Superb Photos of the Badass 1947 Norman Timbs Special
Constructed in Los Angeles by the acclaimed Indy 500 engineer Norman Timbs, the Norman Timbs Special stands as a one-of-a-kind vehicle. Timbs invested around $10,000 in its creation, a considerable amount for the period. Continue reading »
The Esquire Glamour Girl Calendar of 1948
Esquire magazine, when it debuted in 1933, was a precursor to Playboy in many respects. It featured substantial articles but was primarily purchased for its pin-up content. Unlike photographic nudes, Esquire’s pin-ups consisted of tantalizing glamour girl cartoons, initially created by George Petty. By 1939, these cartoons had evolved into double-page spreads, essentially pioneering the concept of the centerfold. Continue reading »
Amazing Cover Photos of the Startling Stories Magazine in the 1940s
Between the years 1939 to 1955, a remarkable American pulp science fiction magazine named ‘Startling Stories’ graced the shelves. Born out of the publishing house of Ned Pines’ Standard Magazines, this gem offered readers an escape into otherworldly tales. Under the keen editorial eyes of Mort Weisinger, who simultaneously handled ‘Thrilling Wonder Stories’, every issue of Startling was a gateway to another universe with its lead novel. Continue reading »
The Superb Minimalist Advertising Vintage Posters Designed by Peter Birkhäuser in the 1940s and ’50s
Born in Basel in 1911, Peter Birkhäuser left an indelible mark as a Swiss artist. His innovative canvas blended dream imagery with analytical psychology. Continue reading »
Customizing the 1940 Mercury: A Classic Car with Endless Possibilities
The 1940 Mercury is a classic car that has been widely appreciated for its unique design and customization potential. Introduced by Ford Motor Co. in 1939, the Mercury was positioned between the low-priced Ford V-8 and the luxurious Lincoln Zephyr V-12, filling the gap in the market for a mid-range vehicle. Continue reading »
1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt Concept Car Pictures
The Chrysler Thunderbolt concept automobile was a revolutionary design when it debuted in the 1950s. It was made of aluminum and featured a retractable, electrically powered hardtop roof, as well as concealed headlights and enclosed wheel wells with no A-pillars. Continue reading »
Beautiful Colorized Photos of a Young Queen Elizabeth II From the 1930s and 1940s
Elizabeth, Duchess of York (1900 – 2002), looking at her first child, future Queen, Princess Elizabeth. May 1926
Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Speaight/Hulton Archive—Getty Images
When Winston Churchill met a two-year-old princess, the future Queen Elizabeth II, in 1928, he observed in the child a remarkable quality. She had, the future Prime Minister said, an “air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant.” Continue reading »
Vintage Cover Photos of Popular Mechanics Magazine in the 1930s and ’40s
Popular Mechanics (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation of all types, space, tools and gadgets are commonly featured. Continue reading »
Life of the U.S in the Early 1940s Through Incredibly Colorized Photos
Tenant farmer and part of his family in field ready for tobacco planting. Nine miles north of Danville, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, circa 1935-42
Jack Delano (born Jacob Ovcharov; 1914–1997) was a Ukrainian immigrant who became an accomplished photographer for the Works Progress Administration, United Fund, and most notably, the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He wore many hats as he also was a composer known for his use of Puerto Rican folk material, started a television production company, and was a cartoonist, poet, moviemaker, professor, and architectural designer. Continue reading »
Rare and Fascinating Historical Photos of Pasta Production From the 1920s to 1950s
A worker hangs pasta to dry in a factory in Italy. 1932.
