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diff --git a/drafts/2022-01-10-gatsby's-ride.md b/drafts/2022-01-10-gatsby's-ride.md index b3aae31..6bc3d77 100644 --- a/drafts/2022-01-10-gatsby's-ride.md +++ b/drafts/2022-01-10-gatsby's-ride.md @@ -1,19 +1,22 @@ <h1>Gatsby's Ride</h1> -It's 2022 now, and Jay Gatsby lived and died 100 years ago. I first read F. -Scott Fitzgerald's classic _The Great Gatsby_ in high school, right before the -2013 film with Leonardo DiCaprio came out. It was one of the few "school books" -that my friends and I were actually really into. It was fun having the film -trailers to help visualize what we were reading. As a car guy, one of the -attractions of the story was the time period and, more specifically, its cars. - -The characters drive a variety of classics from the early teens and twenties. -Gatsby's car plays an important role in the plot (which I won't spoil but come -on, it's only been around longer than you or I have). But I find the car's +It's almost the end of 2022. That means Jay Gatsby lived and died 100 years ago +within F. Scott Fitzgerald's _The Great Gatsby_. I first read the roaring +twenties classic in high school, right before the 2013 film with Leonardo +DiCaprio came out. It was one of the only reading assignments that my friend +group really enjoyed. It was fun having the film trailers to help visualize what +we were reading. As a historic vehicle enthusiast, one of the attractions of the +story was the time period and, more specifically, its cars. + +The characters drive a variety of classics from the late teens and early +twenties. Gatsby's car plays an important role in the plot (which I won't spoil +but come on, it's been around longer than you or I have). But I find this car's description and its recreation in film over the years to be wildly different and fascinating. So let's take a closer look at Gatsby's ride. -This is what Fitzgerald has to say about Gatsby's car: +## Rolls-Royce _40/50_: the novel + +This is what Fitzgerald has to say about Gatsby's car through Nick: > I'd seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with > nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant @@ -21,16 +24,89 @@ This is what Fitzgerald has to say about Gatsby's car: > windshields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of > glass in a sort of green leather conservatory we started to town. +What an awesome description. And it's exactly what you'd expect from cars of the +rich and famous from the early to mid twenties: nickel plating, multiple +windshields or even cowls, probably open-air, and lots of accessory boxes. This +is the first time the car is mentioned and the only time it's described as +"cream-colored." The rest of the small snippets throughout describe it as a +topless car with yellow paint and green leather upholstery. + +> ‘Shall we all go in my car?’ suggested Gatsby. He felt the hot, green leather +> of the seat. ‘I ought to have left it in the shade...’ + > 'It was a yellow car,' he said, 'big yellow car. New... No, but the car passed > me down the road, going faster'n forty. Going fifty, sixty.' -There's not much more to go on except the color is repeated a few times. What an -awesome description. And it's exactly what you'd expect from cars of the rich -and famous from the early to mid twenties: nickel plating, multiple windshields, -probably open-air, lots of accessory boxes, and Gatsby's trademark flamboyant -colors. And it's fast (your typical Model T Ford topped out at about 40-45 MPH). +There's not much more to go on except the color is repeated a few more times. +And it's fast, considering your typical Model T Ford topped out at about 40-45 +MPH. We also get a brief description of two of Gatsby's cars, one of which has a +specific make and model. -<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZgAf9AuNc6Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> +> On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from +> the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his sta- +> tion wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. + +It's not surprising that a millionaire bootlegger like Gatsby has more than one +car. The first is a Rolls-Royce, the typecast rich man's car. The other, a +station wagon, is literally used as a depot shuttle for party guests. We can +safely assume that the station wagon is not Gatsby's personal car being used to +shuttle guests around, even though it's also colored yellow. If these are the +only two cars Gatsby owns, then the Rolls must be the cream-colored "circus +wagon", although more likely than not Gatsby has more than just a couple of cars +in his garage. + +Assuming it is a new model, top-of-the-line Rolls-Royce, Gatsby was most likely +driving around in a yellow Rolls-Royce _40/50_, produced from late 1906 to 1926. +Starting in 1908 it was the only model produced by Rolls during this time until +the introduction of the smaller, cheaper _22_ in 1922. The engine and chassis +remained mostly unchanged but the body style varied somewhat as years went by, +becoming sleeker and more streamlined. + + + +Coincidentally, by 1922 the _40/50_ sales were languishing compared to newer, +faster automobiles being produced by Rolls' competitors. The description of the +car certainly fits however, with the nickel-plated grill and accessories, +dual-cowl touring bodies, and leather upholstery. + +## Rolls-Royce Phantom: _The Great Gatsby (1974)_ + +Fast-forward to the early 1970s and film producers are sourcing props and +vehicles for another _The Great Gatsby_, this time starring Robert Redford.  + +## Model J Dusenberg: _The Great Gatsby (1946, 2013)_ + +A silent film was produced for Fitzgerald's book in 1926 but no known copies of +it exist. The earliest watchable adaptation was released in 1946. Now Gatsby +(Alan Ladd) was driving around in a supercharged Model J Dusenberg. + + + +The choice of a Dusenberg Model J was and continues to be an interesting one. +For one, the Model J wasn't produced until 1928. All chassis were produced +between 1928 and 1929 and then bodied and sold throughout the early 1930s during +the Depression. If you're concerned about historical accuracy, there's zero +chance of Gatsby driving a Model J in 1922. Heck, the novel itself was published +in 1926, two years prior to production. Couple that with the specific mention of +Rolls-Royce by name in the text, and it's a hard sell. + +If you're less concerned like me, however, this is a much more appropriate car +for Gatsby to drive. +  + +<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZgAf9AuNc6Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> + +Keep in mind this is a man who wears suits of silver and gold. His mansion is +not traditional; it's castle-like and filled with rowdy parties. He's West Egg, +he's "New Money", and he drives the millionaire-playboy's Dusenberg Model J. The +car for the rich man who wants to present as wealthy and popular, not +traditional and subdued. Gatsby is not chauffeured + +--- + +- [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost#History) +- [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby#Film) +- [3](https://jerrygarrett.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/secrets-of-the-great-gatsbys-fabulous-cars/) |