Streamline Moderne, in home and car

Oldsmobile Eight sales catalog, 1936

Auto catalogs have always been sensuous sales tools, managing to make even the smallest utilitarian cars look luxurious. These days it’s done with extreme photography and computer-enhanced imagery. In 1936 it was done through the most elegant of Art-Deco artwork.

Just look at that illustration, and never mind the car – I want the HOUSE. That’s like a streamlined Hollywood movie set, complete with Jay Gatsby driving the Olds, which looks to be about half a block long. Just an illusion. It’s a tiny 2-door coupe.

It’s got great art-deco trimmings, from the hood ornament to the lights. But look closer at that back seat. It’s actually two seats that fold down SIDEWAYS. Your back-seat passengers would be facing each other — not facing forward. Certainly an interesting way to travel with a friend, and clearly seat belts hadn’t been invented yet.

If the two gloved ladies were about to go for a ride with Gatsby, I wonder who got the back seats?