Style vs Substance - was 'you can't go home again'

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Mike Cosgrove renders his observations of Steve McQueen in the movie "Le
Mans" in #1172: "The occasional 33/3 zipped across the screen chasing
all the 917's and 512's. What an era that was!  The rest of the movie,
however, bordered on being a howler!  What a difference 30 years makes.
Did we really think hair like that was attractive, let alone sexy?"

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As far as I'm concerned Le Mans had to be made. In 1971 (or so) when it
was being filmed I lusted after a friend's neighbor who lived with her
parents. Yes, she was old enough. Dad was a major league make-up artist
and fortunately took his wife / (her) mom with him to do make-up for 'Le
Mans'. This left the nubile daughter home alone, etc., etc.

Moving along, the 70's styles sucked about as much as any decade's. I
used to say that flared pants were the stupidest thing ever
invented...as I bought another pair. I was right and yet they have made
sort of a comeback. Waiting for the live goldfish in the clear plastic
of the platform shoes to emerge anytime soon.

I personally think Steve McQueen was the coolest guy ever. Still
remember standing on Sunset with friends watching 'Steve' motor down the
Boulevard in his British Racing Green Land Rover  towing his matching
BRG Lotus Formula Jr.

Not trying to make excuses for the admitted weaknesses in Le Mans' story
line, but it is difficult to show exciting race sequences, have a viable
story line, and have them work together seamlessly.

Still, it was a darn good effort. Yeah, I have the video and watch it
every few years and probably cringe at the same places you guys made
rude remarks to get the 'girls' laughing.

The 30's weren't noted as being particularly innovative style wise, but
should you be fortunate to have the book "Style 1930" (by Klaus-Jurgen
Sembach), you might change your mind. Obviously it has strong German
influences. While they might not be your particular style, the
Panhard-Levassor 'motor car' across from a George Hoyniningen-Huene
fashion photograph for Vogue, Paris, 1934 are just about (in my opinion)
as elegant and stylistic as ever produced, before or since. A few pages
later they show the (1929) Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier chairs
which are as popular as ever (in some circles).

If you walked into the smoking room of the LZ 129 - Hindenburg (a bit
difficult to do), one would find cutting edge chairs along with graphics
of various airships on the walls.

We all know how well the Osso di Seppia was received when first shown
(token Alfa content). So which Series, 1 thru 4, goes for the biggest
bucks?

When Tom Sahines and his friend / client Joel stopped by on the way to
the National Convention, Joel immediately went towards the 1960
Giulietta Spider and declared, "That's what a real Alfa should look
like!" (Joel won Class 9: 1960's GTV at the Alfiesta Concours).

Yeah, this is a big stretch, but let's let 'Le Mans' simmer for a few
more decades. Possibly (but probably not) it just might hold up better
than expected.

As a kid I used to laugh at the photos which showed the hairstyles and
clothes on my folks and their friends from the 20's and 30's. Now I
think they're all quite elegant.

Won't say the obvious, but it ends in '...comes around'.

Biba
Irwindale, CA USA

Just interrupted myself to go fetch the mail. I returned a letter found
on the ground to some Eastern European guys across the way. Noticed on
the way out of their office a reproduction drawing of, yeah, who else,
Steve McQueen. Cool is cool. True style is everlasting.
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