History Vintage Products and Design . . . What Compares Today ???

Yah know . . . I just really love the look, feel and style of vintage designs, packaging, lettering, etc.. I'm nostalgic for the beauty and simplicity of the past . . . yet it seems so rare to see it done today. Where has the art and design gone?

I was thinking this evening - look at a product like this mid-40's Eddie Meyer manifold . . . have you ever seen anything even close to it? Talk about form, function and beauty . . . nothing close today.


How about the good ole Harman Collins Magnetos . . . does MSD make anything that looks and feels as nice?


Or maybe one of the Holy Grail of parts - an Ardun set of heads . . . anybody seen a set of valve covers that looks that good??





I don't know . . . but where has all the beauty of design gone . . .

B&S

 

A lot of stuff from way back had a lot of effort put into the aesthetics of the product, but a lot of it fell to the wayside in favor of streamlined manufacturing (read: cost-cutting) and quantity over quality. BTW, that manifold is a work of art!

 

I agree with the cost cutting ruining the aesthetics of parts manufacturing. I have a lathe that was manufactured about 1898 by American Tool Works. They had bought out another lathe manufacture shortly before and used the old design only changing the name. The lathe has some ornate style to it where the gear change box is. Only a couple years later the design was changed to a totally utilitarian look, I am sure to cut costs. The art of casting was at an all time high right after WWII and a lot of people knew the trades, something lost today. Try to find a pattern maker. With the advent of CNC machines and CAD design everything is done in circle, block, or straight lines losing the organic feel of the parts.

 

Yes - it must be that we're so worried about costs and mass production, that we've lost our ability to have beautiful as well as functional designs. I am a big fan of 3D CAD and CNC machines - but very few people design CAD models with nice flowing surfaces . . . all blended together (myself included). Hell, if somebody tried to do that Eddie Meyer manifold in 3D CAD - they'd have one HELL of a time with it and the design time would be WAY too high for Management to put up with it!

Guess I'll always love the traditional stuff - for these very reasons.

 

As both a CNC machinist and manual, the CNC stuff has no heart. It has no nice hand blended corners and polished surfaces

 

everything was cooler back in the old days. look at these fricken door hinges! these were not just for rich people.

 

You could buy an entire house filled with stuff like that. That is, the entire house, from Sears, Roebuck. From the roof, siding, windows, beams, joists, and yes, hinges. A "kit",

 

The word is " craftsmanship". It's still around but it seems like there was more pride in craftsmanship and design "back then". I still don't understand why people freak out about the " design" of an iPhone. It's a rectangular silver box with glass!?!? Add some fins to it or something.

 

Nice looking valve cover!

 

It didn't have to have the fins. It didn't have to look cool but someone who gave a shit put some love into it.

 

Agreed! I have a fetish for vintage packaging!!

 

Parts that were cast back then were initially made by hand. Someone had to physically make a pattern and they put their spin on it. Not that people don't take pride in their designs today but, they were artists back then. Now everything is drawn and cut out by machine so a straight line is the shortest distance. A CNC machine doesn't have a soul.

 

Just like the old catalogs and magazines filled with line art drawings and artist depictions. Sure, pics are better, but I miss the old catalogs like JC Whitney with all the line art. I have one of those old reproductions of a 1900 Sears catalog, it's fun to look at the line art, the descriptions, the prices!

 

I have heard this same thing before, about design not being what it used to be. The whole argument reminds me of how people say the same thing about music. Good design and good music are out there, there are people creating mind blowing art today, just like they did years ago. People didn't forget how to play instruments and make music, just like designers haven't forgot how to create beautiful products. The stuff is out there, but your not looking for it anymore. With technology advancing at an incredible rate, the tools available for designers is ever increasing and designers are using new technology to create some incredible stuff. Most people have a idealistic version of the past, its not like evey product back in the day was a piece of art, there was poorly designed products back then, just like there is now. Here is just 1 example of something cool being done by a designer today...have you ever seen a prosthetic limb look so damn cool? Do you want a 50's vintage prosthetic leg after seeing this?

 

I didnt know a man could fall in love with a valve cover.... But I just did. Who made that thing?

 

Look at some motorcycles from before the Japanese invasion. American, English, German, each had their own distinct aesthetic yet each treated the engine and the whole machine as combination of form and function. They all had their own underlying design philosophy both in appearance and performance.

 

I'm an Industrial Designer, and the firm I work at creates and develops products for all kinds of industries. While I love objects from the past, I also am aware of a lot of really great design currently being done. I think it is easier to be nostalgic about the past than aware of the present. Here are some present designs I like.

