Monday 18 May 2009

Splendor Splendide

Yesterday the Archive had to shuffle along the shelves to allow in six of these beautiful little boxes. Complete with everything but the oily thumb print of a garagiste, each box contains a car lightbulb wrapped in a little piece of corrugated cardboard. Five of them have '24v 44w Prefocus' on the end, the last is in 'Cadmium Yellow' and obviously meant for a big winking indicator. It's the drawing of the car that attracted me of course, the result of a designer so obviously carried away by big 40s Americana, getting away with a Packard or Chrysler for an English made bulb. When he should perhaps of been thinking of the Morris Eights we were struggling to make in post-war Britain. But maybe they wouldn't have expressed 'Splendor' in quite the same way. Each bulb has a bayonet-style fitting, but without the little prongs, and one wonders how long these have been tucked away in the dimmer recesses of a workshop, a cheapo alternative perhaps to Lucas originals. Right, so all I've got to do now is find a car in a barn somewhere ('tis the season, we are told) with just these bulbs missing.

9 comments:

Jon Dudley said...

Yummy packaging MrA. Where were they manufactured? The artist who drew this strange Austin Somerset-on-steroids car was probably trained in the same studio as those who produced the wonderful gouache and watercolour advertising illustrations so beloved of the 50's British car makers. They had the knack of distorting the pedestrian designs and filling them with smaller than scale people to make them appear far larger, sleeker and more graceful than ever they were in the metal. More motor accessory packaging!

Philip Wilkinson said...

And in beautiful condition, too. Obviously at the back of a shady shelf in a dark garage for years. I wish I was as well preserved!

Ron Combo said...

I'm surprised the designer didn't put a rake of machine gun bullet holes down the side of the car.

Diplomate said...

FIND THE FAULT - I reckon the depth of field was deliberately pulled up to direct our attention to the top of the box and away from the irregularity of the squares on the cutting board.

Toby Savage said...

Bumped into Viscount Peter twice over the weekend. He wishes to let anyone interested know that his Computer has run out of parrafin and a new, pedal powered one, is expected this week. The World waits.

martin said...

The last comment answers my question.Where's the next blog entry? With us soon,hopefully..

Diplomate said...

I have also been in contact with Lord Ashley and it seems the computer problem might not be parrafin starvation but lack of Wadworths 6X. My laptop has a built in "low beer level" warning system - as I pass the Queen's Head on my way home from work the computer slides off the seat causing me to pull up sharply and re-arrange things, having stopped it seems a bit rude not to top up.

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