As a Rootes Group nerd (I mean, "enthusiast") I love it, even if the rusted sills look very, very bad for a British unibody car. I'd rather have a Minx wagon, but this will do in a pinch. #rootesgroup
Does anyone know why Loewy would so blatantly copy the 1953-54 Studebaker's design for the Minx? Was there an attempt to sell the Minx in the US through Studebaker dealers? If not, that seems like a lazy thing for a design consultant to do.
The irony is that the Minx has a better-balanced look than the Studebaker sedans. Although the low-slung Starliner coupes were stunningly beautiful, the sedans were considerably taller -- and downright ugly. #rootesgroup
@DrLemming: There was never any link between Studebaker and the Rootes Group besides their affiliation with Loewy and a little legal wrangling over who had the trademark to the name "Hawk." The lack of stylistic differentiation between the Minx and the Studebakers does seem lazy on Loewy's part, but it wasn't unique. Pininfarina used pretty much the same design for the Peugeot 404, Lancia Flaminia and Austin Westminster, and Bertone's small '60s sedans for Datsun and Mazda looked an awful lot like their Alfas. #rootesgroup
@Armand: Also, the big Fiat 1800/2300 shared the same styling concept as the 404 and BMC Farinas. As for the Bertone connection between the Alfa Romeo and the Mazda, the Mazda 1500/1800 body was originally intended for the 1967 Alfa 1750. Alfa turned it down, so Bertone sold the style to Mazda, and it doesn't look like a lot of changes were made. #rootesgroup
@DrLemming: The Vauxhalls of the time looked like shrunken '58 Chevys. English Fords looked like various American Fords left in the dryer too long. Over in Germany, NSU was blatantly ripping off the '60 Corvair. The US was the style leader. So Loewy worked with what he knew. He was not the only designer of the time to recycle his themes for another company. The '64 Imperial shares some lines with the '61 Lincoln for a reason. #rootesgroup
Can't argue with that two-tone paint job. Just perfect. And four cylinders looks about right for that critter. The rear looks like a 1960 Mercury, the front--old Ford? And all shrunk down to a handy traveling size. I'll take two. #rootesgroup
I want something better. I want a Singer 1500. When only the best will do.
I love those little thumbnail cartoons in the Vauxhall ad: It has a big nose to better smash unruly boys; contains both a speedometer AND a fuel gauge; the rear window is included, even though they couldn't be bothered to build the middle of the back seat.
But I would totally rock that Daimler, if it didn't have a slushbox. Why, it's practically the practical man's Rolls Royce!
@Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: What of contrast of expectations. Think of what US luxury car ads were like in the late '50s - prose consisting of breathless flights of ecstatic fancy, glorious full color, elegant women in gowns and fur, grand scenery or mountains of drapes and chandeliers. Now look at this dull, dry Daimler ad - it gives this admittedly nice car all the sex appeal and charisma of an adding machine.
'It efficiently changes gear, up or down, always at the right time, and always more quickly, more smoothly, than one could do it oneself'.
They were saying that even before my parents were born. Valentino Balboni put it well when he said 'You have to become one piece only.' With a manual transmission, you are an integral piece of the machine, stirring coals deep in the heart of the fire, while computer controls have very little need of you being there, and would eliminate you entirely if they could. Silicon transistors do not require and do not respond to any change of force or delicacy, reason or subtlety; they are creatures of absolutes. And while their absolutes and boundaries have been made smaller, they have become far greater in number, their scope more expansive, their control more complete, your input less relevant. You are placed ever further from the nerve center of the machine, replaced by digital senses. The tide has turned: destroyers of machinery gave Luddites their name, but now it is the machines, electrified and calculating, that destroy the human.
@Murilee Martin: I'm staring at a picture I took of UDmans Corvair that's about to be turned into a stencil. I could draw or paint in a suitable background to create a similar style. I'll get right on it.
