Review by Pete Vack
There were old books and magazines with photos and drawings of the Alfa B.A.T.s spread out across the table when the mail arrived. Along with the bills was a box from Dalton Watson. What could this be, I wondered, as I cleared a space for it.
It turned out to be a book on the art of American stylists, entitled Imagine, Automobile Concept Art from the 1930s to the 1980s, by newbie author Patrick G. Kelley, full of dramatically beautiful stylists’ sketches in color. On the table, in those very same old and increasingly musty periodicals from 1949 on, were many such examples of the art of advanced styling from the studios of GM, Ford, Chrysler and more. And of course, the B.A.T.s we were researching were famous concept cars themselves. How timely, then, was this arrival. I knew very little about the creation of concept car art in America although our shelves burst with books about the Italian designers. Author Kelley had profiled and exhibited what we might refer to as “America’s Scagliones,” or “America’s Michelottis,” (which rolls off the tongue and title easier). So the book was opened and read with enthusiasm. What could I learn? [Read more…] about America’s Michelottis