There was an excellent turnout of 16 for this dinner and lecture at the historic Bristol Hotel in Warsaw. It was to be the last CCC meeting of 2013 before Christmas. We had 4 new members attending (Sean Dowsey, Eric Hallgren, Przemyslaw and Mietek Godzisz) which was most encouraging. Hope they return!
As for classic conveyances on the night I took the 1949 MG TC (yes brass monkey temperatures for Mr. Toad at -5C beep! beep!) and David O'Driscoll his TVR Griffith. Pity there were not more but force majeur prevented some...
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| The assembled crew in the Moniuszko Salon on the night |
After a welcome for the new members and the usual 45 minute introductions 'Me and Me Cars' (this trial of strength must be logistically altered in someway with a book or website coverage) we set to work on the 'Smoked goose breast carpaccio style, honey dressing, nuts' and wine which began the meal. Excellent service on this occasion with four dedicated staff - the Bristol did us proud.
A marvellous parade of rare photographs of Italian carrosserie provided by the speaker Grzegorz Gratkowski accompanied the meal.
All we needed was a soundtrack of Monza circa 1935!
A marvellous parade of rare photographs of Italian carrosserie provided by the speaker Grzegorz Gratkowski accompanied the meal.
All we needed was a soundtrack of Monza circa 1935!
There was a brief agenda discussed before pudding:
- Club activities, dinners and event suggestions for 2014
Quite a few interesting and generous suggestions were put forward which I hope will be followed up either on Linked-In or by a bulk email to the membership from the proposer himself using the Doodle facility. We all now have the current list of CCC members and email lists and await suggestions.
- Financing and design of regalia (if desired) to be discussed
Being a casual club we decided that official regalia was really unnecessary except Andy Fincham who suggested a small lapel badge which was received with rather lackluster enthusiasm. I quite like the idea of a tie with a logo but there was vociferous resistance to tie-wearing in 2013. I have never understood this myself but then I feel warmer wearing a tie or cravat in the MG and it conceals various aging features associated with the bird traditionally served at Christmas dinner - something no-one in the present membership age group need worry about just yet.
We then came to the remarkably humorous, intellectually stimulating, illustrated talk courageously and brilliantly in English mind you given by Grzegorz Gratkowski entitled enticingly
Eppur si muove or Here Comes the Speed
He began:
I am honoured to have an opportunity to speak to you today. If I fail completely I might as well not have another one. At least, though, this is not the first time. Last year I was invited to lecture in the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw on Italian car design. What I am about to deliver today is based upon my series of lectures for students of industrial design and interior design. In fact, this is only a tiny excerpt of that thing, short enough not to make a dormitory out of this nice room.
Michael was right in calling this title an enticement. It might also sound like a... Evolution of car design morphology – tracking the roots of modern sports car form – although this wouldn’t sound nearly as attractive and who knows whether the smoked goose would suffice to bring you here today. Still, I am going to explain how did the forms evolve from what we have here - to here [a picture of a horse and a picture of a futuristic sports car compared], using mostly Italian examples, because this is the field I’m most into. Actually, the history until late Thirties might be illustrated with French, English or German examples just as well, but later on Italian car design becomes so clever and prevailing that this approach seems about justified.
We were then treated to a most marvellous exposition of the social and aesthetic theory behind Italian sports car design from the static boxes called horseless carriages to streamlined conceptions of aching beauty giving the feeling of 'speed' - even at rest.
It was a most enlightening journey of tremendous intellectual refinement from this art historian who harbours the secret vice of a classic car obsession.
I give you a very few of the many illustrations from his lecture to mull over:
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"Still, vertical form persisted, to become horizontalised slowly and
gradually. Of course, it stemmed from verticality of a horse, of a sitting man,
from narrow streets, and from aesthetic convention – even from traditional
association of height with grandeur as we may see in towers or even tall hats. Here’s
how a competent use of a cap enabled Italians to be taller than Germans which
is quite something – Vittorio Emmanuele the 3rd looming over Wilhelm
the 2nd. "
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The notion of
speed begins its inexorable progress (but here still ‘vertical’ in design)
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"In this Isotta Fraschini the front fender, rather than closely surrounding the wheel, whiffs rearward like a wake, blurring the separation to capsule and platform, divided by the step. The lower door line also evades the horizontal, as forms take on curves, tending to soften and unify."
