Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bud Moore with #16 in NASCAR Hall of Fame


The photo above is of Bud Moore on May 24th at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He is one of the member to the Class of 2011
to be inducted into the Hall. Bud Moore working with NASCAR invented the "half chassic" car by grafting a 1965 Ford Galaxie front end to the 1966 Mercury Comets unibody frame. Rock & Roll Comets.. 


Monday, February 14, 2011

1962 Mercury Comet catalog art

Cometeers,

A while back I stumbled across Harry Borgman's Art Blog while surfing the internet. Mr. Borgman was a freelance artist who was hired by Lincoln Mercury to illustrate the 1962 Mercury Comet Sales Catalog. I was so impressed by his work and his story, I contacted him and ask for his permission to share his artwork and story on the Cometeer. We all enjoy looking at the artist concepts and images of our cars when they where new. I felt it was important to share Mr. Borgman’s story of how he helped make the 1962 catalog a reality. What a beautiful car..


HARRY BORGMAN ART BLOG
The pressure of automotive catalogs

More on the 1962 Mercury Comet catalog art.













When doing art for automotive catalogs you are confronted with a enormous amount of work which must be done under the pressure of a tight deadline. Not a good situation for even an experienced illustrator. You are usually working with another artist on the same illustration which can also be problematic. On the above illustration, I came to the studio very early and was pretty much underway with this background. When Jack Mills, the automotive illustrator, arrived he changed his mind about the scene's lighting situation and decided that he wanted to light the car from another direction, so I had to repaint the background. After that I presented him with small color sketches before starting to paint. Under tight deadlines you have no time to waste.


Charlie Shridde, a great illustrator in our freelance group, had some reference photos that he had taken during a polo match. He offered let me use some of them for reference material on this particular illustration which helped me a great deal.




















For the figures I used my son Kurt and Charlie's wife, Jutta, she was one of Detroit's top models.















The models on this illustration were Terry Seaholm, a car penciler, for the foreground figure, and our rep Bob Witmer was photographed for the other two figures. For the gal inside the car I used Jutta and turned her into a blond. For the background reference, photos were taken in a local lumberyard.

Automotive catalog illustration was a very demanding and specialized field, not only from the aspect of the technical accuracy of the automobile, you also had to satisfy the art director and others at the ad agency as well as the manufacturer's advertising managers, all under extreme deadline pressures.















The car catalog season was an extremely busy time for artists in Detroit. Our freelance group was hard at work on Chevrolet art when another catalog assignment popped up. Jack Mills and I were asked to do all of the illustrations for the 1962 Mercury Comet catalog, the ad agency was Kenyon & Eckhardt and I believe that the art director was Lowell Jackson. We were doing art for two catalogs which wasn't unusual, as many artists would often work for competing clients or ad agencies at the same time.




































On this illustration I hired a model to photograph the foreground gal and used my kids and Bob Witmer, our rep, for the other figures.














I had to search for reference on this scene, fortunately I lived near a couple of marinas. After composing the scene and doing a small color sketch I would do a pencil drawing and then block in the background with paint to establish color values and lighting, then Jack would render the car. When he was pretty much finished, I would continue working on the background, adding details and modifying color, until I was done, then he would add the final touches to the car.
























A close up of the illustration to show you the details. Another hired model was used for this illustration.











Not all the illustrations required a full background. I rounded up some neighborhood girls to pose for me on this one. Like many illustrators, I used a Poloroid camera for most of the figure shots because you got an instant photo, no need for film development or a darkroom, a real time saver. Also you could immediately see if the pose was right or if you needed to take more shots. All these illustrations were rendered on Whatman cold-pressed illustration board with Windsor and Newton Designer's Colors. When we finished the illustration, our rep would take it over to the agency for the art director's and the automotive engineer's approval. More Comet illustrations on the next post.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

CONTACT: Scott Cooper
Cathy Hein
(704) 455-3209

 For Immediate Release:



Car Show Season Pass Saves Fans 33 Percent on Full AutoFair, Goodguys Access



CONCORD, N.C. (Jan. 19, 2011) - For the first time ever Charlotte

Motor Speedway is offering automotive enthusiasts a ticket package to the
superspeedway's three incredible car shows, including 11 days of full
access, with the new Car Show Season Pass.
Fans can purchase the Car Show Season Pass in advance for just $89,
a savings of $45 per person, to attend the spring and fall Food Lion
AutoFairs on April 7-10 and Aug. 25-28 and the Goodguys Southeastern
Nationals on Oct. 28-30. The Car Show Season Pass also includes a
personalized hard card and lanyard, VIP parking at each event and 10 percent
off all merchandise purchased in the main Charlotte Motor Speedway gift shop
on the second floor of Smith Tower.



Twice annually Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the Food Lion
AutoFair. Car clubs and corrals, thousands of vendors, a huge flea market, a
collector car auction and exotic automotive attractions highlight the
world's largest automotive extravaganza. The four-day show also features a
massive manufacturer midway, special exhibits, a kids' zone, crazy fair
foods like deep fried butter or chocolate-covered bacon and much more.


The Goodguys Southeastern Nationals is a giant outdoor event
featuring more than 2,000 pre-1972 hot rods, custom cars, classics, muscle
cars and trucks. Lil' deuce coupes, hot rod roadsters, chopped Merc customs,
Hemi Cudas, Six Pack Challengers, Boss 429 Mustangs, Pontiac GTOs and many
other specialty vehicles will be on display at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
Also included in the national show are vendor exhibits, a swap meet,
autocross competition, car corral area with vehicles for sale and many
activities for children.



The Car Show Season Pass and tickets for all events at Charlotte
Motor Speedway, zMAX Dragway and The Dirt Track at Charlotte are on sale now
and can be obtained by calling the ticket office at 1-800-455-FANS (3267) or
by visiting www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.



Connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy or on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/charlottemotorspeedway.

Monday, January 10, 2011

New Comet East Shows for 2011 !!

Charlotte Food Lion Auto Fair
April 8th - 10th

Come celebrate the largest auto event in the southeast with
Comet East!!

The club will have a meet and greet Friday afternoon in the lounge at the Holiday
Inn Executive Park Blvd at 5:30 PM.

The Holiday Inn number is 704-547-0999.
 
 
 
Carlisle All-Ford Nationals
June 3th - June 5th


Comet East will be a part of the All Ford Nationals. You’ll find hundreds of
vendors with a variety of parts and accessories for sale, Ford & Lincoln-Mercury
vehicles for sale in the corral, special events like beauty & burnout contests, rock
crawling and much more. The best description of this show
Fun for the Blue Ovals!