So I'm getting a nice 41 Chevy truck. Evilfordcoupe has influenced me in the engine department so that's not an issue. I have a basic non-original idea of what direction to take it (steelies/WWWs/slammed), but I'd like to apply the Art Deco theme to it somehow. I plan to run a blown 348/409 in it and it would not be exposed for all the world to see since I want the hood and all the rest of the sheetmetal on it. Has anyone seen anything like this or can point me in the right direction without using your middle finger? Travis
The Dec issue of Collectible Automobiles have some Art Deco influed truck drawings made by GM Styling Studio in the late 30´s. Might give you some directions.
Art Deco huh? the front of one of those looks like it should be a display in someone's art deco shrine, as-is! as cars go, the old airflow's were about as art deco as ya could get, take some ideas from one of those, perhaps? art deco was as much about the materials used as it was the final design...I remember an article in a magazine, something about making speaker grilles for use in an A sedan, the article said that krylon, after it was cured, was rubbed down with 0000 steel wool and looked like bakelite...from my searches for art deco items for my house back in arkansas, I found there was a lot of copper used as well, chrome, stainless... what I call art deco, some folks call "streamline moderne", all I know is that I like the styling, and think it would look great on a vehicle already designed in the era that was the heyday of the style... decopix.com is a site dedicated to art deco architecture, and you may find some ideas there, or at one of the sites they have links to.. here are a couple ideas for ya, ones I had tucked away for the T... (1) find a font that looks like it should be in some sort of art deco surrounding, download it, make up your own guage faces on your computer and print them out, stick em in your guages and make people ask what company carries them... (2) find some period piece that has one of the geometric designs and use it for upholstery or door panel pattern, in the case of the door panels for the T, I was going to use the colors and pattern taken from the front of a kodak beau brownie camera... its late, my mind is tormented, and I need sleep...good luck with your project, plz post some pics of your ideas and progress, I would like to see this one speaking of art deco, anyone know what this is?
IIRC, the 1939 New York World's Fair. If I can find it, there was an article from a few years ago on art deco commercial trucks. The Texaco trucks from the '30's are good examples, but the tractor-trailer Labatt's beer trucks you just have to see if you dig this stuff. Later, *****6.
Now this is the **** I am talking about! I'm not into Art Deco all that much but I've always liked the looks. Just never knew where to look, really. I love the gauge idea, and I recall Cole painted the insert part of the speedometer on Mike Ness's Chevy with Krylon Copper or something like that and it turned out gorgeous (Naturally, since Cole did it). Thanks for the heads up on the magazines... I'll try to find them. I'll get pictures as soon as I bring the 41 home. Travis
Hey, hillbilly, that decopix link was a winner! What a cool site. I really like deco stuff. I collect antique radios and the deco ones are my favorites. '36 Cords and '37 Studebakers have a definite art deco front styling as well.
Guys, I don't want to get all picky about Deco and Streamline Moderne cuz I love'm both, but, they ARE different. Deco was late 20's-EARLY 30's, more angular, edgy, with pyramids and sun-rays. Think Chrysler building. Moderne was mid-late 30's, streamlined, think Chrysler Airflow, Lincoln Zephyr. Not to many Deco cars. Best one I think was the french Voisin. (truly funky) Here's the interior of the C22: Here's the hood ornament: Whole bunches of'em here. Looking chopped, channelled, Zee'ed etc. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/automobiles-voisin/index2.html Now big buck cl***ics
I collect Art Deco telephones. I think the ones I like best were first made in the late twenty's and all the way into the early '50s. But the '41 Chevrolet pickup, along with the very rare '45s, '46s and early '47s are known as Art Deco trucks. About March of '47 the Advance Design GM trucks were introduced. I've never been an art student, and don't know what Art Deco really means to the experts, but to me a '41 Chevrolet pickup is as Art Deco as it comes...
Yes, that is true. Art Deco is an earlier style, named after the a show held in Paris 1925, Exposition des Art Décoratifs et Industriels. The Voisin was an Art Deco car, and Chrysler Airflow or the GM truck rendering are American Streamline. Though, sometimes these styles are very close to each other... The reason for me answering this way is that I did ***ume that it was really the American Streamline design that Travis was asking for... The rootes of Art Deco could be seen around 1918 and it was more or less out of fashing by the beginning of WWII. Outer close design styles were the pre-runner French Art Nouveau (an earlier style with much more ornamentics and flowers...), and the very strict German Bauhaus and the Scandinavian Functionalism (now I hope Sailor will have some architectural inputs!).
