Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Z is for Zephyr

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It's time again For ABC Wednesday. If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday, you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is Z. I am curious to see what everyone posts. Z is a hard letter. My post is Zephyr. In 1936 Lincoln introduced the Zephyr, named and styled after the streamlined Burlington Zephyr express train. Several years ago I spent a lot of time manipulating photos to look like paintings. One of the photo/paintings was of a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr

39 Zephyr
1939 LINCOLN ZEPHYR

My Daddy has a used car lot, and has always had a number of old cars. That has given me lots of cars to photograph. I have a number of other old car photo/paintings. This one is of a 1942 Desoto. The most distinguishing feature of the 1942 DeSoto was its "Airfoil" headlights. Squarish doors hid the lamps until an underdash lever rotated the covers upward and turned on the lights. Though hidden headlights had been used on 1936-1937 Cords, they were still very much a novel idea in 1942.

42 Desoto
1942 DESOTO

The Coupe deVille was introduced by Cadillac late in the 1949 model year. Part of the Cadillac Series 62 line, it was a closed, two-door coupé, Cadillac's first pillarless hardtop. Intended as a prestige model, at $3,497 it was one of the most expensive models of the Series 62 line. It was luxuriously trimmed, with leather upholstery and chrome 'bows' in the headliner to simulate the ribs of a convertible top. The first-year Coupe deVille sold 2,150 units, but 1950 sales were more than double

50 Coupe de ville
1950 CADILLAC COUPE DE VILLE

The 1938 Graham was introduced with the slogan "Spirit of Motion". The car looked like it was in motion when standing still. The fenders, wheel openings and grille all appeared to be moving forward. The design was widely praised in the American press and by American designers. It also won the prestigious Concours D'Elegance in Paris, France. Its cut-back grille later gained the car the name "sharknose",

Shark Nose
1938 SHARKNOSE GRAHAM

The Edsel is most famous for being a marketing disaster. Indeed, the name Edsel came to be synonymous with commercial failure. The main reason the Edsel's failure is so famous was that it flopped despite Ford’s investment of $400,000,000 in its development. There is no single reason why the Edsel failed, and failed so spectacularly. Popular culture often faults the car’s styling. Marketing experts hold the Edsel up as a supreme example of corporate America’s failure to understand the nature of the American consumer. The Edsel was "the wrong car at the wrong time."

Edsel
1959 EDSEL

All of these cars belonged to my Daddy and were photographed and digitally manipulated by me.

27 comments:

  1. Would you believe a whole year ago I posted Z for Zephyr! Cut & paste this to see the link!
    Great digital enhancements above!

    http://mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com/search?q=zephyr

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  2. Well Richie, you made some great works of art of all your photos! How inventive!

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  3. An interesting way to look at cars. US cars are not much used around here, but for the veteran enthusiasts these would be a treasure indeed.

    PS My Z the last time was a German car (our own) called Opel Zafira... Opel is owned by GM.

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  4. I like what you did to get these pictures. I remember a couple of these cars, so thanks for the memories.

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  5. I love this post (like always)! I have NO idea what to do for Z. No idea at all. I need to think of something quick. Although, it isn't quite Wednesday yet. I know they put the post up on early Tuesday though. Wish me luck!

    PS GREAT pictures!

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  6. Greate art this photoes. Realy good! Have a nice evening:)

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  7. Love your treatment of the vintage car pictures and choosing the Zephyr was perfect for the letter Z.

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  8. Very cool cars! I'm so glad someone came up with Zephyr...

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  9. Interesting cars and I like the manipulation.

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  10. I have ridden on the California Zephyr (the train) across the country. My son is a collector of old car memorabilia, and I will alert him to this interesting post.

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  11. That's really neat how you have manipulated the cars! Very neat, indeed...
    ~Michele~

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  12. I love the Zephyr but the Desoto looks like a monster with big teeth!

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  13. It does look like a shark!

    Thanks for visiting my blog :-)

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  14. These ar real wow shots. I came looking for the wind and got wonderful car images instead.

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  15. Wow very beautiful. Recently I spotted a very vintage car. I will post it when I finished with my current series of photos...lol.

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  16. this reminds me of the song from u2.. very beautiful vintage cars indeed! and you've done really great with your photos, you made them more interesting. my mom's ABC wednesday post can be found here

    happy wednesday!

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  17. AmaZing photos which really look like paintings!Some of them are psychedelic ones !

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  18. I remember the Ford Zephyrs here - the European versions were not quite as flashy as the American versions but had many followers amongst the grown-up teddy boys of the 60s

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  19. What an interesting post! The photo to painting technique is beautiful, the colors are amazing! Thank you for stopping by my place and leaving a sweet comment.

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  20. I love the manipulation - way cool!

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  21. Great post and a real Z word...loved all the info...

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  22. Wow those are some nice shots and you had fun inhancing and changing the images around.

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  23. Excellent paintings! Really liked the post!

    I got a zoo-ish theme today here .. ;)

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  24. I LOVE what you've done with the photos! Great pieces of art!

    We had a Zephyr over here, made by Ford, I think! It was one of the larger saloon cars, a luxury model. We didn't see many on the road.

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