How They Built Cars When Beauty Was All That Mattered

[blueline]

Unfortunate to see this but I guess not entirely unexpected given the death last September of Peter Mullin -

Mullin Automotive Museum to Close Its Doors Forever Feb. 10
The last great enclave of Art Deco cars and art had lasted just 12 years.

https://www.autoweek.com/news/a46432086 ... d568259d8a

Not much time until the doors close for good. It would have been nice to see the cars in person.

Carpokean RDMcG was there some years ago and posted several excellent photos of a few of the magnificent cars there a few pages back in this thread.

His post and pics: viewtopic.php?t=1629&start=30#p23397

Almost unbelievable automotive beauty.

[Thom]

Sad news indeed. Hopefully the cars will be sold to collectors who will still bring them to concours so that the public can see them up close. Let's not forget the automotive beauty and purity of the older days.

[P_Coastal]

Cool thread, somehow I have missed it up to now

[blueline]

Sad news indeed. Hopefully the cars will be sold to collectors who will still bring them to concours so that the public can see them up close. Let's not forget the automotive beauty and purity of the older days.

Definitely yes, yes and a special yes on your last comment!

[blueline]

Cool thread, somehow I have missed it up to now

Glad you found it! There are so many almost indescribable autos (and trucks) that have been crafted over the years, especially in what amounts in my mind to a past golden age of unlimited vision and design, from both esthetic and engineering perspectives.

A side note that there is an ever increasing amount of highly worthwhile, helpful and special content building at Carpokes. It's awesome to have so much contributed by many in one easy-to-visit, comfortable online space. Thanks @Tom

[RDMcG]

Wonderful guy. I wrote something about the Museum for Autoweek and he sent me a magnificent book and a very nice letter of appreciation. Very sad to see this museum go. It was architected to reflect the period and was a delightful place and I was lucky enough to have it all to myself for a day the it was closed. No guards , no minders, just pure delight.

[Stormy_Monday]

At last year's Amelia Island Cars and Community I was pleasantly astounded at the cars there, all being rained on. It wasn't all that long ago that cars had identifiable shapes and designs.

[blueline]

"1976 Continental Mark IV Givenchy: Aqua Heaven" - a look-back to the 70s by Thomas Klockau of Hagerty Media.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/k ... d568259d8a

From the author - "I’ll always love personal luxury cars. Riviera, Eldorado, Mark III, IV and V! Toronados and Thunderbirds and other glitzy, over-the-top personal conveyances! And the colors!"

"...I wish we could still get bold, brash, unapologetically American-styled cars like this. I don’t see that happening anytime soon, but at least we can go back in time by attending fine shows like the Geneva Concours..."

Looks like fun and good remembrances out of the past. The top-end versions of these huge American cars from the era are in a realm of their own.

20230827_123803-scaled.jpg (230.84 KiB) Viewed 959 times

Thomas Klockau

20230827_123947-scaled.jpg (123.89 KiB) Viewed 959 times

Thomas Klockau

[Tom]

I've secretly wanted a black '79 Mark IV since they first came out. Summer of 1979 -- I was stuck in the far back of our 1971 Fury III station wagon on the way to some Lake Tahoe vacation in the middle of August, no A/C, menthol smoking parents, moderately car sick, brother and sister having a food fight in the back seat -- and there it was, a brand new Cartier Edition Mark IV occupied by a couple straight out of Hollywood with windows rolled up and A/C blasting. The sense of haves and have-nots was strong that day, and all I could think was 'some day'...

Even in hindsight, from an era when most cars were pretty awful, the styling still looks great to me....

[blueline]

Nice car in the video - you childhood memories capped it off well.

By the way, I moved this thread from Racing to O.K. Corral. Better fit. (I left a temp shadow copy in Racing.)