest days, theItalians had their influence, as evidencedBy the Ghia Cadillac above, from 1950.

The Americans, of course, wouldn’t fail to have their say.

Beauty is always something to behold, as we see.

The “Jacqueline” Cadillac, from 1959To 1961, depending on who you believe. The story goes that Pininfarina created 100, and one slipped off it’s pallet, and went to thebottom of the Detroit River.

And ideas, it seems, were never in shortsupply, as this study for the ’59 CadillacBy design legend Raymond Loewy shows.Loewy, as you may recall, (or not,) penned a range of iconic Studebakers,from the Starlight coupe to the Avanti sports car.

So much time, so much to know

How long has the idea of a better ideabeen with us? This Pierce-Arrow from1936 gives us a little bit of an idea, buteven it is not the ultimate brainstorm.

“Couture” cruising, it seems, is an idea almost as old as old money. This 1931 Pierce-Arrow, with it’s custombodywork by LeBaron, was probablyright at home, lined up next to Duesenbergs, Packards and Lincolns.And speaking of Lincolns…….

Along with Cadillac, Henry Leland formed Lincoln.

Although, one can almost imagine thateven he had no clue where his company would end up, as evidencedby this concept Continental from 1950.

……And who could have ever predictedthat something like this 1955 Futura would spawn something as immortaland sinister as the 1960s Batmobile?!

…Or that Ford would sell customizerGeorge Barris the Futura for $1.00?!

More was on the way. More will ALWAYS be on the way.

At left, another view of the ’55 Lincoln Futura. I have a print of this same picture from a Korean car magazine. Above is the 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis, Likely as not another Ghia creation. Fordbought Ghia for themselves, eventually.

Don’t be thinking this is the end….no sir!

This custom-bodied Alfa from 1962is proof of that.

…..And the experimental BAT series Alfas,(numbers 5, 7 and 9, from left to right,) were further proof of how Italian blood runs,as if that were in question.

Foreign applications, as we have seen, were not always foreign.

I would call this Bertone-designedFord Mustang from 1965 evidenceof that.

….But not nearly in the way that this Pininfarina-designed Corvette from about the same time is. Yes, this is a Corvette.

Care to hazard a guess as to what this could be?

(Hint—It’s not Italian—at least the carmaker isn’t.)

If you guessed the Bertone interpretation of the 1960s Porsche911, you’re right! But even money says you didn’t guess that. The story goes that southern California racer and Porsche dealer Johnnyvon Neumann presumed to hypothesize about gaps in the Porsche line-up, including the conspicuous absence of a convertible 911. (Therehad, after all, been many variations of the 356 roadster.) Ergo, he commissioned Bertone to do a styling study. Porsche brass was unimpressedwith the concept, citing it’s “un-Porsche-ness.”

On we go, although one never knows if that’s really good.

I myself am not 100% certain aboutthe idea of a 70s Cadillac Eldoradostation wagon, but I never worked For GM styling, either.

In fact, one might say the best ideasare best left to men who don’t have tothink about volume, as this PontiacGrand Prix Hurst/SSJ shows. (although the deftness of Bill Mitchell’sstyling sense can’t be denied.)

And believe me, there never fails to be “odds and ends….”

Race shops like Alpina never stop tinkering, so gems like this 2002Tiinever go away completely.

Nor will the impetus to getfast cars in the hands of all of us go away, as thisShelby GT350H, rentablefrom Hertz in the 60s proves.

Old and new—yeah, yeah, that works….

And as much as I could go on, I’ll just stop with some pretties.