When I first saw this ad, I thought someone had photoshopped it. Those wheels are so oversized! Just like big rims on today’s cars. But I have to assume it’s just another case of artistic license. Here’s how a Ford Country Squire actually looked with its stock 15″ wheels:
It’s a duck’s eye view of the cars.
I like the optional GuideDog headlights on the right car. Multiple sensors in each unit.
But what was the right car meant to be? In early ’50s terms the nearest thing would be a Jaguar XK120. I have a feeling the artist was aiming more at Airflow or Pierce Silver Arrow territory.
I was thinking of a Muntz Jet but the bumper isn’t right.
try the Jag Mark VII sedan or Daimler Regency. 2nd piccomposite cars R 55-58 Ealdo wheelsd.
Nice .
-Nate
It’s interesting that they didn’t depict a current-model-year car it being 1955. I wonder if it was a case of amortizing artwork done a few years before or whether they were selling OEM-grade aftermarket wire wheels to owners of 5-7 year old cars.
In those years, most five to seven year old cars were mostly used up, destined for beater status.
Nice work by the artist, especially the tricky business of painting the “chrome plated” stuff.
Here’s a 1957 ad with the emphasis on the front ends of two ‘composite’ cars:
The cars look like slightly disguised Oldsmobile and Buick or Cadillac. The building is something else. Drawings of the 1961 TWA terminal at New York must have been public by 1957. Interesting setting for it.
It shows that artists making huge wheels in renderings is nothing new. FWIW Kelsey-Hayes is still alive and kicking as a division of TRW.
I used to legally work for Kelsey-Hayes but an angry German VP blew it all, he demanded every badge being ZF only, than ANY other names.