Using ads for accuracy

[GTs58]

I think most have missed the main question that the OP has posted here.

 

[rustjunkie]

sure seems that adverts showing pics that many people call "artist renditions" were actually produced from photographs.
check the perspective, scale, alignment, and fine details such as spoke crossing, chains, bolts, etc, it's all too perfect to have been drawn by hand.
also, even if they were hand-drawn, advertising artists were not bicycle experts or designers, they had to have something to look at.

are the kids and building an "artist rendering"?

i'll bet TWO mexican cokes that bike existed

 

[slick]

Obviously nobody goes to new car Auto Shows. Just because they Introduce one car as a prototype or concept car, doesn't mean it will be that same exact car. Sure the prototype sits lower, has bigger better wheels, sleek lines, etc. Then the real one comes out and looks horrible as a production. The same goes with these artist renditions. Sure some guy told the artist what he envisioned and somebody drew it up and threw it out to the wolves, but were they all made? No. Changes were made for obvious reasons. Sure it works on paper, try building it. Some things just aren't possible and are too costly to produce. If you fabricate things by hand as I do in the classic car restoration industry, you would know hands on. Literally.

 

[Miq]

Prototypes and engineering samples are often used by the sales and marketing team to develop advertising before production starts. No one can wait for the production pieces to be first assembled in the factory before creating the ads and owner's manual pictures etc. However the designs have already been tooled and the production lines are close to running so it's not like the cartoony drawings they used back then for advertising were what drove the eventual design of the bike. I would really doubt that.

I'm not an advertising expert but is it possible that the drawn and colored ads that were used back then were just easier and cheaper to reproduce than actual photography? I lean more toward @rustjunkie and @GTs58 thinking on this. There's tons of things you can draw that can't be produced. Businesses don't operate like that and stay in business long.

 

[old hotrod]

Prototypes and engineering samples are often used by the sales and marketing team to develop advertising before production starts. No one can wait for the production pieces to be first assembled in the factory before creating the ads and owner's manual pictures etc. However the designs have already been tooled and the production lines are close to running so it's not like the cartoony drawings they used back then for advertising were what drove the eventual design of the bike. I would really doubt that.

I'm not an advertising expert but is it possible that the drawn and colored ads that were used back then were just easier and cheaper to reproduce than actual photography? I lean more toward @rustjunkie and @GTs58 thinking on this. There's tons of things you can draw that can't be produced. Businesses don't operate like that and stay in business long.

A prototype is made from input from a designer. Tooling, the most expensive preproduction element, is not made until everyone signs off on the product. So it is feasible that a prototype of a particular new bike, the above West Wind for example, is made then photos taken and pre marketing sales tools distributed to sell the project internally. Once all company elements are satisfied, the product (bike) goes into production. As Catfish said, this is a long process so expect minor changes from sales brochures. I work closely with the auto industry. The common term is that the industry is working on new models that are 5 years out yet I have seen changes made 3-6 months after debut representing millions of dollars. So to think a colorized cartoon of a bicycle is accurate and cast in stone to me is a little silly.
As for the colorized drawings, they were the norm because of the inexpensive paper used and color direct from photo printing didn't exist in a reasonably inexpensive form until maybe the 60s.

 

[cyclingday]

This is the one, that has me the most puzzled.
Why produce a catalog entry, so vividly descriptive, and then never actually release that model?

As for now, no one has actually ever seen a 1938 Firestone Fleetwood Supreme with the Saftey Streamlined Frame with matching paint, Ridge Crown Gothic Fenders and built in,Initial Tray.
This is one, I’m thinking did get produced.
I’d even be willing to bet two Mexican Cokes on it.

 

[SirMike1983]

Schwinn 8-speed traveler was in an ad, but never existed (never produced). The traveler existed but only in a 3-speed version. I am assuming with the launch of the continental and varsity in 8-speed versions in 1960 they were thinking the traveler would have a version of it, but that didn't pan out it seems.

View attachment 1629682

Too bad about those - they're a great concept. I assume the 4 speed hub would have been a Sturmey Archer FW hub, probably drilled for 36 spokes (I don't know of Schwinn ever using 40-32 as the English did). I would guess the 2-cog Cyclo unit would have been the derailleur. It would have had the nice old shark blade fenders as well and the traditional hockeystick guard. All of that stuff was pretty well-made. I'm a big fan of the FW hubs - I like the extra-low gear as a bail-out option for climbing hills. The US-made lighweights/utility bikes never got the audience they deserved.

The downside is I could see the bikes posing a problem for many of the basic mechanics' shops in the US. I could see a local shop where the mechanic only ever worked on single speed coaster brakes being baffled when a hybrid-gear Cyclo/Sturmey combo would show up.

 

[jacob9795]

A prototype is made from input from a designer. Tooling, the most expensive preproduction element, is not made until everyone signs off on the product. So it is feasible that a prototype of a particular new bike, the above West Wind for example, is made then photos taken and pre marketing sales tools distributed to sell the project internally. Once all company elements are satisfied, the product (bike) goes into production. As Catfish said, this is a long process so expect minor changes from sales brochures. I work closely with the auto industry. The common term is that the industry is working on new models that are 5 years out yet I have seen changes made 3-6 months after debut representing millions of dollars. So to think a colorized cartoon of a bicycle is accurate and cast in stone to me is a little silly.
As for the colorized drawings, they were the norm because of the inexpensive paper used and color direct from photo printing didn't exist in a reasonably inexpensive form until maybe the 60s.

Lots of great input from members. I’m going to dig through my 1950s Schwinn Reporters this weekend to see if I can find anything on pre marketing sales tools distributed to sell the project internally. I was skimming through a few and found this, I’m not sure what was common in the folders…

 

[GTs58]

Lots of great input from members. I’m going to dig through my 1950s Schwinn Reporters this weekend to see if I can find anything on pre marketing sales tools distributed to sell the project internally. I was skimming through a few and found this, I’m not sure what was common in the folders…

View attachment 1630336

Wow, a two week Summer factory shut down! I was only aware of the Christmas time shut down.

 

[GTs58]

Read the type on the left border.

Another one that introduces the re-entry of the American model, the new mid-year Corvette 5 speed entry and the change in the Tornado's frame. Look at the early 1954 Reporters. There has to be one before the June 54 Reporter showing the new models and mentioning the publics reaction to the new 1955 Middleweights. All the news of new models was in house until it was introduced to the dealers after production had already been planned and started. It was never mentioned or advertised to the public when it was still a figment of some designer's imagination.