Classic Cars of the 20th Century: 100 Years of Automotive Ads, 1900-1999 [Hardcover]

Phil Patton (Author), Jim Heimann (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

Henry Ford jump-started the age of the automobile with the first assembly-line car in 1908: the Model T. For the next one hundred years, the automobile would evolve from chugging workhorse to tailfin-era showboat to sleek status symbol, stamped with a Mercedes Benz hood ornament. Once a novel invention of wonder, the car of the Postwar Era grew into a necessity of the modern age, a key to the freedom promised by the open road. So various were the choices of colors and features offered to American car buyers, that by 1960 all their possible permutations (by one formula) exceeded the number of molecules on the earth...

20th Century Classic Cars offers a lush visual history of the automobile, decade-by-decade, via 500-plus print advertisements from the Jim Heimann Collection. Advertising has always been the dream work of industry, and nowhere is this more evident than in the world of auto advertising. Narrated with introductory and chapter text by New York Times automotive writer Phil Patton, as well as an illustrated timeline and sidebars, this volume highlights the technological innovations, major manufacturers and dealers, influential historical events, and the influence of popular culture on car design. The car is an indicator of more than mere technological innovation; its trends are a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist, whether in the form of a VW Beetle or a road-ready Hummer. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age ours could be called the Automobile Age, and this collection puts you in the driver's seat through the 20th century.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America in Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous books on architecture, popular culture, and the history of the West Coast, in particular, Los Angeles and the Hollywood dream factory. For over 30 years he has built an unrivaled private collection of ephemera, which has been featured museum exhibitions around the world and in dozens of his books. Phil Patton is the author of many books on design and culture, writes about automobile design for The New York Times, and is a contributing editor to ID magazine. He has served as consultant for museum exhibitions including "Curves of Steel: Streamlined Automobile Design" at the Phoenix Art Museum, and "Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: TASCHEN America Llc; Mul edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 383651463X
• ISBN-13: 978-3836514637
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #581,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get down to our lot TODAY! We're almost giving 'em away!, July 7, 2009

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Cars of the 20th Century: 100 Years of Automotive Ads, 1900-1999 (Hardcover)

If you have Taschen's All-American Ads series you'll probably have all these ads in the various editions. I did a quick check on three of them compared with this book. Here the forties has 36 compared to 110 in the Ads book; fifties has 44 compared to 200 and the sixties with 54 compared to 267. Of course if you don't have the All-American Ads series and want to see just over four hundred auto ads presented in a beautifully designed book then Classic Cars is for you and I think it's way ahead of any similar books.

Each of the ten decades starts with a few hundred words intro and an interesting timeline across the bottom of each page to point out the significant industry developments then the pages feature the ads either one to a spread, or page or two on a page. Fortunately none of them are too small to prevent you reading the amazing copy that writers toiled long hours over. As well as great photos, or art in the early decades, I thought that reading some of this over-the-top copy was one of charms of the book. How about this Olds ad from 1952:
'You've got to drive it to believe it! Never before has Oldsmobile had such an exciting performance story to tell! For here is a NEW kind of "Rocket" Engine car - dramatically new with the flashing 160-hp. "Rocket"...now paired with smooth new Hydra-Matic Super Drive'. There's page after page of this stuff.

The book's production is quite impressive. The ads have generous margins on the page and captions that provide some background material about the cars. All the ads have been scanned from printed originals yet there is no screen clash and with matt art paper and a three hundred screen these ads are about as prefect as you'll get.

A wonderful, colorful look at American wheels.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blockbuster Collection of Car Ads Is Unequaled, June 4, 2009

By 

J. Cherry (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Cars of the 20th Century: 100 Years of Automotive Ads, 1900-1999 (Hardcover)

There's been several collections of car ads published in book form through the years but Taschen's 20th Century Classic Cars establishes a new standard for the genre. This is so inclusive, it's the only one you'll need. It includes well-written essays and a clever time line to put things in perspective.

Exhaustive, lavish, and well-designed, this is one volume any car buff, ad junkie or pop culture fan will want in their library.

Published to usual world-class Taschen standards, it would make an ideal gift. Only one word of warning, don't open it unless you're prepared to lose a few hours, it's difficult to put down.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars B minus, August 14, 2009

By 

Ricko - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Cars of the 20th Century: 100 Years of Automotive Ads, 1900-1999 (Hardcover)

At first glance this is a fine collection of automotive advertisements. However, the grainy reproductions and odd selection of car models left me a little disappointed. Too many mundane examples of boring cars! Where are the iconic designs (Raymond Loewy's 1953 Studebaker) and spectacular advertisements (Van Cleef Jewels and Cadillacs)? Text is ok, and generally a good effort, but certainly nothing special about the illustrations.