rules of the road

Via Strange Company’s Weekend Link Dump, our attention is turned toward traffic planning and the evolution of the parking lot as a cultural and ethnographic study, guided and informed largely through the direction of businessman and civil engineer William Phelps Eno (*1858 – †1945).
Despite (and perhaps because) never learning to drive himself, Eno was an early champion for traffic control and regulation—mostly non-existent before his pioneering proposals for London, Paris and New York, and helped to move street signs, cross-walks, one-way streets, roundabouts and traffic islands into mainstream adoption.  Framing regulations, like right-of-way and priority Eno also helped frame the language: to rank was to line up vehicles one behind another aligned with the kerb—what we’d called parallel-parking—whereas to park, was to stand (left for “dead” as opposed to a “live” vehicle continuously occupied by its driver and prepared to move it for the accommodation of others) one’s car at an angle to the street. These new rules quickly revealed the need for dedicated parking lots and streets were becoming more congested and less navigable due to vehicles left unattended. Municipalities attempted to restrict the rank and file to “live” automobiles only but this became unenforceable as ownership increased beyond those whom would or could engage a chauffeur or valet and instead began allocating spaces for off-street parking.

906 turbo

The always interesting Nag on the Lake directs our attention to a beast of a sedan in this custom six-wheeler constructed by designer and company engineer Leif Mellberg.
Completed in 1984, it was fully equipped with a video screen, a sixteen-speaker stereo system, a police band monitor and refrigerator whose colossal scale recalls these airport stretch limousines, through this model never went into production and became a mobile advertisement for Mellberg’s side business refurbishing Saabs.

rennfahrerin

Passing away in her adopted home of Sweden on this day in 1990 (*1901), accomplished automobile racer Clara Eleonore “Clärenore” Stinnes, accompanied by film-maker Carl-Alex Söderström and a two-person engineering crew, became the first person (see this counter-claim) to circumnavigate the globe by car. In just over two years, Stinnes crossed the start/finish line in Berlin on 24 June 1929, having completed a journey of over forty-seven thousand kilometres—with the aid of ferries—crossing frozen Lake Baikal, the Gobi, transversing the Andres and through Central America to the US and Canada and finding herself in many spots with no navigable roads to speak of. The event, with a prize of a hundred-thousand Reichsmarks, was sponsored by Adler, Aral and Bosch, titans of the German automotive industry.  After the round-the-world journey, Stinnes and Söderström wed and spent many happy years together on their farm in southern Sweden.

galleria stradale del san gottardo

Holding the title of world’s longest road tunnel for two decades before being overtaken by the Lærdalstunnelen in Vestland, the Gotthard Road Tunnel between the cantons of Ticino and Uri, linking the highlands to southern Switzerland beneath the namesake massif opened to traffic on this day in 1980.
After taking more than a decade to construct and given the high monetary cost and the nineteen fatalities of workers, the public balked at the fact there was no supplemental toll for it (the tunnel being covered by the mandatory vignettes for use of Swiss motorways), sighing that “The Italians built it, the Germans use it and the Swiss pay for it.” The inaugural vehicle was a school bus.

micromachines

Via the always interesting Pasa Bon! we are introduced to the French automaker Robert Hannoyer and his line of cycle-cars Reyonnah—the ananym, a special kind of anagram, of the entrepreneur’s surname, like Oprah’s Harpo Productions, MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention Systems) as the antagonist of SPAM and gnip gnop for ping-pong, which had a chassis and carriage similar to other bubble cars. A signature feature of this model was its folding front wheels that enabled it to park in very tight spaces. Much more to explore at the links above.

