Yes, boot yourself more than once if you can’t get to North Carolina in the next few weeks — up until January 15th.
Stunning Art Deco motor cars await you in Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art.
Fourteen shining examples, in fact, along with three motorcycles.
‘Rolling Sculpture, Art Deco Cars From The 1930s and ‘40s’ … that’s how this show is titled.
Go along and you’ll understand that gasping with appreciation isn’t discouraged.
We heard more than a few people audibly catch their breath. It’s that good.
Uncontained enthusiasm brought total strangers together to discuss the merits of the cars, streamline design and the crying shame that the era for these beauties has passed.
More than iPhone photography, Edsel Ford’s 1934 Model 40 Speedster had the Nikon brigade snapping shots from every angle. A serious attempt to capture all the art represents.
At shoelace level one enthusiast lay on the floor to capture a dramatic view of the 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B ‘Xenia’.
Another was on both knees to shoot the 1933 Pierce-Arrow. Silver Arrow model.
For a preview of the cars and motorcycles here’s a link: ncartmuseum.org
Pictured above is a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Teardrop.
Stunning only begins to describe it.
Ten years back a T150C-SS Teardrop sold at auction for $3,905,000.
Note the rich, earthy red color that completes a two-tone presentation.
We’re thinking it might have been inspired by the ancient Egyptians.
Reason for that lies with Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun.
On the heels of the King Tut find ancient Egyptian art electrified the world.
It dominated the jazz age and carried on to the 30s and 40s.
Art Deco, in everything from jewelry to motor cars and skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building, was heavily influenced.
The famous Tutankhamun death mask features geometric lines with the earthy red color you see on the Talbot-Lago.
More than that it’s a color that runs through Egyptian art.
Was there a chance the head of Automobiles Talbot SA, Antonio Lago, was swayed by Howard Carter’s discoveries?
Many of his cars feature that earthy red.
The way it combines with the deep, rich silver paintwork is …
Well … you finish the sentence with your own superlatives after you see the show.