Jenny King / Special to The Detroit News
John Snowberger of Sterling Heights, Mich. said his father Russ drove this 1932 Hupp Comet in the Indy 500 some 80 years ago. The car won a red ribbon (first place) in the American racing from dirt to bricks category.
EyesOnDesign suggests life and art imitate each other
By Jenny King / Special to The Detroit News
GROSSE POINTE SHORES, Mich. -- Does life imitate art, or is it the other way around?
An afternoon at the 2009 EyesOnDesign show at the Eleanor and Edsel Ford home here posed the question. The thousands of visitors to The Art of Automobile Advertising and Design had to reach their own conclusions as they viewed an extensive array of cars, trucks and motorcycles and the print ads and posters that bore their images.
The 22nd annual benefit for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology celebrated the work of commercial artists like Art Fitzpatrick, whose accomplishments included glamorous hand-drawn images of cars like the wide-tracking Pontiacs of the 1960s, designing a series of postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and consulting on Disney-Pixar's 2006 animated film Cars.
The EyesOnDesign lifetime design achievement award for 2009 went to special guest Willie G. Davidson, senior vice president and chief styling officer, styling department, Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Cars at the show ran the gamut from Pierce-Arrows and Lincolns from the 1930s to street rods, vintage racers and family station/vacation wagons.
Sterling Heights, Mich. resident John Snowberger combined family and race car with his 1932 Hupp Comet, a vehicle driven by his father Russ at the famed Indy Brickyard close to 80 years ago.
"This was the only Hupp to ever do the Indy 500," said Snowberger. "Because his car was 1,000 pounds heavier than the competition, he had to make four pit stops to change tires, and I think it cost him the race. He came in fifth that year."
Bregt Ectors intends to come in first in best times when he takes his 1967 Ginetta G4 with the re-built 1964 Cosworth MAE engine to the Utah Salt Flats in August. The Belgian transplant who now lives in Birmingham, Mich. and works for Ford Motor Company is intent on setting a land speed record with the tiny British sports car he brought to the 2009 EyesOnDesign.
"I want to sent a speed record in my class," Ectors said. "The current record is 122 miles per hour and I've had the Ginetta up to 124. We were on our way there last year but learned it had rained and the flats were under water."
Among those who drove to the 2009 EyesOnDesign farther than across the metro Detroit area were Douglas and Greg Englin. The brothers came in tandem from N. Aurora, Ill.: Doug with his remarkable 1960 Rambler two-door wagon and Greg with a mint 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon - tuxedo black with red-and-white checked interior.
Diran and Joyce Yazejian of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., wowed visitors with their ribbon-winning 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country station wagon. 
Accompanying ad reads: "The Power of Leadership is yours in a Chrysler." |
The Rambler wagon, said Englin, likely was one of a kind, built for an AMC manager who wanted power steering - not an option on this model - and a number of trim additions. The small wagon, riding on 15-inch wheels, was powered by a 196-inch six with overdrive, helping Englin get up to 30 miles per gallon on this trip. His Rambler actually has but 40,000 miles on it. His collection of tourist window stickers showed states and parks where he had traveled as a youngster.
Station wagons on display truly captured the particular excesses of family vehicles of past decades. Heavily chromed, sometimes with real or faux wood sides, with plenty of glass and room for up to nine passengers, they suggested long family vacation trips in which never a harsh word was spoken and all rode in total comfort.
The ribbon-winning 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country wagon has been in the collection of Diran and Joyce Yazejian of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. for about five years.
"A neighbor told me, 'You gotta buy this,'" he recalled. "At the time it had no tailgate so I did some looking and actually found two."
Yazejian, who has five other special vehicles, said he had the seats recovered, put wire wheels on the wagon and changed its exterior color from beige to a chestnut brown. And he had the rear door put in place.
Phyllis Swonk and Jim Goerke of Ann Arbor, Mich. were cruising garage sales only days before the show when they found a vintage cooler and an case of empty beer bottles to fit appropriately in the rear compartment of their 1957 Oldsmobile Fiesta wagon.
"We're ready for tailgating," said Goerke, who owns two other mid-'50s wagons, a 1956 Continental Mark II and a 1964 Corvette.
The Olds auto ad beside his hardtop wagon commanded readers to "Get in the act!"
This and other ads and posters on display were likely the result of long searches by show volunteers.
Beautiful, creative but out of touch? Beside a classic 1936 Lincoln Brunn-bodied V-12 was an ad of a ranch scene with cowboys admiring a Lincoln driven by a team member. It's doubtful these guys, as well-scrubbed and tailored as they appeared, were Lincoln's target market.
But the fantasy was certainly there: personal freedom, escape and open spaces in which to drive a big, responsive car. Other ad themes focused on the power and prestige one could achieve by owning the featured vehicle. Artist-produced work had the opportunity to exaggerate the lengths and styling cues and rich colors of the vehicles - something the unblinking eye of a camera alone cannot do. At least not without electronics enhancement tools.
Myron Vernis of Akron, Ohio owns this stunning 1936 Lincoln Brunn Touring Cabriolet. 
The accompanying magazine ad shows a Lincoln in a western scene with cowboys -- apparently well-paid ranch hands. |
