Ephemera:
Items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.
EphemeraNow.com is no longer online. That cool site warehoused an eclectic collection of historically interesting automotive photos, ads, and advertising renderings. This small sample is mostly comprised of interesting advertising shots, and shows how much retouching and editing was necessary to prepare for print. When these were taken, Photoshop was a place where you bought film. Careers were made by artists who could retouch photos by hand.
Very cool. Thanks.
these are so cool. i used to model for shoots like this back in the 70’s – 90’s. fun seeing the cars i grew up with.
Most likely the first couple dozen of the early ’50’s Buick shots were taken on the roof of the Argonaut Building, directly across Baltimore from the former GM Headquarters Building. The Argonaut housed GM’s research and technical groups, including Art & Color (later GM Styling) until their move to the Warren Technical Center in 1956. The building had (and still has operating) a freight elevator going all the way from the basement executive garages to the roof, as well as a functioning turntable on the 11th floor. With a generous donation of the building itself from GM and renovation funds from Alfred Taubman, CCS converted it into a second Detroit campus: a decade of transportation designers have graduated with the Argonaut as their formative creative environment, carrying on a tradition that began in the mid-1930’s when the building opened.
Ah, the (people) elevators in the Argonaut building. GM Styling Section employees would jam into them in mornings at the last minute not to be late to work. And of course, once in, all would turn and stare blank faced at the elevator door. But one morning I thought I’d liven things up. I walked in, didn’t turn, and stood there with a big smile on my face. “Turn around, Mott!” ordered Personnel Director Tom Christianson. “Geez, just trying to be friendly” I said, and turned. But with the satisfaction that I had taken another step up in my career in GM Styling.
Ephemeranow.com lives on at least in part as Plan59.com which is a treasure trove of old images and illustrations.
Many thanks Greg for introducing me to Plan59.com. What a treasure of automotive art during the 1960s period. Gary, it would be a worthy addition as a feature to Deans Garage.
Roy