They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To

Tonight Russ and I went to the opening of the Art Deco car exhibition at the NC Museum of Art. It was the perfect place for these gorgeous cars which certainly were works of art. Just the colors alone were more beautiful than any car on the road today. When was the last time you saw a really beautiful green car? Even the red car was a more vibrant candy apple red than any car made today.

One of my favorites was a black and orange Peugeot that had the color scheme of a tiger. I bet that every Princeton graduate of the time would have wanted this car if they knew that it existed.  

I know that cars have come a long way with safety improvements and don’t get me started on suspension, but why can’t our current cars be as beautiful as well? Today’s cars re better than the Pacer and the Vega of the seventies, but common, nothing like the Art Deco cars.

One of the fun parts of the exhibits was the displays describing all the details about the cars. The most interesting to me was the original cost of the car and what that translated to in today’s dollars. They were expensive, but not outrageous. If it cost $5,000 in the thirties is would equal $80,000 today. That is an expensive car, but not unheard of. Given what works of art they are it was money well spent. They also certainly appreciated well, especially the ones that only had a handful of that particular model made.

One funny car had what looked like a door bell as its opening mechanism for the door.  It was fitting since the inside of the car had a table and side chair making it more like a rolling house than a car.  Really could have been the inspiration for. Minivan.

If you love beautiful design this exhibit is worth going to. It is small, maybe a dozen cars, but so worth the trip.