distinguishing signs of vehicles in international traffic

Aside from a brief period in the tumult of the 1980s when the Republic was coerced into an uneasy compact with other Polynesian nations formerly claimed under the domain of the United States and treated as a trust territory, receiving development assistance in exchange for hosting nuclear testing and forward operating bases, when national plates were issued since devolved again to the responsibility and oversight of the several states, each island and atoll group of Palau is free to design and determine the conventions of its vehicle registration system.
Varying highly by composition, remoteness and population, fourteen out of sixteen states have populations of under five hundred and there are a little over seven thousand cars and trucks registered and roadworthy. This sample from the state of Ngiwal (population 282) and features the coat-of-arms and the registry number—all of which begin with the prefix K79, first K for the native Kiuluul people and their reputation as gourmands, reportedly eating seven meals and nine soups daily, having originated from the stomach according to legend from a mythical figure known as the Insatiable Uab. A parable on sustainability, especially from an insular perspective threatened by sea-level rise, the creature with the prodigious appetite had to put down, dramatically exploding into the map of Palau after seeing the effects of his greed. There’s a gallery of plates to explore at the link above, in that same constellation and further afield as well, but none I think with quite such a developed narrative.

moskvich xrl

Via the always engaging Things Magazine, we are introduced to one commission by the design genius Raymond Loewy (see previously) that failed to take the world by storm as so many of his other innovations and interventions had in the Москвич XРЛ (the model sequence standing for Experimental Raymond Loewy—see more about numbering conventions here), designed and engineered in 1974 as a flagship, global automobile for export markets to demonstrate Soviet talent in the field. Production problems condemned the concept car, however, and only models and mock-ups were ultimately produced.

highways and horizons

For its forward-looking pavilion (see also) known as Futurama for New York’s 1939 World’s Fair, General Motors commissioned theatrical and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes, whom realising that means and aspirations of the middle-class were becoming commiserate with what the automotive industry could supply—this particular intersection commemorated with the interstate network of roadways and a unique flagship model in the Pontiac Ghost Car with a Plexiglas chassis, laying bear—at a glance—the hidden, in-built value—as stated in a press release. Afterward it was acquired by the Smithsonian and on display until the public found it tedious and antiquated rather than visionary, and which point it was deaccessioned and passed around various dealers as a promotional vehicle.

jetway 707

Having a cameo in no less than All the President’s Men featuring Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein and clocking in at an impressive eight-and-a-half metre length, via Things Magazine, we’re pleased to be acquainted with the wonderfully outlandish airport stretch limousine (produced from 1968 to 1970) from Oldsmobile and its subsidiary American Quality Coach designed to shuttle VIPs (seating twelve to fifteen) and their luggage from the terminal to the tarmac (see previously). Much more to explore at the links above.

6x6

colours of the world: Crayola crayons launch a special pigment pack to capture the diverse skin tones of people around the world—since fortunately the vast majority is not this

farringdon folly: the real life landmarks that informed and inspired (see also) JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth

a typographical sirloin: visual mondegreens (see previously here and here) resulting from the keming—er, kerning of certain letter combinations

service à la française: the history and possible future of buffet-style dining (relatedly)

ultraflex: a futuristic Icelandic boogie band at the intersection of disco and Soviet-era calisthenics

where the rubber meets the road: tyre add-on device collects worn and shredded detritus before it goes into the environment

full-throttle

Though I think I’d prefer a jaunty tooting horn or a car that went a sardonic “vroom! vroom!,” we do rather like this blast-off sound effect to compliment one automobile manufacturers newest electric model to alert pedestrians (see also) to its activation and launch, since the engine runs quietly, and imprint the experience on the driver and passenger commissioned from film score composer Hans Zimmer, noted for integrating electronic music in with more traditional orchestral arrangements in movies like The Lion King, Inception, Gladiator and the Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. No news whether this start-up tone might not evolve into a fully-fledged soundtrack to accompany one’s whole drive or whether other car companies are seeking to establish their own signature, skeumorphic warning signals.

avtomobilny

Sold domestically as the Zhiguli (Жигули, after the mountain range bordering the Volga) and branded as the “Lada” for export (see previously, the designation being an earlier variation for the region in reference to the pirate gangs encamped in the valleys), the automotive manufacturer introduced its VAZ-2101, the initialism standing for Volga Automotive Plant. With seven models in the series, some seventeen million cars were produced until the line was discontinued in 2012—manufacturing at an Egyptian factory continuing until 2014.

