Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Friday 19 August 2016

The Rad Trad's Top Four.


Recently, THE RAD TRAD added an erudite Comment (as always) to Zephyrinus's Post, entitled ROLLING SCULPTURE: ART DECO CARS FROM THE 1930s AND 1940s

The Rad Trad's Comment was:
"The best looking car's from the Art Deco era:
Mercedes 540K Special Roadster;
Duesenberg "20 Grand";
Constance Bennett's 1930 Rolls Royce Phantom II;
The Pierce Silver Arrow".

Zephyrinus was so taken with The Rad Trad's Comment and four favourite Art Deco cars, and his automobile "savoir faire", that he went out and bought them (see, below).




Zephyrinus returns home
after acquiring The Rad Trad's
Top Four Art Deco era Motor Cars (see, below).
Chauffeur Perkins in front.
Illustration: PINTEREST



English: Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster.
Seen at The European Concours d'Elegance, Schwetzingen, Germany, 
Deutsch: Mercedes-Benz W29 Roadster, Baujahr 1939. Fotografiert anläßlich des European Concours d'Elegance 2002 in Schwetzingen.
Photo: 7 July 2002.
Source: Own work.
Author: Rudolf Stricker.
(Wikimedia Commons)



1933 Arlington Torpedo-Bodied Duesenberg SJ.
Otherwise known as "The Twenty Grand".
Illustration: HEMMINGS DAILY



Constance Bennett's 1930 Rolls Royce Phantom II.
Illustration: CLASSIC CAR FEED


The following Text is from CONCEPTCARZ

This is the second body on this Rolls-Royce, purchased by film star Constance Bennett. It was originally delivered by J.S. Inskip, the New York sales officer for Rolls-Royce in 1931, with a body by Trouville.

It was traded in 1935, at which point it was re-bodied by Brewster in the striking Art Deco Town Car coachwork which it wears today.



Film Star, Constance Bennett,
in an original Studio publicity photo
for the film "Rockabye".
Date: 1932.
Source: eBay
Author: Studio.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The car featured a V-windshield, opulent interior appointments and hand-painted caning. Bennett saw the car at the 1936 New York Auto Show, purchased the car for a reported price of $17,000, and had it shipped to California. The car appeared in many MGM movies. Bennett rented the car to the studios for $250 a day.

There was a standing joke in Hollywood that the car made more money than most of the actors of the time. Ms. Bennett kept the car for more than a decade until her husband lost the car in a poker game. It is currently one of the signature cars on display in The Nethercutt Collection. It is considered by many to be the most beautiful Town Car ever built.



1933 Pierce Silver Arrow.
Illustration: SUPERCARS.NET

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