 

To me the above pictured designs(with the exception of the table) prove the point! They are cold antiseptic and hard cornered computer generated pieces. They lack warmth, depth, and and the intrinsic feel of a well crafted piece.

There are still some extremely well crafted items being built, just not in the automotive world. The new Rigby professional grade rifles for example are beautiful and functional while being built in a modern way. Just damn expensive.

 

We don't use computers to generate the initial design concept. The styling is based on the designer's vision, and what he/she wants to accomplish thru hand sketches, computer renderings and hand made or computer models. Hard edges and curved forms are just part of the current design trend. Eventually these trends will change and people will wax nostalgic for them as well.

 

Blame it on CAD and FEA finite element analysis.

Today we can simulate how strong a part needs to be, and model it up. Years ago, everything was built extra strong because there was no way to reliably predict failure modes. Also you had draftsman with pencils, today you have modelers with a mouse.

I'm a mechanical engineer and have spent years with fabricators validating process control plans mainly for cost. I still find some beatifully modeled parts that pretty much can't be built, or cost too much due to modeler not having any shop experience. I'll sit with the modeler and ask, tell me what is the first, second etc piece that goes into this assembly. We usually don't get past 3 or 4 parts before there's an issue with weld access, print datum misalignment, or the part has to be flipped. I'll just ask, what's your plan to tool that up when your datum structure doesn't come into play until the 3rd part of your assembly plan.

 

Alot is related to the modern lean manufacturing, every little bit of material has a cost in a large volume. Visited the GM Tonawanda plant several years ago, in the old section built in 1937 there were fire hose racks which were very ornate works of art, then you went into the new section and the modern versions looked like plain bent strap stock painted red.

 

Dale I get exactly what your saying and I do agree with what you have said and I agree where are the chrome bumpers and style in body lines take a 59 and a 60 Chevy for example the 59 had classy flowing body lines and a 60 was all squared off at least there are some folks who still have a vision for vintage parts with class and style here is a perfect example of it

 

Problem is you won't pay the cost to have that industrial design, superior materials and hand labor performed. How many of your tools is from Harbor Freight or used? I try to find used.

An ounce of gold and was worth $40 in 1951. Todays gold price is $1100. A beautiful South Bend Lathe that cost $4000 in 1951 cost $110,000 in today's money. $1000 in 1951 is $27,500 in 2015. AND don't forget to add in the Taxes/OSHA/Gov regs/Insurance/Lawyers of 2015 vs 1951 a company faces. Not possible for the mass market today.

 

Not everything in the past had soft curved edges. There are plenty of products that had hard edges, straight lines, and square corners.

Your issue is really with the computer renderings. Still tough to make a computer generated image feel as "real" as a photograph. That razor looks like it has some nice curves and flowing lines to it, and the trailer on the toy truck is similar to something that would've been available in the 40's or 50's.

 

You kind of missed the point I was trying to make.

The black plastic razor does not have the feel of a nice wood handled one. I am sure you could get a nicely made Woden handled razor if you wanted one. But it wouldn't be cheap. Same goes for most things. Quality and craftsmanship is not dead, it is just not cheap.

Take boots for example, hand made quality boots are out there. I have two pair. One pair is on its fifth set of soles and are 16 years old. They don't leak and still fit like a glove. But they were not cheap.

I am sure there was cheap ugly junk built in the past, things is it probably didn't last long enough for us to become nostalgic about.

 

Good lord, Mr. Ford, before Henry came along automobiles were largely hand built and extremely expensive. Beautiful, with brass and wood and leather and all the rest of it. Had to hire a driver/mechanic. Henry took the hand-fitted nature of assembly away and standardized the parts and interchangeability, streamlining the process and making transportation average people could afford.

Probably all the right people were suitably outraged, their ideological descendants are still around yet today, only they want to cram everyone onto buses or bicycles. "Personal" transportation is for me, not for thee, you see.

 

The T was kind of ugly, but the 32 Ford, and even more the 33, are works of art. It all went downhill from there.

 

I am learning pattern making and developing products...................I need to learn so much more and the folks that did it 20-40-60 years ago rule!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And they did it without solid works or CAD.

 

Good for you man I spend more time chatting with the old guys trying my best to absorb the vast amount of info and skills they have if were not for those guys we wouldn't have the history we have I for one am always trying to learn more old skills than try to Learn new ones believe it or not the machinist or pattern maker or sandcaster folk are hard to come by these days seems like everyone can run a cnc machine but most of those folks can't even turn on a manual lathe or mill let alone make precision parts on one, granted cnc has its place but it's not for everyone and those quality hand made parts do cost more but those who get it will pay for it