Bugatti (photo: Andre Ritzinger, creative commons license)

Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts is hosting an exhibit on many Americans’ (mine!) favorite items of unrepentant and innocent lust: “Sculpted in Steel: Art Deco Automobiles and Motorcycles, 1929-1940,” on view until May 30 (vimeo gallery tour).

(Houston MFAH)

The iconic motor cars and cycles developed during that decade embody design that “dazzles in vehicles from the United States and around the world” and puts to shame the boring, all-the-same cars of recent decades. Yes, anyone with a sense of automotive history or who remembers pix of their grandparents’ cars can immediately spot a 1957 Chevy—fins!—or the starry rear end of a 1959 Pontiac, but the cars of the 1990s and 2000s?

In Katherine Allen’s January 2016 article about the exhibit in Metropolis, “The Age of Decadent Driving,” she points out that the exhibit’s cars’ Art Deco sensibility was not created by post-WWI machine technology, but “painstakingly created by artisans,” infusing everything “from the hood ornaments to the instrument panels.”

Stout Scarab (photo: Dave, creative commons license)

See the Stout Scarab and cheer!

(P.S., the fantastic cars are just one reason to love Hulu’s production of 11.22.63. Jake Epping himself drives a sexy 1958 yellow Ford Fairlane convertible.)

(photo: Vicki Weisfeld)

Think of Dayton, Ohio, and you probably think of the Wright Brothers and latter-day U.S. Air Force resources, but it also contains a unique tribute to the automobile. “America’s Packard Museum,” located a short distance from downtown, displays an impressive collection of more than 50 classic cars from the Packard Motor Car Company. The company began producing true luxury vehicles in the early 1900s, with models that cost more than the average price of a home in those days.

(photo: Vicki Weisfeld)

The museum’s restored cars are beauties even now. I especially liked the yellow model pictured, which offered its passengers a literal “trunk.” James and William Packard weren’t fussy about body design. Customers could purchase their chassis and engine and add their own custom-designed body. One model in the museum had a French-designed body, for example.

During the Depression, the company began producing a more moderately priced line, as well as its luxury models, which in the long run diminished its reputation as an exclusive brand. During the early 1940s, the company gave over total production to the war effort, building aircraft and marine engines. When automobile production resumed, the luxury and lower-priced, lower-profit models were too difficult to distinguish, further diluting its reputation as a high-end manufacturer.

(photo: Vicki Weisfeld)

Two of the “Caribbean” luxury convertible models, produced from 1953 to 1956, are shown in the photo at left. The museum includes a gorgeous mid-century red convertible once owned by Perry Como. According to the docents, a recent visitor said, “Oh. He’s the governor of New York.” No, you’re probably thinking of his dad.

You can easily spend an hour examining the wide whitewall tires, the perfect paint jobs, the leather interiors, and real chrome details of these cars. The volunteer docents are full of information and affection for the collection. It’s easy to see why.

Appropriately enough, this award-winning museum is located in Dayton’s old Packard dealership, built in 1917. Emblazoned on the wall is the company motto—created when the company president was too harried to talk to reporters about his cars—“Ask the man who owns one.” Packard merged with the Studebaker company in the early 1950s, absorbing a boatload of Studebaker debt, and produced its last vehicle in 1959.

Your Travel Circles:

• You’re only an hour from Dayton when you’re in Cincinnati (54 mi) or Columbus (71)
• About two hours away when you’re in Indianapolis (117) or Louisville (155)
• Just over three hours away when you’re in Detroit (209) or Cleveland (211)

(photo: Vicki Weisfeld)