Cars, New York City (1974-1976)
In the 70s, photographer Langdon Clay took photos of cars parked on NYC streets at night and compiled them into a project: Cars, New York City | 1974-1976.
Using his Leica CL, Kodachrome 25, and a 40 millimeter lens, Clay traversed the streets of 1970’s Manhattan finding automobiles that paralleled their environment. The cinematic images are a result of time exposure, sodium vapor street lights, and the tenacity of youth.
Luc Sante wrote about Clay’s car photographs for the New Yorker:
One of the things that used to make America so distinctive was its cars. If you lived there, you would really have to go abroad for a while and then come back to appreciate the difference. In most countries of the world, cars were modest things, little bean-shaped units designed to take two or three people from here to there. In America, cars were real estate. They were enormous boats in which you could eat, sleep, make love, change clothes, throw parties, maintain an office, practice unlicensed dentistry—or take your six best friends out for a spin. They were a testament to America’s unlimited natural resources: oil, steel, rubber, naugahyde, and, above all, space. American cars could be so huge because the nation’s highways were endless, its city streets were wide, and there was abundant free parking everywhere you went. And that included New York City then, since most of its population took the subway.
A 2016 book featuring these images is out of print, but you can find copies for several hundred dollars. (via atlas obscura)
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Drool. This is my kind of photo book. Cars and lamps are what I'm watching old movies and TV shows for.
That White Castle looks like I imagine the diner in Nirvana by Bukowski does.
As a dotard, I grew up driving this vintage. And yes, they were gorgeous in a way lost to wind tunnel sculpting, profit margins, mileage issues, etc.
But then I'm recently watching a TV show from the 70s and suddenly, these rolling sculptures look flimsy in an unsafe way. So I'm left loving them aesthetically, wanting to drive one again nah.
But yeah, still breath taking.
Many years ago, I bought this book on a whim. I think I found it at Prospero's in KC. It wasn't nearly as expensive as it was now, but I do remember really having to think about whether I could afford it.
If anyone is considering buying it, I'll say: the book is gorgeous. The photos are beautifully printed with great colors and it's all printed at a nice large size. It's a very good coffee table book, partially for how unsuspecting the subject matter it is. It's simply old cars shot under the warm glow of old city lights.
I remember the impression I had on my first visit to NYC in the late 70s and thinking, man people here love their boats :D
There were still lots of beasts on the streets in Vancouver at that time but smaller Japanese vehicles were making inroads.
My second car was a used '69 Pontiac Parisienne and I drove that into the 80s! A beauty, many long road trips.
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