Automobile Design Graphics

by Steven Heller, Jim Donnelly, Jim Heimann (Editor)

Overview

In the heyday of the automobile, marketing cars was an exacting process. Selling the public one of their major life purchases involved not only traditional advertising but also a crucial item that extolled the virtue of the cars: the brochure. Often oversize and sumptuously produced, including acetate overlays with fabric and paint swatches, brochures were only available at dealer showrooms or auto fairs—hence specimens of antique and vintage car brochures are rare collector’s items today.

Frequently overlooked in design and automotive histories, this ephemera offers a lucid mirror image of tastes, consumerism, and buying habits since the dawn of the automobile. Automobile Design Graphics presents for the first time a comprehensive overview of this mostly forgotten breed of collateral advertising. From the most obscure (Tucker, Ajax, Columbia) to the most iconic (General Motors, Ford, Chrysler), the visual history brings together over 500 reproductions from these rare and collectible customer brochures. Across eight decades, they present not only some of the finest cars, but also some of the best illustration and graphic design of the 20th century.

Ancillary examples of automotive literature, including the elaborate dealer manuals are also featured, alongside essays by automobile and cultural historian Jim Donnelly and preeminent design historian Steven Heller. Testament to a bygone era when cars were, quite simply, the stuff dreams were made of, this book is a visual and informative pleasure for car enthusiasts, designers, and pop culture aficionados alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783822853719
Publisher:	Taschen America, LLC
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 12.70(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author Program. For 33 years he was an art director for The New York Times, and currently writes the “Visuals” column for The New York Times Book Review. He is the author of 120 books on graphic design, illustration, and satiric art.

Jim Donnelly is senior editor of Hemmings Motor News, the world’s foremost source on automotive heritage, and has written for Hemmings Classic Car, Sports & Exotic Car, and Muscle Machines. He is the author of the racing biography Miller’s Time.

Jim Heimann is the Executive Editor for TASCHEN America. A cultural anthropologist, historian, and an avid collector, he has authored numerous titles on architecture, pop culture, and the history of Los Angeles and Hollywood, including TASCHEN’S Surfing, Los Angeles. Portrait of a City, and the best-selling All American Ads series.

Editorial Reviews

…unique specimens of how car buyers‘ desires have changed over the years, illustrated by the best American illustration and graphic design of the last century.”

“The book gives a fascinating insight into how car buyers‘ desires have developed over the course of eight decades - as well as offering a feast of visionary artwork.

From the Publisher

Automobile Design Graphics […] tells the story of a vision of the American Dream made real through steel and chrome.

BBC.co.uk

Testament to a bygone era when cars inspired dreams, this book is a visual and informative pleasure for car enthusiasts, designers, and pop culture aficionados.

London The Telegraph

These 20th-century brochures were more than manuals–they offered stunning fantasies that reveal the intensity of American car culture.

fastcodesign.com

…unique specimens of how car buyers’ desires have changed over the years, illustrated by the best American illustration and graphic design of the last century.

Bloomberg.com