#greystoneconcours 2014 Greystone Mansion Concours d'Elegance Beverly Hills - A B&W Tribute to Car Styles and Characters

 

Beverly Hills, CA, by Py Pai / W&HM - 

At this year's Greystone Mansion Concours d'Elegance event, there was a record showing of the vintage cars that attended the event.  They brought us back to the eras where designs and styles are above functions and utilities.  Characters were boldly forged and formed across the car-centric lifestyles and reflective pop cultures in the last 100 years.  

However, today, the majority of cars on the street are seemingly coming from the same digital drafting tables, the same manufacturing lines.  The only difference that you can tell them apart may rely on the emblems of car brands, or the letters on the trunk lids.  They are so... alike.  That's why we were very happy to see these vintage cars at this rare car show.  It's a great reminder that designs are not just following engineering, and forms not just fall under simulations, and certainly unique characteristics is built through dreams, visions and audacious moves.  

To highlight these stylistic points, we decided to publish this tribute pictorial with B&W photos that showcase many essential elements of design, and ingredients of an icon or even a rebel, represented by these vintage cars.  As you can see in these photos, you don't need to have much accompanying text to grasp the full effects of the car's presence and its charisma.

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The repeating sleek designs of the dashboard, dials, and steering wheels, shows the coherence and harmony in their combination.

And the post-war European cars kicked up a notch and 

 

The grills of a car is like the first sentence of a novel.  They define the car's first look, and set the tone for the rest of the experience.

 

 

Even though mechanical apparatus is no longer any useful utility in a car's handling.  However the looks, the finishes, and the textures of these metallic parts cannot be replaced by a digital meter or a plastic knob.

 

Who says that we need as much information as possible?  The elegance of a great design is to hide the details, perform as expected, and show only the necessary.

 

More stunning grill designs, they show the era of dominating cultures, the level of sophistication, and visual indication of ownership.

 

The curvature of a car profile does not have to be from millions of software code and layers of scientific optimization.  Let the spirit fly a bit, imagination runs wild for a while...

 

We dare any car companies to come up with such a fluid and beautiful composition of a car...

 

 

Utility does not have to come from literal thinking.  With a bit imagination and assembly, many things can come to full life without looking like lugging the entire lifestyle with it.