Just A Car Guy

Thursday, January 17, 2019

St Elmo's Fire forming on the windshield of a Hawker 800A private jet. He said probably because the windshield on that plane has deicing wires embedded in the glass.

thanks Bruce!

gonna eat gravel and meet an ER nurse in 3, 2, 1... (DUMB ASS!)

WW1 poster art

above by Horst Schreck

http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2019/01/ww1-posters-part-9.html

Holy shit, a Leyendecker!

http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2019/01/ww1-posters-part-7.html

http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2019/01/ww1-posters-part-5.html

Happy 97th birthday to Betty White!

Why? Because she's adorable!

this is a remarkable '34 Chev streamliner, looks like they've put as much effort into looks and design as they have into making it go fast

a BBC valve cover modified to house the gauges? Hot damn, that's fucking slick!

CNCd center, with an acrylic insert mounted on top for aero, and style. That's some Ridler Award winning detail level right there

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/salt-swept-cal-autos-250-mph-34-chevy-streamliner/

brilliant advertising poster for a bridge, there couldn't be more than a handful of times anyone has ever said that in a lifetime

H.G. Gawthorn poster circa 1920

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2105860572807664&set=gm.2039217142800298&type=3&permPage=1&ifg=1

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

artist and unusual machine maker, Rowland Emett (Frederick Rowland Emett, 1906–1990)

the signature, Jensen, with a nod to Emett, had me wondering, who is Emett?

A fantastic artist by the name of Rowland Emett, was born in New Southgate, London, the son of a businessman and amateur inventor. His grandfather was Court Engraver to Queen Victoria, and Rowland went on to create wonderful amusing cartoons of machines, many of them featured trains and railways.

Nellie the steam train made her debut in the March 8th, 1944 issue of Punch, and a whole new world was created. The Branch Lines of Friars Crumbling radiated out to destinations such as Far Twittering, Buffers End, Long Suffering, Freezing in the Marrow and St. Torpid's Creek.

there are 87 dozen cartoons from Emett in Punch at https://punch.photoshelter.com/search?I_DSC=Rowland+Emett&I_SDATE%5BMM%5D=&I_SDATE%5BDD%5D=DD&I_SDATE%5BYYYY%5D=YYYY&I_EDATE%5BMM%5D=&I_EDATE%5BDD%5D=DD&I_EDATE%5BYYYY%5D=YYYY&I_CITY=&I_STATE=&I_COUNTRY_ISO=&I_ORIENTATION=&I_IS_RELEASED=&I_IS_PRELEASED=&_CB_I_PR=t&_CB_I_PU=t&_CB_I_RF=t&_CB_I_RM=t&I_SORT=RANK&I_DSC_AND=t&V_ID=&G_ID=&C_ID=&_ACT=search

The cartoons became extremely popular and in 1950 Emett was approached by the organizers of the Festival of Britain with a view to creating a full-size passenger carrying version of his railway system.

Initially reluctant, he finally agreed and began creating the designs. Nellie was the first engine to emerge from the workshops. Two of his other trains (Neptune and Wild Goose) were also created for the renamed Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Branch Lines. Nellie and the Far Tottering Railway carried over 2 million passengers at the 1951 Festival.

Putting aside his success at the Festival, what he described as his 'first big break' came in 1954 when he was commisioned to tour America for six months sketching his impressions of the country. He produced a 12 page colour spread in Life magazine (July 5, 1954 issue) entitled 'An Englishman's Answer to 'Yorktown'' and was paid the enormous sum, for the time, of $12,320 - which just happened to be the price of Wild Goose Cottage in Ditchling which is where he settled down at long last with his wife after years of moving from house to house.

In 1960 he was approached by Honeywell, the major American computer manufacturer, to build his interpretation of the 'computer'. At this time computers were rare and huge. They were also mainly contained in large anonymous metal cabinets. Not so Emett's. The 'Forget-Me-Not Computer' was used to promote their products turning the 'computer' into a memorable complex machine whose moving parts each described a process. At this time he also gained his only commission for an outdoor artwork; the mosaic on the side of the Marlowes car park in Hemel Hempstead. This still survives but the building that it is on doesn't look as if it will survive for much longer.

In 1968 the Ian Fleming book 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was turned into a musical film and the 'phantasmagorical' mood of the film was enhanced by Emett's wizardry. He turned his hand to designing the car and a series of eccentric inventions for the character 'Caractacus Potts'. The props were duplicated for promotional purposes (about 37 were said to have been made) and a number of these still exist in collections around the world.

In 1970, work started on the Rhythmical Time Fountain, this machine with long spinning arms and four clock faces supported by a giant sunflower can still be seen in the Victoria Shopping Centre in Nottingham.

of course, you'll recognize the above as the steam engine that got revenge on a German fighter plane, and caused it to crash. I posted it a couple years ago

"Don't you think this three-dimensional business can go too far?"

https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/booth/exhibitions-and-displays/the-magical-machines-of-rowland-emett-exhibition-trail/

the best video of the close up and through look at the machinery exhibit at the museum:

He also illustrated a book for Guinness, and did adverts for them

and Popular Mechanics did a multipage feature in 1960, The Weird and Wonderful World of Rowland Emett.

There are a couple books of his art on Amazon, But you might want to save a fortune and see if you library has any first. Ebay only has a lot of people thinking they have winning lotto ticket numbers

Home rails preferred
Sidings, and suchlike,
Emett's domain: Trains, trams, and Englishmen; the best of Rowland Emett
by Frederick Rowland Emett

Alarms and Excursions and Other Transports
New World for Nellie
Emett's Ministry of Transport
From "Punch" to "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
Engines, aunties & others: A book of curious happenings
Far Twittering;: Or, The annals of a branch line, being some interesting and unusual aspects of the Far Twittering and Oysterperch Railway
Make Your Own Scotch Whisky: The Diary of a Whisky Salesman
The Early Morning Milk Train: The Cream of Emett Railway Drawings
by Rowland Emett