Design for Dreaming – 1956 GM Motorama

Posted: March 22, 2011 in Car Shows, General Motors
Tags: , , , , , ,
1

This is a lovingly-restored short film produced to promote GM’s 1956 Motorama car show.  In the ’50s, GM was the largest corporation in the world and it was the growth engine for post-war middle-class Americans. What was good for General Motors really was good for the country.

1956 Buick Centurion from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show

Pontiac (1954 or 1955) Firebird I from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show

1956 Pontiac Firebird II concept from GM's Motorama

What was unthinkable in 1956 happened in 2009 when GM slipped into bankruptcy.  While both the economy and the automotive business have changed dramatically in the past 57 years, GM is still an essential piece of the US economy and it’s one of the last employers still providing middle-class wages and benefits for blue collar workers.

Design for Dreaming is a 1956 musical ephemeral film about a woman (played by Tad Tadlock) who dreams about a masked man taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama and Frigidaire’s “Kitchen of the Future”.

It is one of the key Populuxe films of the 1950s. The film was directed by William Beaudine and was Produced by Victor Solow. It starred Tad Tadlock, Marc Breaux, Thurl Ravenscroft. www.wikipedia.com

Digitally enhanced by Retro-matic™ LLC., Hollywood, California. www.retro-matic.com

I desperately want the jet-age Firebird concept car and that Frigidare round, rotating glass-door refrigerator.  I wish that kind of high-concept industrial design was more visible today.  It’s really worth your time to watch all nine minutes of this short film (you have to click-through to watch it on YouTube).

The 2011 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

Posted: March 19, 2011 in Car Shows, Classic Car Pictures
Tags: , , ,
3

The 2011 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance wants to be the Pebble Beach of the East Coast.  They think they are now on par with Pebble Beach; but you need more than a decade of shows to match the depth and pinnacle of automotive engineering and design presented each year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Pebble Beach has been in business since 1950 and is considered by many to be the world’s premiere celebration of the automobile.

Amelia Island, a ritzy little Atlantic resort town north of Jacksonville, Florida near the Georgia border, is home to this significant Concours d’Elegance each year. It’s held the second weekend of March at the Ritz Carlton — a fitting background for these beautiful, graceful beasts of times long past.

The Amelia Island Concourse really has fantastic automobiles and some quirky fun ones too.  I have no doubt that it is in the top tier of shows in the world and number two in the US.

The video is a great introduction to the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance:

Here are this year’s top prize winners:

Left, 1933 Duesenberg SJN Arlington Torpedo Sedan. Right, 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster.

Left, Best in Show, Concours d’Elegance: 1933 Duesenberg SJN Arlington Torpedo Sedan.  The Nethercutt Collection. Helen and Jack Nethercutt – Sylmar, CA.  Right, Best in Show, Concours de Sport: 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster. Harry Yeaggy – Cincinnati, OH.

Enjoy!

Older Entries
Newer Entries