Technology and advertising go hand in hand, and as photography and printing tools improved throughout the 20th century, printed ads made a distinct transition from illustration to photography. Photo would become the prevailing medium in the end, but not without illustration giving us much fun in the meantime.
Commercial illustration had a rich tradition in the US, mostly in print media; from Maxfield Parrish to Norman Rockwell. While the illustration tradition held on through the ’50s and ’60s, by the ’70s photography had become the norm. Cool car drawings would become a thing of the past in due time.
The ’60s, being a decade in flux, had a good amount of both techniques. Pontiac’s illustrated ads from the period are cherished by fans of the brand, and these early ’60s Shelby ones are among the best in the business too, and praised as such.
In the case of Shelby, the illustrations seem to have occurred thanks to Pete Brock’s intervention. With a limited supply of Cobras coming out of the assembly line, illustrated ads seemed the way to go without affecting production. Brock called a pal from his days at the ArtCenter of Los Angeles: George Bartell.
Bartell’s involvement was another happy accident in Shelby’s decades-long motorsports saga. Needless to say, Bartell applied all his skills on Shelby’s products, employing the detailed craftsmanship for which ArtCenter alumni was known for. It was the start of a lifelong relationship linked to the Shelby name.
Bartell’s lines are dramatic and attention grabbing, and his compositions are filled with a sense of movement and energy. Each complements perfectly the spirit of Shelby’s products. Today’s samples belong to the beginning of that partnership, with images created around 1963 for Shelby’s then fledging enterprise. As Shelby followers know, more was to come from this fruitful association.
(Note: The ArtCenter would move to its current location in Pasadena in 1976)
Optional whitewalls? I wonder if anyone ever ticked that box. Not to mention the use of a Cobra to tow a ski boat. No wonder that had to use illustrations; a photograph would have required someone to hook up a hitch, which I don’t see on the option list. I love the reference in one ad to the “plastic car”. Take that, Corvette! Also, it’s interesting to see the 289/271 engine described as a Fairlane engine. These are great finds which I’d forgotten all about though now some of them look familiar.
Whitewalls didn’t have a brougham stigma yet, they seem pretty common on 260/289 Cobras from period pictures and footage. Common on Corvettes too
https://www.imcdb.org/i225601.jpg
https://www.imcdb.org/i884666.jpg
https://www.imcdb.org/i327425.jpg
Yeah, my family’s 1960 and 1964 Volvo’s came from the factory with whitewalls. I’m sure we didn’t order them as options, and both were European delivery. And they were certainly on a lot of E Types too. So I know they weren’t quite brougham-only back then. But I’m surprised that the Goodyear performance tires were available as whitewalls and I figured Shelby wouldn’t go down that path anyway. Thanks for the photo evidence.
Here’s a shot of a ’59 Corvette with high-performance whitewalls from a vintage review that year. Note that they are narrow sidewalls, several years before that style became common on regular car tires.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-reviews/vintage-rt-road-test-1959-fuel-injected-corvette-all-the-speed-you-need-and-then-some/
Yes, the new small block Ford V8 was very commonly referred to as “the Fairlane V8” in its first few years, as it first was available in the Fairlane. And the small six was commonly referred to as “The Falcon six”.
Some of the images seem familiar even after almost 60 years, but I don’t recall ever seeing the price/options list—I’d always wondered about that.
I do distinctly remember sending away for this 1965 poster, but of course never noticed the “Bartell” name: https://www.ebay.com/itm/393500070973?hash=item5b9e6e943d:g:vFIAAOSwPzRhFBIx&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwJxJyLfZut%2F8d84k%2F7SVwc70x3LsGfSHWiLU7X6OC%2BQ7AjOXRsg%2FrMd05Mpjefa9UeAv3x%2Bs7izMOHmgMuKKTqExkP9V1%2Fylm536nJc95JsMtkgAAbxtUdLSpcdCF0nuHxt4mT%2BiLAQQMKbwdaRJqnigVMklWJETNsD%2B0vJ8Yre9dGLlQxaV3oBu80DL4Oh0w025QfwrhN2s7bEeTK6yGnp33DHgUeaCB9pU%2BHjr77UU82HuYEEf4TzPnt%2BQdmv2zQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5r9vNydYg
An amazing natural talent. Bartell’s illustration and painting styles helped define the pop culture of that era. His work, captures that time. As the ’60s and ’70s were the peak era, for his style of artwork. And there was plenty of work. So, his art career timing, really was perfect.
Bartell’s pen and ink illustrations, and watercolour paintings, conveyed energy and movement, often better than photography. Excellent for cars and racing. He always created compelling collages.
That option list is eye-opening. Everything I’d ever read suggested that the Cobra came standard with the 306 hp version of the 289, meaning with the Shelby intake and standard chrome air cleaner and alloy valve covers. Leave it to Shelby to nickel and dime his customers.
I wonder if any were actually sold with the plain-Jane 289? And if any still exist?
For some reason, I always thought the original batch of Cobras came with the 260.
Anybody??
They did. The first 75 came with the 260, tuned to 260 hp.
Those drawings reminded me of the early Lotus ads https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=early+lotus+ads&iax=images&ia=images
I had two Shelby Cobras they came standard with scalectrix slot car sets or you could have Lotus grand prix cars, The real thing is extremely rare here almost non existent though some alloy body replicas have been built and the tupperware versions are seen often.
The image with the bike cops reminds me of LeRoy Niemans work. I saw a lot of his stuff in the early 70s in college working as a picture framer.
The Cobras have always been special to me. 1963, a 10 year old kid, we moved, my Dad was always climbing the corporate ladder, to Bellevue Washington. Where there just happened to be a race going on at the time. With the Cobra team staying at the same motel we were. I’d go to school, Mom would bring me back to the room and I’d go out and drool over the Cobras outside on trailers. They just parked them outside the rooms on the trailers, obviously a different era then. I wasn’t even a car guy as a kid, but it was obvious they were something special. I didn’t know what, I mean I was 10 years old, but there was just something…
But now they’ve become so expensive I don’t even see them at car shows anymore. Not even the knockoffs. Speaking of, about a decade ago, I saw a Daytona Coupe. In traffic, in the rain. Expensive neighborhood, but still. Nobody drives a million dollar collectable car in the rain, even if it has plastic side curtains. Cool, but it had to be a knockoff.