Andy Wallwhore- I know, everybody's funny, ...now you kinda funny too. was starred
Andy Wallwhore- I know, everybody's funny, ...now you kinda funny too. was unstarred
@Matt2000 - British Leyland 4WD FTW!: i wonder if they mean hens as lady chickens, or just ladies. The former makes more sense, but the latter might suggest that women like it too, or something to that effect.
@Rockford_Brodie:
This is a British car company, so clearly they're referring to some strange kind of traditional Druid witchcraft alchemy unfamiliar to us Americans.... you know, you bring home some hay today, shape a few handfuls of strands of it into an effigy of a chicken, whisper some incantations under the light of a full moon, burn the straw chicken effigy; then mysteriously, the next morning you have a yardful of chickens.
Forget Corvettes. Porsches, and Ferraris. You're not going to win over the really cultured hot babes unless you drive a 1954 Wolseley. Never mind that it's built on a stretched Morris Minor platform and only might manage 75 mph with a strong tailwind. Sex appeal is more important than these trivial concerns, right?
11/15/09
11/15/09
The irony is that the Minx has a better-balanced look than the Studebaker sedans. Although the low-slung Starliner coupes were stunningly beautiful, the sedans were considerably taller -- and downright ugly. #rootesgroup
11/15/09
11/15/09
@Armand: Also, the big Fiat 1800/2300 shared the same styling concept as the 404 and BMC Farinas. As for the Bertone connection between the Alfa Romeo and the Mazda, the Mazda 1500/1800 body was originally intended for the 1967 Alfa 1750. Alfa turned it down, so Bertone sold the style to Mazda, and it doesn't look like a lot of changes were made. #rootesgroup
11/15/09
11/15/09
/mouthbreathing creepiness #rootesgroup
11/15/09
11/15/09
11/15/09
@Novaload: Apparently the two-tone paint job was known by Hillman as "The Gay Look". #rootesgroup
11/16/09
08/09/09
I love those little thumbnail cartoons in the Vauxhall ad: It has a big nose to better smash unruly boys; contains both a speedometer AND a fuel gauge; the rear window is included, even though they couldn't be bothered to build the middle of the back seat.
But I would totally rock that Daimler, if it didn't have a slushbox. Why, it's practically the practical man's Rolls Royce!
08/09/09
08/08/09
They were saying that even before my parents were born. Valentino Balboni put it well when he said 'You have to become one piece only.' With a manual transmission, you are an integral piece of the machine, stirring coals deep in the heart of the fire, while computer controls have very little need of you being there, and would eliminate you entirely if they could. Silicon transistors do not require and do not respond to any change of force or delicacy, reason or subtlety; they are creatures of absolutes. And while their absolutes and boundaries have been made smaller, they have become far greater in number, their scope more expansive, their control more complete, your input less relevant. You are placed ever further from the nerve center of the machine, replaced by digital senses. The tide has turned: destroyers of machinery gave Luddites their name, but now it is the machines, electrified and calculating, that destroy the human.
08/08/09
08/08/09
08/08/09
08/09/09
08/08/09
Not sure it's technically post-war, but have to have a Bently
08/08/09
08/08/09
@Murilee Martin: There is one with the guy running from a shiny side up Gremlin, but I agree with your sentiment.
08/08/09
08/08/09
08/08/09
08/08/09
08/08/09
This is a British car company, so clearly they're referring to some strange kind of traditional Druid witchcraft alchemy unfamiliar to us Americans.... you know, you bring home some hay today, shape a few handfuls of strands of it into an effigy of a chicken, whisper some incantations under the light of a full moon, burn the straw chicken effigy; then mysteriously, the next morning you have a yardful of chickens.
08/10/09
08/08/09
Forget Corvettes. Porsches, and Ferraris. You're not going to win over the really cultured hot babes unless you drive a 1954 Wolseley. Never mind that it's built on a stretched Morris Minor platform and only might manage 75 mph with a strong tailwind. Sex appeal is more important than these trivial concerns, right?