Styles of the Times by auntietk
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
One of the things I noticed while visiting the National Auto Museum in Reno, Nevada, was the wide variety of styles over the years, and the similarities in styles during different eras.
There is no denying the fact that a car designed and built in 1908 is very different from a car that was designed in the 1930s or the 1960s or the 1990s. But when you start looking at automobile design within those time frames, the repetitive design elements start to jump out.
These cars were all designed and built within about a ten year period during the late 1920s and early 1930s. They aren't all Fords or Buicks or Hupmobiles, they're just all from the same era.
Next time you hear someone complain (or do it yourself) about modern day styles and designs being repetitive or cookie-cutter or boring, think about how people will look at our designs in 50 or 100 years! What we decry now as dull and uninteresting will be just as cool as a Packard or a Thunderbird.
I'll be the first to chime in and say our modern cars are boring and the older stuff is way more interesting, but imagine a time in the late 1920s or the late 1940s when all the cars looked alike, just as they do now! If you had been the age you are now during those years, you probably would have been sick to death of the design elements of the times.
Look carefully at the hub caps, the fenders, the pin stripes on these automobiles. They're different in the same way all four-door sedans or all half-ton trucks built by various manufacturers today are different. Not much!
Would I rather have a deco-styled car from the 1930s with big fenders and round headlights and fancy detailing? Heck yes! My point is simply that we get used to what we see all the time.
Pick your favorites, by all means, but don't imagine times are so very different now than they've ever been.
:)

Comments (20)
Very cool collage and great point about the 'styles' love the colours as well
You are absolutely correct! Photos are great, the cars are great, as are your insights. Rick
An interesting insight, indeed, Tara! And you are absolutely right.... It's amazing how the styles (cars, fashion, architecture) change from era to era. These are wonderful photos, by the way! :-D
I agree. There was, however, an interest in quality which gives vehicles of this time that extra something, class. Your photos demonstrate your theory with that too!
Lovely collage. I totally agree with your views about design through the ages. Car designs actually changed quit rapidly in comparison to other things such as architecture. I think that is why new designs are sought after or become so popular. It might not be the best design or the most practical, but if it is different it becomes interesting to those tired of the same old thing. Perhaps that is also why clothing styles rotate. In a lifetime it is not unusual to see a style worn by your mother or grandmother to come back in fashion.
As you know I agree with your observations, but getting to each of the photos...very good stuff...your eye, your insight and your new high tech camera. Great combination. Looking forward to much more. The sky is the limit:)
Nice shots!
The joke about the Ford Model T was that you could have it in any color you wanted as long as it was black. I agree with you about styles and a preference for the "retro" look. That's why I ride a motorcycle that looks like a 1947 Indian. Its the only one on the road. This is a great collection of images. Of course, now I'll have to spend time trying to identify them.
Very nice work Tara! I particularly like the left middle shot!
wonderful, beautifully put together
Marvelous !
Beautiful series of captures. Must have been cool to see all that.
Excellent narrative ans shots sweetie. And I concur with you 100%
Nice collage of classic cars....
What a marvelous collage of beautiful oldies so shining and so lovely colored too :)
Superb captures and collage Tara. God bless.
I love these shots of all the highlights (to me) of these old beauties. These were all the things that make them so cool now: the wire spoke wheels, the running boards, the well-defined fender shapes...your observations about style are exactly right. It's all about the differences. And your shots are a beautifully loving homage to exactly that!
Good insight. Many people tend to romanticize the virtues of the past & overlook the qualities of the present. Aside from the utilitarian designs of things like cars & appliances, it also applies to arts like film & music - I know lots of people who are so wrapped up in nostalgia about the past that they're missing out on a lot of fine contemporary work...
My favorite cars are 50/60's. Great collage and insight.
This could make and indeed should make a great poster! I'd have it on my wall Tara! Beautiful shots all.. Rob