Shadow

Shadow (pronounced shad-oh)

(1) A dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by a body intercepting light.

(2) Shade or comparative darkness, as in an area.

(3) As “the shadows”, darkness, especially that coming after sunset.

(4) A spectre or ghost.

(5) A mere semblance of something.

(6) A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water (now rare and restricted to literary or poetic use).

(7) In painting, drawing, graphics etc, the representation of the absence of light on a form.

(8) In art, the dark part of a picture, either representing an absence of illumination or as a symbolic device.

(9) In architectural depictions & renderings (as “shades and shadows”) a dark figure or image cast by an object or part of an object upon a surface that would otherwise be illuminated by the theoretical light source.

(10) In Jungian psychology, the archetype that represents man's animal ancestors; an unconscious aspect of the personality.

(11) In pop-psychology (1) a period or instance of gloom, unhappiness, mistrust, doubt, dissension, or the like, as in friendship or one's life or (2) a dominant or pervasive threat, influence, or atmosphere, especially one causing gloom, fear, doubt, or the like (often expressed as “shadow of fear”, “shadow of doubt” etc).

(12) A person who follows another in order to keep watch upon that person (in law enforcement, espionage etc).

(13) To overspread with shadow; to shade.

(14) To cast a gloom over; to cloud.

(15) To screen or protect from light, heat, etc; to provide shade.

(16) To follow and observe (a person).

(17) To represent faintly, prophetically etc. (often followed by forth).

(18) In democratic politics, (of or pertaining to a shadow cabinet or shadow minister) a system whereby an opposing politician formally is appointed to be responsible for matters relating to a particular minister’s areas of authority.

(19) As a modifier (shadow ban, shadow ticket, shadow docket, shadow price, shadow inflation etc), something effected unofficially or without public notice; characterized by secrecy or performed in a way that is difficult to detect; a clandestine approach.

(20) In typography, the “drop shadow” effect applied to lettering.

(21) An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited (an obsolete, Latinism).

(22) In human resource management, the practice of new appointee accompanying an incumbent during the working day, so as to learn the job.

(23) In computer programming, to make (an identifier, usually a variable) inaccessible by declaring another of the same name within the scope of the first.

(24) In computing, in the graphical Workplace Shell (the WPS, successor to the Presentation Manager (PM)) of the OS/2 operating system, an object representing another object.

Pre-900: From the Middle English noun shadwe, shadu, shadue, shadowe shadow, from the Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe & sceadu, the oblique case forms of sċeadu (shadow, shade; darkness; protection).  The Middle English verbs were shadwen, shadwe, shadu & shadue (to shade, provide shade, cast a shadow, protect), from the Old English sceadwian (to cover with shadow, protect) (all derivative of the nouns), from the Proto-West Germanic skadu, from the Proto-Germanic skadwaz (shade, shadow), from the primitive Indo-European skeh & ḱeh- (darkness).  Contemporary forms included the Old Saxon skadowan & skadoian and the Gothic (ufar)skadwjan (to (over)shadow).  Similar forms in other Germanic languages included the Old Saxon skado, the Middle Dutch schaeduwe, the Dutch schaduw, the Old High German scato, the German schatten and the Gothic skadus (shadow, shade).  Shadow is a noun, verb & adjective, shadower is a noun, shadowdy, shadowless & shadow-like are adjectives; the noun plural is shadows.

The shadow-box was a protective display case, usually in the form of interlocking squares and wall-mounted was first advertised in 1892.  The term shadow-figure was a synonym of silhouette, dating from 1851.  Eye-shadow was a term invented for the commercial products which came onto the market in 1918, providing a convenient packaged product to achieve the look women (and apparently not a few men) had been creating for thousands of years.  Shadow-boxing was first noted in 1906, an update of the earlier (1768) shadow-fight.  The verb foreshadow (indicate beforehand was a figurative form, the idea apparently of a shadow thrown before an advancing material object as an image of something suggestive of what is to come.  It’s familiar also in the forms foreshadowed & foreshadowing and was used as a noun since at least 1831.  Although the meanings were different, in Old English there was forescywa (shadow) & forescywung (overshadowing).  The adjective shadowy was ultimately from late fourteenth century shadwi & shadewy (full of shadows, shaded (and also “transitory, fleeting, unreal (resembling a shadow)”).  From very late in the eighteenth century it conveyed the sense of “faintly perceptible”.  In The Old English there was sceadwig (shady) and the modern alternative is shadowiness but unfortunately, the marvelously tempting shadowous never caught on.  The noun shadowland came from a work of fiction in 1821 and meant “an abode of ghosts and spirits”, adopted from the early 1920s to mean an indeterminate or unhappy place”.  The noun shadowless was from the 1630s and meant literally “no shadow” the implication being of things ungodly or supernatural.

In idiomatic use shadow often appears.  To be a shadow of one's self is to have suffered some trauma meaning one is a lesser person than before.  One afraid of one’s own shadow is one of a skittish, nervous disposition.  If something is beyond a shadow of a doubt it is something certain.  The old expression sanctuary in the shadow of the church was not exactly literal: to seek sanctuary from the agents of the state by entering a church meant one had to pass through the door.  It referred to the noting that church soil in England was under the authority of the pope in Rome, not the King.  To throw (or cast) a shadow over someone is to seek to deny them visibility; to keep them out of the limelight.

