Home Ā» Car Brochure People Sure Loved This Old Dead French Artist: Cold Start

Car Brochure People Sure Loved This Old Dead French Artist: Cold Start

Cs Wadejagrousseau
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At the Autopian One Year Anniversary car meetup at Porsche Santa Clarita this past Saturday, so so many cars and people showed up, it was absolutely astounding and humbling. And, sure, maybe they came, along with that helicopter, more for the huge Cars and Coffee and the big Porsche meetup, but still, itĀ feltĀ like thousands of people came to see us. And one of those people was an Autopian member named Wade to drove his Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas class-mobile all the way up from around San Diego, and showed me this amazing brochure. Part of why it’s amazing is because, somehow, it references an old French artist that carmakers like Renault seem to love, too.

Yes, that Jaguar brochure sure seems to be inspired by the works of Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), who made paintings that look like this:

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Cs Russeau

That’sĀ Exotic LandscapeĀ from 1910, and you can see its influences in both that Jag brochure and this 1983 Renault ad:

Cs Rodeo Rousseau

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Here’s the Jaguar ad, larger:

Cs Jagrousseau

How is it that this painter of fanciful, imagined, and exuberant jungles somehow comes upĀ more than onceĀ for carmaker advertising? Rousseau had been dead over 70 years by the time these ads came out, and I don’t recall a huge spike in Rousseau interest in the 1980s. Maybe there was? I was a dumb kid playing Atari Pac-Man, so it’s possible my finger wasn’t exactly on the pulse in that era.

Still, thank you for coming all the way out, Wade!

We’ll have more from the meetup soon! Until then, here’s a taste:

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…okay, one more:

 

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Morgan van Humbeck
Morgan van Humbeck
11 months ago

It’s so great that you guys get to guide your own destiny. It’s hard to imagine how amazing Autopian will become as the years progress. You humans are the best. Keep not kink shaming

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
11 months ago

Finally, one year! Now you can go out and get some jobs and pay your own damn way. Maybe a paper route, lawn mowing, baby sitting. Or if you wait another six months you would be old enough to get a gig working for Hyundai in Alabama.

Kids these days. They don’t even try…

Alec Weinstein
Alec Weinstein
11 months ago

Fun show! Hopefully I won’t run out of gas a block away at the next one.

Dead Elvis, Inc.
Dead Elvis, Inc.
11 months ago

It’s been a while since I’ve seen him in a photo, but I thought that was the estimable Graverobber at first glance.

Poaching him from the Herb would be a good thing.

Torque
Torque
11 months ago

1st congratulations on Autopian’s 1st anniversary to Beau, Torch & David, Cheers to many more to come!

Re: 1st video @Torch…
Who is Ferdinand “Pike” :-), living in the US I’m kind of surprised I’ve never heard someone pronounce it that way…
of course I suspect that has more to do with the fact that the Piech family regardless of their powerful position in the auto world are still relatively unknown to the average American

Last edited 11 months ago by Torque
Jonee Eisen
Jonee Eisen
11 months ago

I do seem to remember Rousseau posters being a thing back in the 80’s. Before dorm rooms switched to Klimt.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
11 months ago
Reply to  Jonee Eisen

We were pretty quiet students, we have Rothko posters.

Nlpnt
Nlpnt
11 months ago

That is some pure uncut Torch on the Twitter vid.

OrigamiSensei
OrigamiSensei
11 months ago

This is Wade with the Jag. What a great day! It was genuinely a pleasure to meet you and David and Beau. I’m glad you got to see the brochure; I had a feeling it might provide some Cold Start fodder after your previous Rousseau feature.

The ’64 VW Bug you featured in the video was just perfect. I was talking to the owner for a bit, especially about the trailer. The dual mount to the rear and using the pivot wheel for turns is quite unusual for automotive usage, although I’ve seen similar things for bicycle/motorcycle applications. One of the owner’s concerns is that replacement rear wheels are unobtanium.

10001010
10001010
11 months ago

Has it really been a year already? It only feels like 6 mos max.

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
11 months ago
Reply to  10001010

No its been 113 years, he died in 1910.

SAABstory
SAABstory
11 months ago

Congrats on the year. I’ve totally enjoyed it.

I’m shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, that Torch talked minutia about Beetle lighting.

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