7x7

610 wagon: Salvador Dalí was once commissioned to paint an advertising campaign (see also) for Datsun Motors

dénouement: the Hero’s Journey during lockdown—see also

location scout: exploring how tax regimes and local ordinances limn the imagination in film and television adaptations

coade stone: the weather proof wonder material that’s the stuff of statuary and architectural embellishments

home office: not free to go out, Banksy gives the guest bathroom a makeover

now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station: NASA under Trump struggles to deliver even the solace of science with exploration becoming exploitation

the ever-changing motor car: 1965 animated short for Ford of Britain by the same collaboration behind Yellow Submarine

autostadt

Via Things Magazine we discover that adjacent to the flagship Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg there are two museums, ZeitHaus, one dedicated to the brand’s greatest automotive hits with pavilions full of Lamborghini, Škoda, Bentleys as well as their own cars—with the other wing surely worth the visit as well, is filled with prototypes, test models and show cars that never went into production for the driving public. Exhibits include the 1990 Vario, a concept, a transitional buggy test-marketed prior to the introducing of the new Beetle. See more unrealised roadsters at the link above.

ghost crash

Via Things Magazine, we are confronted with the creepy, unsettling footage of vehicular collisions with the second car digitally removed. It’s a very simple yet powerful effect that the creator Donato Sansone (previously) experimented with in the summer of 2018, which seems strangely resonant and informed by these days of staying home and social distancing.

in my merry oldsmobile

Not to be confused with the mass-produced Model-C from competitor Ford Motors that debuted the following year and marketed as a “doctors’ car,” the 1903 variant Model-6, curved dash runabout prototype called the Doctors’ Coupe unfortunately never went into production with only one ever made.
This incredibly steam-punk podium of a vehicle had two gears plus could be thrown in reverse. Though at this early point in history, the cars were named after company founder Ransom Eli Olds (and hence R.E.O. Speedwagon, another musical connection), a popular tune by vaudevillian Gus Edwards with an enduring chorus and refrain was a powerful marketing jingle:

Come away with me, Lucille
In my merry Oldsmobile
Down the road of life we’ll fly
Automobubbling, you and I

To the church we’ll swiftly steal
Then our wedding bells will peal
You can go as far as you like with me
In my merry Oldsmobile

7x7

inside out & upside-down: hundreds of posters from CalArts students ranging back to 1980

r360: how the coupe and microcar informed Mazda’s design

area rug: custom parametric carpets informed by their settings that really bring the room together

the floor is lava: advice for keeping the cat off the kitchen counters plus an assortment of more humourous tweets

noodles and pandas: innovative ways to discuss the pandemic without attracting the attention of the authorities

happy mutants: Cory Doctorow’s daily curated links—via Waxy

white russians: contemporary fermented dairy drinks

7x7

goetheanum: a visit to the seat of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach in the canton of Solothurn

0107 – b moll: a brilliant short by filmmaker Hiroshi Kondo on cityscapes, commutes and light—via Waxy

musical instrument digital interface: every possible melody has been played in MIDI format, copyrighted and promptly released into public domain

pivot point: we are entering the era of Peak Car—see also

gratuitous diacritics: a peek inside the world of extreme heavy metal logos—via Things Magazine

autoritatto: an artist commissions a neural network to generate her a self-portrait out of thousands of selfies

it’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood: documenting the wildlife traffic over this log bridge in Pennsylvania enters its second year

🚘

As Boing Boing informs, the New England state of Vermont (see previously) may possibly join Queensland, Australia in allowing drivers to include a selection of emoji on their custom automobile registry plates (see also) after introducing a bill to that effect.
Counter to the trend of admitting pictograms into courtroom exhibits or the fact that a smiling face crying tears of joy might strike one as something more memorable than an alpha-numeric string in a traffic accident dispute, whatever emoji chosen would be an addition to the identifier and not considered one in isolation. What do you think? What vanity plates would you choose?

a guide to wildflowers at speed

We appreciated this field guide that implicitly urges one to stop a smell the roses and examine, frame by frame at the glimpses into Nature that we’re afforded, even when they’re passing us by in a blur. Like other manuals, varieties are classified by the colour of their blooms and time of year they go to flower but are portrayed as a patch on a roadside verge would look zipping past. Like Birds through an Opera-Glass (one of the first in its genre, 1890 by Florence Merriam), what other subject is often seen from a skewed perspective, the Solar System galloping past warp speed ahead?