Modes & Motors
2010-02-21 23:48:23.423926+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Dean's Garage reposts Modes and Motors, a 1938 publication from General Motors Styling Section. One thing that stuck out:
A great many people frequently ask: “Why didn’t you do that two years ago?” or “Why don’t you do this or that now?” The answer lies in the nature of progress itself.
Progress in artistic design, as in most other things, is evolutionary. Advancement comes in logical sequence-it would not have been possible to jump, for example, from a 1934 design to the current one without benefit of the experience that came in between. Each year new knowledge and new skills are added to what was known before. In the constant striving for better products there can be neither hurrying nor holding back.
I like to think there was a time when it was worth keeping the old stuff around. When repair was cheaper than replacement. We all bemoan the loss of that time, whether it was fictional or real, but this is a really strong look back into a time when it wasn't obvious that the world was rushing forward. I'm not sure mileage is getting better, but by any other standard we can look at cars this year and see improvements in safety, in performance, in materials, over last year. In 1938 the changes over 4 years were couched as "artistic design".
And the fact that nobody can justify changes in automobiles over the past half decade as "artistic design" also says something...