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Weird and Wonderfull Automobiles From The 1950s

Started by HobieSport, February 09, 2009, 02:09:55 AM

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HobieSport

I know, this doesn't belong in a phone forum, but there seems to be a lot of general interest in design here, and these were just too fun to pass up.  Enjoy. :)

HobieSport

More cars from the 1950s:

HobieSport

And yet more cars from the 1950s:


Mark Stevens

Quote from: HobieSport on February 09, 2009, 02:09:55 AM
I know, this doesn't belong in a phone forum, but there seems to be a lot of general interest in design here, and these were just too fun to pass up.  Enjoy. :)

Cool cars!  I always wanted an Isetta, and I used to own a Nash that was similar to that pinkish behemoth you pictured.  It was a 1950 Nash Statesman, a car that used to be described as an upside-down bathtub!   ;D

Bill Cahill

 ;D My favorite was that beutiful wood grained station wagon.
Bill Cahill

"My friends used to keep saying I had batts in my belfry. No. I'm just hearing bells....."

HobieSport

#6
Quote from: Mark
I always wanted an Isetta, and I used to own a Nash that was similar to that pinkish behemoth you pictured.  It was a 1950 Nash Statesman, a car that used to be described as an upside-down bathtub!   ;D

That's funny Mark, because I love the BMW Isetta and the funny looking Nash sort of warmed my heart.  I love Bugatis as far as classics go.  Someone just found one in an inherited barn in England that had been sitting for 45 years and it just sold for 3.4 mil.. :o

McHeath

Was just talking about the BMW Isetta with my mother in law last Monday night, she knew a fellow who had one over in San Jose back in the day.  They used to pile the wife and two little kids into it to putter about, and it was like a clown car opening up she said when they parked.

I really enjoy the Googie style of the mid 20th century, which cars really got into.  Many of these cars look like they are going to take off at any moment. 

We have one neighborhood in my burg that was built from the 40's to the 60's, and it was a rich neighborhood of doctors and lawyers and such, real exclusive.  So a drive through is a visit to the best of the Ranch House/Modernist House/Googie House era, it's pretty fun!  We have looked at a few homes for sale in there when they come open, which is rare, but they want way more than we have.  Maybe if I quit buying old phones!  One fabulous Eichler styled house in there sure tempted us, especially the unaltered kitchen...



HobieSport

#8
Heath that's funny about the Isetta looking like a clown car when opening up.  I don't know much about them but I just liked it the moment I saw it.  I'm a fan of little cars in general.

Googie is fun!  I remember seeing the Theme Building at the L.A. Airport as a kid and my jaw dropping.  I didn't grow up exposed to a lot of Googie stuff, as my parents and architect friend were more into a much simplified and subdued Frank Lloyd Wright and somewhat Eichler type of building and decor, but now I really like Googie too.  It's playful.

I spent hours on Ebay and elsewhere looking for a pair of table lamps to fit my trailer.  I looked at every common design from the 1930s-1960s and nothing grabbed me quite like the rocket lava lamps.  Is that Googie enough for ya?

One thing about original Eichler homes is that they don't have good insulation with all the big plate glass (that also makes them so nice...these double glazed windows just don't give the great reflections that plate glass does) and if they haven't been maintained, they can be in pretty poor shape.

Say, what would a Googie phone be?  An Ericophone I presume?

Cheers, -Matt

McHeath

Yes I think the Googie phone would be the Ericofon.  Mine is beneath a lamp that looks like a flying saucer about to land and it fits in well. 

Googie is playful, thats a good adjective, it's a style thats having fun.  Guess that sorta fits the post-war hubris, before the grim days of the 70's and later hit with so many things going wrong on so many social and cultural levels. 

Eichler homes just don't work here in the Central Valley on a practical level.  Poor insulation in the blast furnace summers, and all that floor to ceiling single paned, is simply a disaster in livability.  We toured an Eichler in the neighborhood I spoke of a few summers ago, it was about 108 degrees that day as it so often is in July here, and the owners had been running the AC non-stop all day to try to cool it off for our visit but it was still 90 in the house.  Those houses were made for places like San Diego and coastal LA, maybe the Bay Area, where the temps never go wild one way or the other.  Though a tract of Eichler style homes has been built in Palm Springs over the last years using modern insulation and glazing, they claim they are livable.

Sadly last year the last Googie building in town, a diner, went out of business and got remodeled into a traditional Mexican restaurant.  We have one sign for a motel left on the North end of town thats Googie:



McHeath

#10
Here's some LA Googie from a trip down there a couple of summers ago:

This is the sign for the Downey McDonalds, the oldest operating one in the chain.  Original sign to boot.  Followed up by the front of the restaurant with the missus and boy off to the side.

HobieSport

#11
I never thought about the McDonalds golden arches being Googie, but by golly, I reckon they are.  About how old is the Downey McDonalds?  I remember when the Santa Cruz Calif McDonalds sign said "over One Million served" circa 1970.

Speaking of large plate glass windows in Eichler style houses, we remodeled our home on the Monterey Bay in 1962.  I was a brat of five and swinging a hammer smashing through stucco with Dad and our architect friend as we tore out the old mullioned windows to make way for plate glass. 

The new windows were maybe 5 feet tall by 8 feet wide with louvers on the side for ventilation.  There were about 8 of these windows.  We also put in redwood light beams for indirect lighting.  At night the plate glass windows opposite of each other reflected infinite space and our tiny house became a huge unending mansion.

But yes, the house was indeed impossible to heat, and cooling wasn't a problem on the central Calif Coast.

We had two orange Butterfly Chairs.  Are those Googie?  Are they Eames?  Or are they simply "Lucy" Chairs? ;)

HobieSport

Browsing around for more Googie stuff I came up with these pics.

Heath, I think I found you a house, a car, and a nice little sign for your front lawn... ;)

McHeath

Love the car!  And the house!  And the sign!  I could just see how that car would go over here in my burg of gangsta thugsters.

"Ey mahn, wear'd ju git da leetol sissyman karr?"   :o

The Downey McDonalds is from 1953, and was franchised by the actual McDonald brothers not Ray Kroc and his later McDonalds corp.  It is the oldest one left, and pretty cool for a visit, they have a little building off the side with artifacts, pictures and history info along with trinkets to buy. 

HobieSport

#14
Still, of all the wonderful cars of the 1950s I think this would be my favorite.
The good 'ol '57 Chevy Bell Air.  (drool) :)