Re: <VV> FC coffee table book: my 2¢

[Rad Davis]

I'll agree that GM publicity photos and artwork are both distinctively and 
generally well composed.  Having said that, they have some disadvantages:

1) they're copyrighted.  We have to get explicit permission from GM for the 
use of them.
2) GM/Campbell-Ewald wasn't especially careful about year-to-year variation 
in publicity shots when there was not a night-and day difference.  They 
also often used styling buck or prototype and pilot vehicles as photo 
subjects, which may, or may not be visually identical to the car as 
produced.  I'm pretty sure, for instance, that there are publicity shots of 
the '66 car that show the badge on the trunklid, the wrong color trunklid 
latch bar, etc, and I seem to recall that there's at least one publicity 
photo that shows the '65 Monza Spyder, but I may be imagining it.
3) we need press-quality prints, which usually means prints from the 
negative. Pictures from brochures tend to be pretty grungy looking when 
reprinted full size and have decidedly strange color rendition.

This is not to say that I don't want to use their material--I was planning 
on using a good bit of it! But I don't think it's a good choice of primary 
reference without some reality checking.

Luckily, there are relatively few model-year differences over the four-year 
run of FCs, and they are pretty easy to track and verify.  It is an easy 
matter to get each of the door badges right, for instance.

-Rad Davis

At 10:27 AM 12/15/2005 -0500, Wrsssatty at aol.com wrote:
>O.K.  I'll put in my 2¢ (that's the little symbol for "cents" in case it gets
>lost in translation).  I'd be interested in purchasing such a book if it's
>done right.  For instance, I'd like to become well versed in spotting and
>identifying the FC models.  I can't tell a '61 from a '65 and am unsure 
>which is a
>95, etc.  For that reason I would much prefer the use of vintage GM 
>photographs
>rather than modern photos of possibly modified vehicles.  This would help us
>see what's stock.  Many of the old GM photos were very artistically done and,
>seen through today's eyes, have a campy quality that only adds to their
>appeal.  Sure there might be some copyright issues to be dealt with but 
>that's not
>insurmountable.
>
>~Bill Stanley

__________________________________________________________________________
Rad Davis:                                        rad.davis at comcast.net
Corvairs--65, 66 Corsa coupes, '65 'brier Deluxe   http://www.corvair.org/
Keeper of the Forward Control Corvair Primer: 
http://www.mindspring.com/~corvair/fc1.html
"We did Nebraska in seven minutes today. I think that's probably the best 
way to do Nebraska."                            --Brian Shul, _Sled Driver_