HIGHWAY DECO

By H. P. Oliver

For those who've avoided the dreaded social media addiction, "Swing Street" is my long-running Twitter series that looks at life during the swing era. To further clarify matters, my definition of the swing era is the period in history beginning early in the 1920s and extending on through World War II.

The swing era is fascinating because it was a period of great emphasis on class and style. This was especially true in the arts. In literature we have the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and William Faulkner. In visual arts there were Grant Wood, Maxfield Parrish and Pablo Picasso. Composing the music of the era we have George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. There were similar greats in the areas of architecture (including Frank Lloyd Wright and Stiles Clements), science and, of course, automobile design.

In fact, nowhere are the class and style of the swing era more visible than in the automobiles of the period. From the Stutz Bearcat to the Duesenberg and beyond, cars of the 1920s and '30s were stylish masterpieces right down to the smallest details. And it is those small details that are the focus points of this article. We pointed our camera at the stylish grilles, streamline hood mascots, marque badges, spare tire carriers, and everywhere else where design details are found on the cars of the era.

The result is a collage of deco, moderne' and streamline details that epitomize the swank and class of swing era. I'll add that the images in this article were made at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California and at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento, and then invite you to wander through our gallery of highway deco.

1933 Lincoln Limousine