None of us likes to have to change a wheel at the side of the road, especially when wearing our best clothes, so if I saw today’s lady in red I would expect to stop and offer my help. But something tells me that, whilst continuing to work with jack and wheel brace, she would accuse me of being macho, or of treating women as inferiors. She has a wonderful air of independence as she puffs on her cigarette and gets on with the job.She’s lucky that her sporty open top car has a spare wheel and I wonder what make it is? But never mind – it has style and she has style and I make no apology for sharing with you a few more stylish cars from the rear because on my desk is a copy of a book simply brimming with photographs of such cars. It is Peter Larsen and Ben Erickson’s magnum opus on the coachbuilder Saoutchik which has just won the coveted award of ‘The Most Beautiful Book of the Year’, 2014, presented at the Festival Automobile International in Paris with the elegant Eiffel Tower’s lights blazing in the background.
My favourite ‘rear end’ from their book would surely meet with the approval of our lady – a 1923 Hispano-Suiza H6B Transformable 4 Glaces with twin spares relocated to the rear in about 1927 when it was ‘modernised’ , perhaps by the third owner Charles Weymann.
If that wasn’t sporty enough for her, then let’s tempt her with this Mercedes-Benz 26/120/180 PS from 1928 with twin side-mounted spares.. It was bought in 1962 for $5000 from the estate of the first owner and subsequently restored to perfection and mercifully retaining its original lizard skin interior.
Spare wheels were traditionally side mounted which allowed some cars to stow luggage to the rear, and picnic hampers too. This 1931 Hispano-Suiza H6C was first owned by Lily Chipot, known equally for her wit in intellectual circles in Paris, as well as for her colourful entourage and sensual striptease dances performed in various Parisian cabarets. I can’t imagine her changing a wheel!
The lines of this 1932 Bucciali, with its stylised Stork, will surely satisfy any lady’s desire for automotive style. The storks on each of the six designs Saoutchik did for Bucciali were all subtly different.
The publishers - Dalton Watson - tell me the book is nearly sold out so let us share with you some sample pages to explore at your leisure and enjoy the cars, ( and some their owners ) from all angles. Click HERE.
(picture collection Leo Schildkamp; text Robin Batchelor)