Bettmann/Getty Images/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis
Pasta is an integral part of Italy’s food history. Wherever Italians immigrated they have brought their pasta along, so much so that today it can be considered a staple of international cuisine. Continue reading »
Amazing Photos of the 1948 Panhard Dynavia
Before the end of World War II, French automaker Panhard et Levassor foresaw that post-war demand for their typically large and expensive cars would be limited and that a smaller less expensive model would be needed. Designer Louis Bionier began development of a small two-box “voiture populaire” (people’s car) that would be powered by engineer Louis Delagarde’s new air-cooled two-cylinder boxer engine driving the front wheels. Continue reading »
Amazing Old Photos that Capture the Everyday Life in New York City in The 1940s
Library of Congress/New York City Library/Wikimedia Commons/PBS
These incredible black and white photographs document everyday life in New York City in the 1940s and offer a glimpse into a long-gone era. From street peddlers selling fish or fresh ears of corn, to cars stalled under mounds of snow, scenes are both familiar and nostalgic. Continue reading »
Amazing Color Photographs Capture Sun Bathers on the Beach in Cannes, France in 1948
Cannes, resort city of the French Riviera, in Alpes-Maritimes department, Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur region, southeastern France. It lies southwest of Nice. Continue reading »
Atmospheric Photographs of France in the 1940s Through a German Soldier’s Lens
In 1940, France was invaded and quickly defeated by Nazi Germany. France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north, an Italian occupation zone in the southeast and an unoccupied territory, the rest of France, which consisted of the southern French metropolitan territory (two-fifths of pre-war metropolitan France) and the French empire, which included the two protectorates of French Tunisia and French Morocco, and French Algeria; the Vichy government, a newly established authoritarian regime collaborating with Germany, ruled the unoccupied territory. Free France, the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle, was set up in London. Continue reading »
Women Paint “Stockings” on Their Legs at a Store in Croydon, London, 1941
Wallace Carothers produced the first nylon fiber in 1935, but it was the 1939 World’s Fair that first introduced the nylon stocking to the public. It was marketed as a fabric made from “carbon, water and air.“ Cheap and durable, better in appearance than silk, nylon soon became the material of choice for manufacturing women’s stockings. Continue reading »
Vintage Family Photos of BMW Automobiles and Their Owners
A fellow experiencing tyre trouble with a BMW 3/15 PS on a gravel road in a forest in wintertime. The car is registered in the former German state of Oldenburg, circa 1930
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly referred to as BMW, is a German multinational corporate manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The corporation was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 until 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945. Continue reading »
Skirts and Saddle Shoes: Favorite Styles of ’40s Teenage Girls
The term ‘teenager’ was coined in 1941, and Seventeen magazine printed its first issue in 1944, showing off young teenager-targeted clothing and interests. It was a new market, one that was somewhere between girls and college-age young women. Continue reading »
Striking Photos Documented Life of African-Americans in Chicago’s South Side in 1941
The Great Migrations from 1910 to 1960 brought millions of African-Americans from the rural South to Chicago, where they became an urban population. The mass exodus radically transformed Chicago, both politically and culturally. Continue reading »
Cheerful Photos of Teenage Girls in the 1940s
Teenage girls living in the 1940s enjoyed an independence that would make many modern teen envious. They had been raised by parents and teachers who encouraged them to dress prettily so they could find a young man to marry, and to work a part-time job so they could buy expensive wedding china. Continue reading »
Amazing Vintage Photos of Postwar New York From 1945 to 1948
3rd Avenue from 42nd Street El Station, 1945
These stunning pictures of postwar New York were taken by Todd Webb, an American photographer notable for documenting everyday life and architecture in large cities as well as from the American west. He did various jobs before the war and began taking a serious interest in photography after attending a ten-day workshop with Ansel Adams as his teacher in 1940. During World War II, Webb was a photographer for the United States Navy and was deployed to the South Pacific theater of operations. Continue reading »
London During the Blitz Through Powerful Color Photos
A bus is laying inside a huge bomb crater in a London street after heavy German air raid bombing attacks during the Battle of Britain, October 15, 1940
Born 1912 in Evanston, Illinois, American photographer William Vandivert work for the Chicago Herald Examiner from 1935. He joined the Life magazine team in London in 1938 and was one of the few photographers who were working in color photography before the Second World War. Vandivert made color photo report in Paris in the summer of 1939. He was using Kodachrome. The following year he photographed in color the Blitz in London. Continue reading »
Candid Photographs of Canadian Teenage Girls in the 1940s
There were no mods and rockers in 1940s but simply youths who wanted to have a good time. Although the term ‘teenager’ was not coined until the 1950s the beginnings of the ‘teenager’ can be seen in the 1940s. Continue reading »
Marilyn Monroe Hanging Out in a Pumpkin Patch, 1945
In 1945, fashion photographer Andre de Dienes developed a relationship with an aspiring young model named Norma Jean Dougherty resulting in a brief engagement and a huge portfolio of stunning photographs which helped to launch her career as Marilyn Monroe. Continue reading »
Beautiful Portraits of Highland Park High School Teenage Girls, 1947
Cornell Capa/LIFE Photo Archive
Highland Park High School is a public, co-educational high school located immediately north of downtown Dallas in University Park, Dallas County, Texas. It is a part of the Highland Park Independent School District, which serves residents who are predominantly college-educated professionals and business leaders in the Dallas community. It serves: all of the city of University Park, most of the town of Highland Park, and portions of Dallas. Continue reading »
These Colourised Photographs Show How People Took Shelter in The London Underground in The 1940s
According to Lottie Cutcher, a photo retouch magician: “My name is Lottie, and I love looking through old photos. For my day job I work in costume, so I’m passionate about social history and getting the colour accurately matched. I recently started colourising black and white photographs to bring out how the scene would have actually looked at the time the picture was taken. I think black and white photographs have a beautiful style of their own, but colourising them helps the pictures feel relevant and relatable today, and gives them more context in the real world. Continue reading »