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| The development of the elements of 'The Face' - symmetry was the byword |
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| "The same year 1936 sees the birth of Fiat 500A
Topolino. The world’s smallest production car, painfully simple and cheap,
brought plenty of novelty" |
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| "In coupé body, instead, the form consisted of
two wing profiles superimposed one upon another Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 coupé Touring " |
He
Grzegorz concluded his lecture by summing up:
Grzegorz concluded his lecture by summing up:
For the speed
to arrive, several steps had to be made since the early motor cars:
-
vertical forms
had to turn into horizontal lines;
-
those fit for
standing still into forms that acknowledged a movement. A feature in design,
obvious nowadays, we know as linea spinta
which means the pressed or thrust line, develops over the period in question –
and this is when designers seem to say Eppur
si muove – it’s moving, after all
– this is how a car becomes aware of struggling through the air rather than
standing still. The speed becomes expressed
in design;
-
cabin, once
separated from the chassis by the dividing line, merges with it,
-
additive forms
turn into unified ones;
-
a devilish
figure of smeared, smoked, gravel-battered and fiery chauffeur – into a gentleman driver;
-
as we see
half-done in this achingly beautiful Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, the former step moves up, until it will soon reach the
shoulder line;
-
wheels go all
the way from wooden, large, protruding outside, to smaller, wider, hidden
within the body shell, and accessories from externally attached to merged
within shapes;
-
the rear, once
utilitarian and unadorned, becomes about as important as the front;
-
the car body
evolved from forms of a horse carriage, absurd considering the new needs, to
egg-shaped and soon after to wing-profiled.
Interestingly he mentioned that the Cisitalia 202 found its place in the seminal
1951 New
York Museum of Modern Art 8 Cars Exhibition.
The 1948 MG TC was chosen as one of the eight select cars for this first exhibition of its type. It was considered a fine example of the 'rolling sculpture' concept conceived by the curator.
In outlining the purpose of the exhibition, Mr. Johnson says:
"An automobile is a familiar 20th-century artifact, and is
no less worthy of being judged for its visual,appeal than
a building or a chair. Automobiles are hollow, rolling
sculpture, and the refinements of their design are fascinating.
We have selected cars whose details and basic
design suggest that automobiles, besides being America's
most useful Useful Objects, could be a source of visual
experience more enjoyable than they now are."
The exhibition catalogue describes the 1948 MG TC selected thus:
"The MG gives the illusion of being the unenhanced piece of machinery
which the Jeep actually is, but unlike the Jeep, its stylistic understatement
is the result of careful attention to appearance itself.
The tight, downward curve of the back is complemented by the long
rising arabesque of the front fender. Both lines are related by a
door the top of which is curved to form an elbow rest. As in the
Mercedes, chromium plating is applied to individual parts of the
machine which naturally lend themselves to this kind of decorative
treatment, such as the radiator cap and frame of the folding windshield
instead of as additions superimposed in the form of meaningless
decorative strips"
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| An excellent photograph of my 1949 MG TC at speed taken in Bielany Forest near Warsaw by our brilliant photographer and CCC member Blazej Zulawski which perfectly illustrates the above points |
All in all an excellent dinner and an uplifting lecture! May it continue thus...
Those present at dinner were:
Paul Ayre
Iain Batty
Ian Booth
Neil Crook
Mietek Godzisz
Błażej Żuławski
Marcin Zientara
Grzegorz Grątkowski
Przemyslaw
Sean Dowsey
Eric Hallgren
Andy Fincham
Marek Kuryłowicz
Michael Moran
Michael Motz
David O’Driscoll
Oh...the Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Plums, Porto sauce, red cabbage with ginger and fried potatoes (my choice) sounded great but was decidedly underwhelming and the Pike Perch, Stewed potatoes with Forest Mushrooms was only just 'alright'. Good wine.
Must have a little chat to the powers that be...the remainder of the menu seemed fine.
Must have a little chat to the powers that be...the remainder of the menu seemed fine.
If you have a classic car in Poland or are simply an enthusiast and wish to join the CCC contact:
Michael Moran
CCC Club Chairman
mjcmoran@wp.pl
