Friday Moment of Zen

The carrozzerie of the 60s and 70s had a certain formula for publicity photos.  Usually the car was parked in a gravel quarry or in front of a modernist building and a chick in an outlandish outfit is draped over the car. Here is an example par excellence submitted by our friend Off Camber.

The car is the 1969 Ferrari 512S Berlinetta Speciale by Pininfarina.

Comments

[Auntie Loch-Braiques]

You might risk offending 52% of the population by using the word "Chick". Why take that chance? Some of them might be thinking of buying Autodromo watches for Xmas presents.

[E Seoane]

I seemed to remember it was *not* a period publicity pic, but part of a series on Pininfarina showcars done later by someone else... I don't think Pininfarina would have approved these for general consumption!

Indeed, a quick Google Images search shows that it was was taken by Rainer Schlegelmilch in 1979 - not so much later time-wise, but definitely a whole age later in terms of what was considered permissible and what was not. You can see the whole series on the 512S (and others) in Getty Images.

On the other hand, I feel German car photography has always had more risqué themes than the rest.

[Bradley Price]

Thanks for that info! I am familiar with Schlegelmilch's work. I did find it odd that this car is shown in a gravel pit, since that is usually where Bertone did their official shots (there is a gravel pit down the road from the Bertone studios, a friend who worked there told me). That would mean the car was about 10 years old when the photo in question was taken. On the counterpoint, Pininfarina had to have approved these photos since they lent the car for the shoot!

[E Seoane]

You are most welcome.

Good point about the gravel pit, although who knows whether it is indeed the same! Maybe you could ask Mr S? A feature on the photo session in itself would be very nice indeed..

Regarding permission by Pininfarina - well, obviously they lent the cars but that does not mean that these images were *necessarily* going to circulate very widely. They could have been an assignment, say, for a book (maybe they appear in one by Mr S.?), or even a catalogue for a manufacturer of kinky-ish clothes or whatever. And as much as we love the 512 S, in 1979 it was very much yesterday's news.

What I meant was that this kind of photo material wouldn't have been commissioned by Pininfarina for the general public (including car journos and the PR stuff they receive).

Incidentally - in Italy at least PR photography by Bertone, Alfa Romeo etc used to be in b&w, right?

[nikky]

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