'41 Chevy grille is pretty art deco, as I recall...look at some coffee table books on great cars/coachbuilding/luxury cars of the late 20s - late 30s for ideas...most were extravagant, but the steel magnates and Hollywood types had some SERIOUS vehicles made for their rich selves!!! I want to do the '38 interior in art deco...the fonts on the gauges, dash done in high-contrast woods with metal inlays, leather interior in a fan pattern...mmmmmmmm!
deco picture frames are full of design ideas, nothing physically about the frames you could really use, but they offer a good look at some of the elements that were popular. They might give you some ideas for the interior or some accent paint.
ok ok ok ok ok....how about a frank lloyd wright inspired woody??? I will throw another style in here too...just to be my old self.... somethin like the g****s of wrath gone affluent, yeah, thats the ticket, a 10 story woody that takes design from the price tower in Bartlesville, OK.....hrm...based on a tree trunk? just kiddin...I like the old style stuff, there is a house I am lookin at buyin here in LaFollette that was built back in the 20s...it is on the side of a hill beside the main street runnin thru town, down on the street, built into the side of the hill, is the concrete parking garage that goes to the house, and beside that, the stairway leading to the house, the house is not really art deco, or wright or any of that kool stuff, but rather an early bungalow such as would have existed at the time the first of the art deco stuff hit the market.....its goin for cheap, just gotta get the down payment... for real though, I was wonderin' how long it would be before someone took this idea and ran with it, congrats! I cant wait to see the end result...I think my next project will be finished to look like it was formed outta bakelite, this way, and have copper instead of chrome, cant wait til it all turns green... alan, man, was that your article I read in olskool rods? there was a dude from tennessee wrote somethin in there...I like that mag, hope it sticks around for a while
ok, here is a quickie rendering of a speedo face like I was talkin about...could go more in-depth with it, I havent really tried to actually make one before now, and dont think this one looks all that great, but it should be easy for someone experienced with graphics applications... anyone know where I can find that old font that looks like it's made outta bones? thats the one I am lookin for to re-do the guages in my lil project
The book "CHEVROLET PICKUP Color History" by Brownell and Mueller contains chapter 4 "Art Deco Series 1941-1946. Your truck already IS Art Deco! If you just retore it it will be what you're looking for. If you want fancier, put some fleetline spears on the lower fenders behind the wheels. and keep all the chrome on the grill and hood.
voisin made me drool, very cool car... they sure dont make cars like they used to... belive i have to add more books in my bookcase... i want my house to be in an late 40ies early 50ies style so better read up more.. already read 3 books on g***tation designs and 2 on coffeshops anyhow very inspiring to learn history and more about design, people in general should read up more on stuff before they do things.. doesnt hurt to know the history on what you are doing... not that i mind caddy 57 hubcaps but just gets in my eye somehow when i see a perfect late 40ies styled custom that would look so much better in flippers or sombreros but has caddy 57 caps. i mean just imagine matranga or hirohata for that matter (ok early 50ies) with 1957 caddy caps,... well each to each own or something but still...
"anyone know what this is?" Yeah, that's my salt and pepper shaker--How in hell did you get into my kitchen??
Hey Travis I have a 41 I am building now. I think of it more as Streamline Moderne than Art Deco like SlowLearner lead on to but regardless they are referred to as Art Deco trucks. To me Streamline Modern was all about glory of the machine and high tech of the times. I think of steam engine trains, zepplins and some of the aerodynamic architecture as the high style of that time. I have yet to see very many original 41-46 builds that really accentuate the long nose wide grill style, which is more my goal. I have read somewhere it was referred to the "ugly duck" in its time. I think partially due to the extra tall cab height. Anyway maybe we can share some ideas.
By most modern cl***ifiers Streamline Moderne and Art Deco get lumped together, although for this discussion it is probably important to differentiate. Didn't the Art Deco term get applied to industrial design in the late-sixties? Kinda like "Doo Wop" was just "late fifties rock and roll" until the early-seventies. Okay, got a question while I'm posting: Where can I find this font to download? Word used to have it but no more, and I'd really like it for Quark Xpress.
Oh, and how cool would that sheetmetal look in mildly sectioned form on a "sports rod" with a DuVall windshield, boat tail and a speedboat inspired interior. Anybody else love the streamlined p***enger trains of this era like I do?
some references This one's about architecture but has some names and dates; http://www.visitsobeonline.com/artdeco.htm and http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/a/artdeco.html
here's a good example- the Talbot-Lago. mmmmmmm..... see also Figoni and Falaschi, stylists and builders who specialized in this sort of loveliness.
[ QUOTE ] a Talbot with F+F coachwork. beauty, eh? [/ QUOTE ] They had a display of those "Tall****s" (British pronunciation, I heard..) at the Petersen Museum a few years back. Most impresive! I think some of the overlooked but most impressive Art Deco "architectural" styles are on farm tractors like the John Deere Model B and the ****shutt Model 30 in the late 40's
The picture frames just yanked me back to childhood! Thanks, warpigg. My maternal grandparents had a Craftsman bungalow on Walnut Street in Pasadena when I was a kid. It was furnished Art Deco which actually fit rather well into the Craftsman architecture. Art Deco vs. American Streamline has been argued for years, decades maybe, and I confess not to understand many of the subtle differences, but . . . I know what I like. So, anyone have a "read" on this interesting artifact from the late '30s? It's a nine-inch-long ashtray, polished cast aluminum. I'd have ascribed it to either Art Deco or American Streamline (even though it apparently came fron New Zealand).
Cool Ashtray! Can you send it to me for closer examination? I might be able to find an answer... And I'd take up smoking to be able to have that!
Amazing. Something to look forward to when getting ideas for the 41, and getting an education too!!! I'm definitely going with the streamline look... removal of the bumpers, swoopy fenders? I love the speedo/gauge idea. But I still want to be able to take it to the drags. Voneyeball has offered several interesting ideas I'm definitely going to see if I can incorporate. This is going to be FUN!! Travis
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