Box Art historians, what's going on here ?

[my66s55]

Good point Greg, but to put it more appropriately, their comments were made in bad taste.

[lordairgtar]

Yup, I look at the pic of the box and I think elegant couple out on the town...dining....opera...a Broadway show.

[Guest]

Whatever Doug, for Pete's sake.

[Harry P.]

Good point Greg, but to put it more appropriately, their comments were made in bad taste.

Come on, Doug... we're only kidding! It's ok to have a little fun, isn't it?

[Guest]

I guess not.

[my66s55]

Come on, Doug... we're only kidding! It's ok to have a little fun, isn't it?

No! Fun is only allowed on every other day. Being as it is, and according to current administration policy, said comments were not made on a fun day. Therefore, they are disallowed. Kindly make note of such and don't allow it to happen again.

[Guest]

Now that is funny!

[tbill]

him, ' honey, look at our new caddy!'

her, 'gee honey, we can hardly afford the twins and that new ranch house we bought, plus, didn't the Jones' just get one of these in pink?'

or........

'hey baby, how you doin?'

[Harry P.]

No! Fun is only allowed on every other day. Being as it is, and according to current administration policy, said comments were not made on a fun day. Therefore, they are disallowed. Kindly make note of such and don't allow it to happen again.

I'll make a note of it!

[Mike Kucaba]

Harry, you and Lee weren't even born when this model came out. The 50's were an age of innocence. Something that neither of you experienced. A picture such as this would never be interpreted as some on this thread have. I personally believe it was to express the elegance of the Cadillac. To perceive it as anything else, in my opinion, has only to exemplify the degradation of society in the years that followed. Your opinion makes you a member.

I was born in 1949.

[Art Anderson]

Harry, you and Lee weren't even born when this model came out. The 50's were an age of innocence. Something that neither of you experienced. A picture such as this would never be interpreted as some on this thread have. I personally believe it was to express the elegance of the Cadillac. To perceive it as anything else, in my opinion, has only to exemplify the degradation of society in the years that followed. Your opinion makes you a member.

Truthfully,

That '55 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible box art is either a reprint of artwork from a Cadillac magazine advertisement, or Revell's own artist's rendition done in the style of Cadillac's advertising agency.

FWIW, each one of Revell's 1955 year model car kits (along with their followon 1956 model year kits, AND the '57 Eldorado Brougham appear to have used automakers advertising artwork. I believe that even the 1/25 scale Pontiac Club de Mer and Lincoln Futura used Pontiac and Lincoln-Mercury artwork (Pontiac) and publicity photo (the Futura) as well. In the case of the Futura, Ford Motor Company apparently didn't take very good care of the photographs and/or the negatives, as every color pic of the Futura shows it in that very pale green color. However, in my rather extensive search for the correct styling department-applied paint, Pat Mulligan of Ford's licensing agency got back to me with the actual color name "Ice Bule Pearlescent"! In further questioning of Mulligan (same Patrick Mulligan who was editor of SA for a couple of years) he came back with a color chip from Ford styling archives, which he lent me at Johnny Lightning. We copied that color off a Pantone Mixing System (PMS) chip and added pearlescent clear coat to it, and that is how the factory in China painted the first run of the JL 1955 Lincoln Futura. Ice Blue Pearlescent is almost exactly the same very VERY light blue that Ford used for a couple of years in the early 1960's, but with a pearl top coat on it.

Art

[philo426]

The woman is his wife and since they are dressed to the nines they are probably going to some high brow charity event or to the opera or trendy night club.The top is down ,so it is a clear warm summer evening.Where you guys get the dirty stuff from the box art I cannot fathom!

Edited September 5, 2013 by philo426

[Harry P.]

The woman is his wife and since they are dressed to the nines they are probably going to some high brow charity event or to the opera or trendy night club.The top is down ,so it is a clear warm summer evening.Where you guys get the dirty stuff from the box art I cannot fathom!

Our guess is as good as yours!

[Harry P.]

Back to the actual box art... shouldn't it be Cadillac Eldorado? Not El Dorado?

[Art Anderson]

Back to the actual box art... shouldn't it be Cadillac Eldorado? Not El Dorado?

Well, considering that Revell was located in Venice CA at the time this kit was produced (in Southern California), it makes sense that whomever did the box art inadvertently used the correct Spanish spelling "El Dorado" rather than the way Cadillac spelled it as all one word. Stranger things probably have happened.

Art

[johnbuzzed]

Harry, you and Lee weren't even born when this model came out. The 50's were an age of innocence. Something that neither of you experienced. A picture such as this would never be interpreted as some on this thread have. I personally believe it was to express the elegance of the Cadillac. To perceive it as anything else, in my opinion, has only to exemplify the degradation of society in the years that followed. Your opinion makes you a member.

A "member" of what, exactly? Some kind of club? Can anyone join?

[Art Anderson]

The woman is his wife and since they are dressed to the nines they are probably going to some high brow charity event or to the opera or trendy night club.The top is down ,so it is a clear warm summer evening.Where you guys get the dirty stuff from the box art I cannot fathom!

Actually,

If one were to look at Cadillac (and for that matter, Chrysler Imperial or Lincoln) ads from the 50's well into the 70's, their cars were almost always depicted in this manner--man and wife (or lady friend), on their way to some social event. Paintings of closed body Caddy's almost tradtionally showed a couple in formal evening wear--arriving at a top-quality hotel, the opera, perhaps at a country club formal event. Convertibles were often pictured in surroundings such as the golf course, the yacht club marina, or at a formal fox hunt (you know, the kind where everyone wore those stuffy fox-hunting clothes, rode horses to the hounds, and wore funny hats and knee length riding boots).

Car advertising, then as now, tended to depict the car in a setting suggesting the kind of people who bought and owned them (new Dodge Caravan for Mom to drive the soccer team to a game, anyone?)

Art

[ChrisBcritter]

If he were a Gentleman, he'd be opening the door for her.

If he were an Orangutan, his arm still wouldn't be long enough to reach the handle.

(Love those exaggerated '50s illustrations.)

[Daddyfink]

It is obvious, it is a Sting Operation!

[Modlbldr]

It is obvious, it is a Sting Operation!

Don't discuss price. That's how they get you.

Later-

[zenrat]

...Convertibles were often pictured in surroundings such as ... at a formal fox hunt (you know, the kind where everyone wore those stuffy fox-hunting clothes, rode horses to the hounds, and wore funny hats and knee length riding boots)...

As opposed to the informal kind where everyone sits around with guns in the back of utes drinking Bundy and waiting for it to get dark. You know, the ones which are more fun AND kill more foxes...

...and pigs and goats and roos and feral dogs and...

[Guest]

Don't discuss price. That's how they get you.

Later-

Is this from experience?

[brad4321]

I don't get it. What am I not getting? There is a man in a car, and there is a female beside the car. Please explain.

[Modlbldr]

Is this from experience?

No. It's from watching all those episodes of "Cops".

Later-

Edited September 7, 2013 by Modlbldr

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

I don't get it. What am I not getting? There is a man in a car, and there is a female beside the car. Please explain.

This should be quote of the year right here..... And I thought the previous conversationists made me laugh, but this just put a huge smile on my face as Im sure the guy driving the Cadillac left with a huge smile on his face as well after a social evening with the street peddler....