Tag Archives: Automotive

Automotive, Fun

Car sitting a 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

April 13, 2018 romicortier@yahoo.com Leave a comment

1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, Photo Romi Cortier — 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, Beverly Hills, Ca., Photo Romi Cortier

The Spirit of Ecstasy, 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, Beverly Hills, Ca., Photo Romi Cortier

I was recently asked to car sit a 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow…. say what? Yes, it’s true. She said to me, would you mind car sitting for me, for an entire month… but you must promise to drive it at least once a week. Well, I’ll do my best. Can I take a few photos and maybe some video footage? Sure she said.

During that month I booked up every weekend with activities for this gem. I did a professional photoshoot, a casual shoot with a friend for our social media (seen below), a pro video shoot for our tv pilot Artful Living which took an entire 12 hour day to complete, not to mention the slew of still photos I snapped for this article. I can’t wait to get the video footage to our editors so that I can share more of this cars fascinating history with you.

There’s something so Dynasty-esque about this era of Rolls Royce, especially when driving through the streets of Beverly Hills. If I could tell you the amount of times tourists stopped to take photos and video of us while filming, especially on Rodeo Drive, it was totally surreal. And while we were parked and shooting video at the Beverly Hills Hotel, four different tour busses stopped to take photos and chat us up. Talk about feeling like a movie star, this car is a total head turner.

Lets be honest, it’s all about the dynamic paint job on this car, it’s so gangster. It looks the same way that It did when it rolled off the showroom floor in 1976. The car has been fully restored, including its paint job and upholstery. Only 2,000 Rolls Royce’s were built in 1976. The gentlemen at Charles Agapiou, LTD. in West Hollywood told me that there might have been a couple more produced with the same color palette, but through all of my online searches, I can’t find a single one. So I wanted to put this pristine beauty on full blast for your viewing pleasure.

If you happen to see this beauty rolling around the streets of LA or Beverly Hills, be sure to wave and say hi to the owner. She will absolutely love it!

Melanie Engle and Coco, aka Malibupom, 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, Beverly Hills, Ca., Photo Romi Cortier

Romi Cortier and Coco, aka Malibupom, Beverly Hills, Ca., Photo Melanie Engle

Art, Automotive

Delahaye’s at Peterson Automotive Museum

January 25, 2016 romicortier@yahoo.com 1 Comment

1938 Delahaye, Type 135M, (Collection of the Mullin Automotive Museum) Peterson Automotive Museum, Photo Romi Cortier

1953 Delahaye, Type 178m (The Margie and Robert E. Petersen Collection) Petersen Automotive Museum, Photo Romi Cortier

1939 Delahaye, Type 165, (Mullin & Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation) Petersen Automotive Museum, Photo Romi Cortier

1939 Delahaye, (Mullin & Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation) Peterson Automotive Museum, Photo Romi Cortier — 1939 Delahaye, Type 165, (Mullin & Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation) Peterson Automotive Museum, Photo Romi Cortier

The Delahaye is the epitome of Art Deco on wheels, particularly the two models shown above from the late 1930’s. Those voluptuous fenders known as the French curve reflected the periods fascination with flight, strongly resembling the fairings on the wheels of Rene Couzinet’s Rainbow Plane.

Rene Couzinet's Rainbow Plane, Image Courtesy Dieselpunks.org — Rene Couzinet’s Rainbow Plane, Image Courtesy Dieselpunks.org

Emile Delahaye founded his automotive manufacturing company in France in 1894, creating vehicles for 60 years until they closed their doors in 1954. It’s remarkable that a company could produce such stunning cars for over half a century, and yet be unknown to the general public by the turn of the millennium. It seems the French government levied punitive taxes aimed at luxurious non-essential products after World War II, making life very difficult for all luxury auto-makers in France. Thus most Delehaye autos were allocated for export to French colonies, including those in Africa. The exception to the rule being military vehicles, which they also produced. During the early 1950’s a jeep-like vehicle known as the VLRD was created to compete with the ‘traditional’ American jeep built during the same period…. we all know how that turned out. By the way, the American Jeep was founded in 1941 and has continued to be a strong brand for 75 years, with a little government help during the great recession of 2008.

As I’ve mentioned before, Art Deco is the celebration of speed and joyous movement, particularly in regards to planes, trains and automobiles. The stunning red Delahaye above personifies art deco, and if I were to place money on the one car in the museums collection that could have inspired the exterior of the new Peterson, this would be the car. The bold candy apple red color combined with voluptuous curves and strong visceral bands of chrome, make a strong argument for the sexy exterior of the museum.

The Peterson Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, Photo Romi Cortier

Check out this great video I found with British sex symbol Diana Dors, posing with her Delahaye, as well as footage that lets you hear how amazing this car sounded.

Art, Automotive

Precious Metal at the Peterson Automotive Museum

January 19, 2016 romicortier@yahoo.com Leave a comment

1938 Hispano-Suiza, Dubonnet Xenia, Peterson Automotive Museum, (Collection of the Mullin & Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation) Photo Romi Cortier

1933 Duesenberg, Model SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan, (The Nethercutt Collection) Photo Romi Cortier

1937 Horch, 853 Sport Cabriolet, (Collection of Robert M. Lee Trust) Photo Romi Cortier

1937 Horch, 853 Sport Cabriolet, (Collection of Robert M. Lee Trust) Photo Romi Cortier

1937 Horch, 853 Sport Cabriolet, Peterson Automotive Museum, (Collection of Robert M. Lee Trust) Photo Romi Cortier

Precious Metal at The Peterson Automotive Museum is a special exhibit focusing on the luxurious use of silver for the creme de la creme of cars. These gorgeous beauties above were my favorites of their collection.

The 1938 Hispano-Suiza was custom built by Andre Dubonnet, heir to the Dubonnet aperitif fortune. Dubonnet, a French flying ace and race car driver, built this to showcase a new suspension of his own design called the Xenia. The avant-garde tear drop body was designed by Jacques Saoutchik and features an aircraft inspired interior. I must point out how stunning the chrome tipped exhaust is, as well as the hinged drivers door windows that open outwards.

The 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan was an extraordinary car for it’s time, and has undoubtedly withstood the test of time. Built for the 1933 Century of Progress exposition with the sole goal of outclassing every other car then available, it featured sleek Rollston coachwork with a staggering price of $20,000 at the height of the Great Depression. Todays equivalent would be a price point of $359,000. That said, current auction records put this stunner at a value of about $1,410,000. If you had ‘Twenty Grand’ in 1933, this would have been a great return on your investment.

The 1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck has to be one of the sexiest, and also one of the most elegant cars of it’s era. Its proportions are both streamlined and voluptuous with extraordinary chrome details. Horch merged with DKW, WAnderer and Audi in 1932 to form the Auto Union conglomerate, whose four-ring emblem can be seen on both this car, as well as the modern Audi.

My next post will feature the glamorous Delahaye’s of the Peterson, more elegant cars from the late 1930’s.

Precious Metal at the Peterson Automotive Museum

Where Art Inspires Beauty

Tag Archives: Automotive

Car sitting a 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

Delahaye’s at Peterson Automotive Museum

Precious Metal at the Peterson Automotive Museum

A Design Diary by Romi Cortier