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diff --git a/posts/2022-12-02-gatsby's-ride.php b/posts/2022-12-02-gatsby's-ride.php new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19521b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2022-12-02-gatsby's-ride.php @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +<h1>Gatsby's Ride</h1> + +<p>It's almost the end of 2022. That means Jay Gatsby lived and died 100 years ago + within F. Scott Fitzgerald's <em>The Great Gatsby</em>. 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 class car enthusiast, one of the attractions of the story + was the time period and, more specifically, its cars.</p> + +<p>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). 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.</p> + +<h2>Rolls-Royce <em>40/50</em>: the novel</h2> + +<p>This is what Fitzgerald has to say about Gatsby's car through Nick:</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>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 + hatboxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of + windshields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of + glass in a sort of green leather conservatory we started to town.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>‘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...’</p> + + <p>'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.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> + <p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Assuming it is a new model, top-of-the-line Rolls-Royce, Gatsby was most likely + driving around in a yellow Rolls-Royce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost"><em>40/50 "Silver Ghost"</em></a>, 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 <em>22</em> in 1922. + The engine and chassis remained mostly unchanged but the body style varied + somewhat as years went by, becoming sleeker and more streamlined.</p> + +<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/1924_Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost_Labourdette_-_Flickr_-_edvvc.jpg/1920px-1924_Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost_Labourdette_-_Flickr_-_edvvc.jpg" alt="1920 chassis 40FW tourer" title="" /></p> + +<p>Coincidentally, by 1922 the <em>40/50</em> 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.</p> + +<h2>Rolls-Royce <em>Phantom</em>: <em>The Great Gatsby (1974)</em></h2> + +<p>Fast-forward to the early 1970s and film producers are sourcing props and + vehicles for <em>The Great Gatsby</em> (1974), this time starring Robert Redford. They + selected and repainted a slightly newer model Rolls, the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Phantom_I"><em>Phantom</em></a>. While + it wasn't a period correct choice, I certainly think the <em>Phantom</em> was a better + looking Rolls than the <em>Silver Ghost</em>.</p> + +<p>The <em>Phantom</em> was produced not just in England but also in Springfield, MA. A + new overhead valve engine was offered along with a three speed transmission and + a central lubrication system for U.S. customers.</p> + +<p><img src="https://www.imcdb.org/i003884.jpg" alt="Gatsby's Rolls" title="" /></p> + +<h2><em>Model J</em> Duesenberg: <em>The Great Gatsby (1946, 2013)</em></h2> + +<p>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. Gatsby (Alan + Ladd) was driving around in a supercharged <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duesenberg_Model_J"><em>Model J</em> Duesenberg</a>.</p> + +<p><img src="https://jerrygarrett.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/screen-shot-2013-04-03-at-7-03-37-pm.png" alt="The Great Gatsby (1949)" title="" /></p> + +<p>The choice of a Duesenberg <em>Model J</em> was and continues to be an interesting one. + For one, the <em>Model J</em> 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. The Duesenberg chassis were powered by straight eights with dual + overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. They were putting out over 250 + horsepower and capable of speeds of over 90 MPH. Later on in the 1930s they + would also be available supercharged.</p> + +<p><a href="https://jerrygarrett.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/secrets-of-the-great-gatsbys-fabulous-cars/">If you're concerned about historical accuracy</a>, there's zero chance of Gatsby + driving a <em>Model J</em> 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. First of all, + we're in a world of fiction. There's probably no such thing as T.J. Eckelberg or + Wilson's Garage in 1922 New York, so it sits fine with me that Gatsby would + drive something that looks and sounds like a Dusey. Second of all, it makes + sense for his character.</p> + +<p><img src="https://www.imcdb.org/i505296.jpg" alt="Gatsby's Duesenberg" title="" /></p> + +<p>The 2013 Baz Luhrmann film utilizes a replica supercharged Duesenberg which gets + a surprising amount of screen time. This movie actually sold the idea of Gatsby + driving a Duesenberg as character building. Gatsby is <em>new money</em>, as opposed to + Tom Buchanan's <em>old money</em>. Gatsby's non-traditional, no matter how hard he + tries to present himself as such. He's a bootlegger living in a castle-like + mansion with rowdy parties. He wears gold, silver, and pink suits. He wants to + <em>present</em> as wealthy, but he doesn't have generations of wealth and prestige + backing it up. So he emanates wealth like a young playboy millionaire. And what + did young playboy millionaires drive in the twenties and thirties? They didn't + drive the stuffy, English-built Rolls-Royces their fathers drove, with + horsepower quickly being surpassed by much more pedestrian vehicles. They drove + <em>Duesenbergs</em>. The most expensive, fastest cars in America. +</p> + +<p>Big, high-tech, with luxurious, even gaudy coach-built bodies. That's the kind + of car Gatsby should drive. And that's why I like seeing even a replica on + screen.</p> + +<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> |