The automobile has been, almost since its inception, a canvas for artistic expression. Whether it be a flourish of brightwork dressing up an exterior, or a particularly elegantly engineered mechanical element parts of cars can be the subject of aesthetic appreciation unto themselves.
I have a hubcap from the first car I ever owned—a 1961 Chevy Corvair—hanging on a nail in my garage. It’s actually one that I replaced on the car as it had been scraped against a curb by a former owner and exhibited the scar that encounter left. Today that scar is just part its history and I like the memories it elicits every time I see it.
With so many aesthetically pleasing automotive parts from which to choose—impossibly snaky exhaust headers; cool deco dashboards; voluptuous valve covers among them—is there a specific part from a particular car that you would like to possess just so you could gaze upon its beauty? What is the car part you would own just for its artistic merit?
Image: ©2017 Hooniverse/Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved
Hooniverse Asks: What Car Part Would You Want Simply For its Artistic Merit?
By Robert Emslie
Apr 3, 2017
Jeff Glucker
Reliant Robin – and make a track car out of it.
http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/photogallery4/1937-cord-812sc/1937-cord-812sc-shifter-det.jpg
Cord Shifter!
Or Tucker.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3eYqGpKXheE/UIjCQylVoOI/AAAAAAACJB0/8dXEDhwZ-Xg/s1600/DSC_0216.JPG
Low-hanging fruit waiting to be harvested.
http://forum.caswellplating.com/photopost/data/504/medium/AdamP01.jpg
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/62444100.jpg
Not as good, but I prefer I4s, and almost bought one of these because the intake looks great (and it was cheap).
I plan on salvaging the snakes nest from my SHO if it ever gets totaled…
I’ll take a pair of these seats for the living room.
http://www.sub5zero.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/P8050078.jpg
They’d go well with the shaggy I guess.
One of the coolest gauge clusters ever is the one in the 1961 Chrysler New Yorker. It looked like glass half-globe with floating needles. Very jet age and I imagine incredibly complicated to repair if it ever broke.
http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1961-Chrysler-New-Yorker-Town-Country-Wagon-300-Resto-Mod-eBay-Google-Chrome-542014-50529-PM.bmp.jpg
I actually have a BSA A65 rocker box cover that I bought just as a piece of sculpture. I am going to make a table lamp out of it. It will stand on four alloy rods, with some LED lights mounted under it.
https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/ByQAAOSwbYZXVMRM/$_12.JPG
…although mine looks more like this:
https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/311707614165_/Finned-Rocker-Valve-Cover-BSA-650-A65-Lightning.jpg
Beautifully Art-Deco.
This Alfa Romeo V6 has always been more sculpture than engine.
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–Ss7J7Sdv–/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/18d3kz8i4edwpjpg.jpg
How ’bout a nice instrument cluster from a Heckflosse?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b85f1232fcfd543cad0cd77abb14bf226058f1b07efcbf09722a4b7eabc3d59.jpg
What the heck is a Heckflosse?
It’s the nickname for the W110, W111, and W112 series of Mercedes sedans produced from 1959 to 1968.
Also known as the Fintail or “Finnie” Mercedes
It’s what the dentist says to most patients.
It’s what Brazilian women wear at the beach.
Dagmars.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VbHQYfhU3BU/UWRknWCQGeI/AAAAAAAAS94/7j6-bIDNK_s/s1600/dagmar+stamp.jpg
While Dagmar’s Dagmars were real, this stamp sadly isn’t. It never made it to production, though it was an actual proposed design.
http://www.clcsocal.com/webpages/history/dagmar.html
I could look at a Pagani shifter alllllll day
http://6886-presscdn-0-53.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/pagani-huayra-gear-lever.jpg
Plymouth hood ornaments from the 40’s and 50’s. They depict a ship sailing through the sea.
’41 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/564e16fdea250059b3838d04b3461532dfac05795af64f91be54ab63077ef324.jpg
’47 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57158ea8e9d4676810573e940feaa45b1250818d2c204d838444aaf266c32d3c.jpg
’50 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4a6aad930c0baecffb8f310f68fe834049c7a209fcf838e0866a57d1988cccd.jpg
’51 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a21bffb1aaca6cb48611858d225bf303490fb6639066a91e57b40ad01da20d9c.jpg
There are lots of hood/ornaments & mascots that would fit here!
Saw this one a couple of years ago, appropriate for a French car!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd20615e64ca43d6f492b6b90849d69afa83a7063d0f14169fcb8d9a92c3e52a.jpg
Actual pictures from my younger brothers bedroom:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b55c8bce844c2191273201793bedc7e8dad1b11255578e3e039e71d419820dde.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d6290d7129ef6cda82dc099dc1339d04ba4ac865c6bef79082a46dd29ab1956e.jpg
i’ve got a firebird nose with the popups intact waiting to do this with
Cool!
Is is possible to rig up the popups to work off a switch or remote? Because that would be quite the party trick!
I’ve got the hood and tail lights as well. I want to make a like basement light fixture with em, so light strips along the sides of the hood, the tail lights at the back, and the pop-ups in situ, and it would all come on with the wall switch. I’m still working out the details
Gremmie!
Yep! A Gremlin is his dream car, so when he saw the grille at a swap-meet, he had to have it.
(His tastes are bit odd, but hey, that’s cool on the ‘Verse, right?)
I’m pretty sure all our tastes are a bit odd. BTW, there’s a Gremlin still roaming the streets in my neighborhood.
On the furniture front…
I’ve been wanting to make a coffee table out of one of these old TopKick grilles for years.
It’s a hard part to find in clean condition, plus I can’t even tell you the last time I saw one of these early 90’s trucks on the road.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/63a79f9d0f625fe8140fd426c03296c7bdad4ad276f9dd01a4e28b58fd4cd631.jpg
Also, motorcycle cylinder blocks make great desk organizers for the architecture office.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/585aada9bf42e47145a55c12ef296e974d90ae7edbb8889fc30e6d198ca074a7.jpg
Or you could use the Topkick cylinder block to hold your large T-squares. Might need to reinforce the desk though…
I still have the banjo style steering wheel from my old Austin A40. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03f7f4894349e887e65179e14e0972d0386546792cefefe2f8492558f50c9c0a.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/autos.aol.com/media/2011/04/audi-tt.jpg
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