There’s something about docks and wharves that car brochure artists, especially mid-century ones, found irresistible. The idea of a car parked on a creaky wooden wharf, with waves crashing against it and boats bobbing around a dozen or so feet away must be the sort of thing that really makes people want to buy a new car. And, with all the exposure to the salty air and water and various mists, it’s probably a good ideal for the automaker, too, as they can get those cars rusting away nice and quick, and get those people back to the showroom. I like this 1960 Vauxhall Velox and Cresta brochure especially because of this big cover illustration you see there. Particularly that interaction with grandpa, the lobster, and that little girl.
I like it because that lobster is vivid red, the color of a cooked lobster, not the sort you’d find there in those big traps, which would be alive and that grayish-blue color of a healthy, sexy lobster. So, this means grandpa has a full cooked lobster with him. Is that, what, his pocket snack lobster? That he just keeps on him, for when the urge for a mouthful of lobster gets him?
What’s he telling little Clamatha there? Here, girl, get yourself a taste! Grab an antenna for a nice little crunchy treat! They’re like carrot sticks! Or how about a nice eye stalk? They have a nice salty burst! Go on, dig in! Grandpa has two other snack lobsters in his special waist-harness!
This brochure has another old staple of the genre: the golf course. The way this image is set up, it seems like someone at the golf club offered these two the use of a golf cart, and instead they just were like, nah, we’ll just use our full-sized Vauxhall Cresta, thanks, and then are just driving it all over the golf course.
What a magical world. I wonder how many snack lobsters the old dude has in his pants?
Wow, that Vauxhall Cresta is super lightweight! It doesn’t even bend the grass! It just floats on the air attached to the grass. I bet it rides smooth too!