Bits and Bobs: Cars

Monday, January 13, 2020: Eddie and I are still sick. Today he is better, but I feel miserable. It almost seems as if we were exposed to a virus on this island for which we have no immunity or as if there is something about our flat that is making us sick. It doesn't help that it is almost always cold, wet and dark here in London. I am worse at night with a persistent dry cough. However, my French class begins this Wednesday at the Institut Francais du Royame Uni in South Kensington, and I needed to stop by there today as I had business to conduct. As the Institut is very close to the Victoria & Albert Museum, Eddie and I decided to see the Cars Exhibit.

London drives me to think about cars these days. On the C1 Bus to South Kensington one passes a Ferrari dealership and then a Lamborghini dealership, both on Gloucester Road. On the 9 Bus to Oxford Street, one passes a McLaren dealership where there always seems to be a few awed spectators. I regularly see Jaguars, Aston Martins and Bentleys driving about on London streets.

One of the first cars I ever marveled at was when my parents first brought me to Ireland in 1971. My father rented a Morris Minor and we toured the countryside visiting our relatives. That is a memory I will always cherish. Not long after, I discovered Triumph sports convertibles, circa 1960s and 1970s. I definitely could see myself behind the steering wheel of a Triumph TR4 or Spitfire. I just like British cars. I mean, who doesn't love a Mini Cooper?

The Cars exhibit at the V&A is temporary. We were surprised and delighted when the young woman selling tickets let us into the exhibit for free saying she was in a good mood, saving us 40 pounds.

The exhibit begins with a Firebird 1 Concept Automobile from 1953, manufactured by General Motors. Its style, as you can see, was directly influenced by the new jet flyer aircraft at the time. The vehicle offered cockpit seats and gas turbine engines that could go 200 mph. These "concept" cars were exhibited at auto shows to great fanfare and depicted a future wherein driving would be fast and flight-like.

Firebird 1

The Benz Patten Motorwagen was the very first automobile. Engineered by Karl Benz, its engine could barely muster 10mph but people were impressed by the distance it could cover.

The Very First Automobile, The Benz Motorwagen, 1888

France invented the Grand Prix in 1906. Countries then competed to see who could manufacture the fastest cars. Motoring and its obsession with speed shaped fashion trends in the 1920s and 1930s. The streamlined aesthetic that originated in the science of aerodynamics could now be found in a range of surprising household products. The Tatra 77 was the first car designed according to the principles of streamlining in the belief that streamlining would increase speed.

The Tatra, 1937, The First Streamlined Car

'Streamliner' Meat Processor, 1944

Radio,1940

'Airflow' Fan, 1937

We then saw a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback, a new breed of automobile known as a "muscle car." These cars offered the middle and working classes an experience of speed that had previously only belonged to luxury sports cars. Their popularity however led to complaints about reckless driving. In the exhibit was film footage from Bullitt showing muscle cars chasing each other over San Francisco's hills.

The Ford Mustang Fastback, 1965

The exhibit then focused on Henry Ford who originated the moving assembly line. Ford was inspired by Midwest meatpacking plants. In 1913 Henry Ford forever changed manufacturing when he installed the first ever moving assembly line in his car factories. He broke production down into individual small tasks. The moving assembly line unleashed new levels of efficiency and lower product prices. Ford created the no-frills and highly standardized Model-T which was retired in 1927 after over 15 million had been sold.

Ford refused to produce cars in any color but black. Then in the late 1920s General Motors became the first car company to establish an entire department devoted to styling. Color and visual flair became paramount in car design.

Cars prompted a global network of roads and an oil economy. Bubble cars from the 1950s were one of the first to address fuel scarcity. Manufactured in Europe in reaction to potential increases in the cost of oil, they became a popular and more environmentally friendly car.

Messuschmitt (Bubble Car), 1959

Apart from its use as a powerful fuel, oil is key in producing a variety of synthetic and useful materials. Parts of the Middle East grew wealthy because of their oil reserves and strategic geography. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest skyscraper, is a symbol of the riches the oil economy has produced.

In 1937 Adolf Hitler hired Ferdinand Porche to design a car for the people (Volkswagen in German). The car was an effort to boost the German car industry and served as a piece of strategic propaganda for the Nazis. Using mass production affordable radios became popular, allowing the Nazi party to broadcast directly into homes across the country.

Volkswagen Beetle, 1946

Volksempfanger (Peoples Radio), 1933

In the decades after the war the Fiat 600 was manufactured in Italy and marketed to Italians as a means to take their families on road trip adventures.

Fiat 600 Multipla, 1956

Car manufacturers began customizing cars to select audiences. Lowriders emerged among the Latino communities in the 1960s in Los Angeles who valued customized paint jobs and adapted hydraulics. In 1995 Chrysler designed the pink Dodge La Femme, a car specifically made for women.