Just being former
Cord owners is usually enough for us to repeatedly attend
the annual Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Festival, but what
makes it most enjoyable is the personal invite by Larry
and Carmen Nicklin to stay at their home. Having done
this repeatedly, there must be some magic about them.
Their artwork and cars? Larry would say that is their
"Statement". He does appreciate it when you
look at his renderings and cars and say, "Wow!"
I am not much of a "Wow!" person. My mouth
just drops open and I stare in amazement. "Car
guy" Larry has owned many great cars and still
does. He began with hot rods as a youth and currently
owns two. One dream, a great many of us have, is to
design and build your own car. The Indycoupe undoubtedly
is his favorite car and his "Statement".
How the Indycoupe
Came About
Automobile collector
and artist Larry Nicklin, Leo, Indiana, created
a color rendering of a "dream" hot rod
in 1987. The art, after being published in "Wheels"
and in "Street Rodder" magazines, was
seen by custom race car body builder Denny Jamison,
Danville, Indiana. Jamison, enthralled by the design,
implored Nicklin to let him build the hot rod in
full scale.
Nicklin, growing enthusiastic, not only gave his
consent, but insisted on being the customer who
would purchase the finished vehicle. Nicklin collaborated
with Jamison on the proportions, and drew a 1/10
scale version of the car in profile. The front styling
was influenced by the 1935 Miller race car.
An unrestored 1935 Ford Coupe, featuring the side
body lines Nicklin favored, was obtained for conversion
to the hot rod. The car was narrowed at the front
and widened at the rear. The car was completed in
1996.
Naturally an auto designer never stops
drawing and, from the hundreds of renderings that he
has done for his own enjoyment and for many happy buyers,
the Indycoupe is the one that came to life.
To another extreme, he loves Ferraris and owns a 1952
Ferrari 340 Mexico that resides in the A-C-D Museum.
Larry was one of the founders of the Ferrari Club of
America. Although a 1953 Ferrari 212 Vignale sits in
his garage, along with a bright red Mangusta and the
two hot rods, not everything is postwar. In the museum
he currently has his 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Supercharge
Sedanca Drophead and he proudly shows photographs of
a 1930 Alfa Romeo 1750 with a James Young body which
he sold years ago - two of my all time favorites. Larry
and I both once owned Aston Martin DB2s. Over a decade
ago he did a rendering of mine which hangs in my office.
But artwork and cars are just his "Statement".
Ask him what it is all about and he will say, "I
am a car guy". He sure is, but there is a very
interesting history that he lays out in scrapbooks,
artwork and file cabinet after file cabinet of car-related
things that interest him. Yes, he is also a literature
collector and has a fine collection of model cars. It
all tells a story that goes back to the 1940's when
he decided to make cars his career.
ART LINK PROFILE:
Larry Nicklin
"Salt
Shaker" dedicated to Dean Batchelor
Click for larger view
Larry Nicklin's
resume reads with a good many "get luckys",
starting with 1948 when his 1940, full race custom
Ford Coupe was used at the cliff scene in "Rebel
Without a Cause" and again in "Hot Rod
Girl".
In 1950-53 he received two degrees from Art Center
School in Industrial Design with a degree in product
design and an automotive minor. In 1953, he was
hired by General Motors for their Cadet (rear
engine) and LeUniversal (mid-engine) programs.
He illustrated LeUniversal for national press
releases as a part of the Motorama Program.
In 1955, he moved to Studebaker where he says
he put in some 24 hour days. From 1957 when he
worked in Chrysler's Valiant and Plymouth studios
he went to International Harvester studio doing
renderings in prismacolors (full size). He did
some design assignments on the Scout and off road
construction trucks.
1982 brought retirement, hoping to restore cars
in his collection, but "Car Art" was
a stronger pull when the name was formalized by
a copyright search with the philosophy to explore
quintessential sheet-metal themes and do commissions.
On to gallery shows in 1984, starting with one
in Fort Wayne at the Mole Hole followed by First
Presbyterian Church Gallery, the Allen County
Public Library, the Auburn Festival Art shows
and good magazine exposure plus TV interviews.
Larry's work has been used on a poster for the
Indy Concours de Elegance. After some group promotions
at SEMA in Las Vegas and Automania, in Rochester,
Michigan, he stopped all art shows and collaborated
on a book "Ferrari by Vignale".
After a count of 200 renderings and 1200 sketches
on file he began to build one of his "Car
Art"'s concepts which is known as Indycoupe.
This was finished in 1996 and Larry started thinking
about another art show. So this brings "Artlink"
into the picture and "Artlink" "got
lucky".
So have I captured the essence of Larry
Nicklin? Well, at least I hope I have given you a glimpse
of a "car guy" who is a great guy who likes
cars - my friend, Larry Nicklin.
Click
for larger view
A few years
ago I mentioned to Larry that I would like to
own a second Three Litre Bentley. My car, a 1925
Speed Model Tourer, is restored to original, but
if I had another I would like to build a body
of my own design. Larry took the occasion to do
this rendering as a proposal.