1969 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

In continuous production until 1980, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was introduced in 1965 and with over 30,000 (including the less common but substantially identical Bentley T2 variant) built, it remains the Rolls-Royce made in the greatest volume.  Although there was little about the model which was cutting-edge, it was the first truly modern Rolls-Royce, forsaking the separate chassis, drum brakes and styling which used updated motifs from the 1930s; it was the template with which the company would underpin its products for the rest of century.  Although the huge Phantom V & VI limousines would continue to use a separate chassis until 1990, their annual production was measured (usually at most) in the dozens and it was the Silver Shadow and its derivatives which were the company’s bread and butter.  The adoption of unitary construction meant the end of the line for many specialist coachbuilders and some of the relics of the industry were absorbed by the factory, the Mulliner name still used by Bentley to adorn the even more expensive “special order” vehicles the 1% need to convey the message of wealth something "off the shelf" can’t manage.

1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow two-door saloon by James Young (left) and 1971 two door saloon by Mulliner Park Ward (MPW) (right).

However, on the Silver Shadow platform, James Young, one of the last surviving coachbuilders, did build 35 two-door saloons before the business was shuttered in 1968.  The quirk of the James Young Silver Shadows is truly they were just the standard car with the rear-doors removed and the front units lengthened and it suffered because the competition was the two-door designed by Mulliner Park Ward (MPW) which by then was a specialist division within the factory.  With greater resources and access to all the technical data, the MPW effort was more imaginative and judged universally to be more attractive, its “cow-hip” style (nobody ever suggested using the "cokebottle" appellation Chevrolet & Pontiac had a few years earlier made a trend) carried over when the car was in 1971 re-named Corniche and listed as a regular production model.  The Corniche proved the longest-lived of all the Silver-Shadow family, the convertible (even Rolls-Royce eventually gave up calling such things drophead coupés (DHC)) remaining available until 1996.

Applied with different colors in different ways, eye shadow can achieve various effects.  Lindsay Lohan demonstrates.

The archeological evidence suggests eye shadow is one of humanity’s oldest forms of make-up, worn (usually but not exclusively by women) for thousands of years, and the preparations have included oils and a variety of substances to create the desired colours including minerals & vegetable extracts although charcoal is thought to have been one of the most accessible and popular materials.  The usual rationale for applying eyes shadows is that it’s essentially the same technique as chiaroscuro, a trick used by painters, photographers & film-makers to use real & emulated light and dark to achieve the perception of depth.  Because shadows are inherent to the shape of the eye-socket, eye shadow can be use to accentuate or soften the effect and, if applied with expertise, can even alter perceptions of size and shape.  With a sympathetic choice of shade, the color of the eyes can also be used as a contrast, some taking advantage of colored contact lens to create a look impossible with their natural irises.  Done well, there's no other way to describe the combination of eye shadow and purple contact lens that "eye catching".  Eye shadow can draw attention to the eyes, most trying to make them appear larger, more vibrant, or more expressive.  Despite the name, eye shadow is a flexible product and often used to create a visual illusion on body parts such as the cheeks or décolletage.

Shadow Volumes

Example of shadow mapping with Python summarized by FinFET.

In computer graphics, shadow volume is a technique used to render realistic shadows in three-dimensional (3D) renderings which is employed primarily when dynamic, interactive real-time movement is needed, most obviously in gaming.  Essentially, generating shadow volumes involves determining those addresses in a scene which need to appear as shadows, then rendering them accordingly.  The technique relies on the concept of extruding the boundaries of shadow-casting objects to create a "shadow volume" that represents the space occluded by the object.  In static scenes this was always easy (if once time-consuming) to achieve but when objects nwere moving, until recent decades, the graphics capabilities of computers were insufficient for them to be rendered in anything close to being real-time.  The process essentially is:

(1) Determining shadow casters: The rendering engine identifies objects in the scene capable of casting shadows by calculating the object's position and shape and its relationship to the positions of light sources.

(2) Creating shadow volumes: For each shadow-casting object, the engine constructs a shadow volume based on extending the object's silhouette (defined by the address of the boundaries) in the direction opposite to the light source.  The silhouette is determined by the math of the boundaries viewed from the perspective of the relevant light sources.

(3) Intersecting shadow volumes: The shadow volumes are then intersected with other objects in the scene to determine which parts of those need to be inside or outside the shadow.

(4) Rendering shadows: The shadow volumes are assembled, rendered with darker hues or modified shading techniques to simulate the shadowed regions.

Shadow volumes can be implemented using more than one different algorithm, the most commonly used the z-pass and the stencil buffer.  All techniques are computationally intensive and have been made possible by the advances in the sheer power and complexity of modern graphical processing units (GPUs).

The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

The handy Nirsoft Utilities includes a Shadow Copy viewer.

Microsoft introduced Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) with Windows XP (2001).  It worked in conjunction with the High Performance File System (HPFS) and allowed for the creation of point-in-time snapshots or copies of files and volumes on a disk.  What was in 2001 still something of a novelty for most users was the snapshots were taken while the files were in use, enabling access to previous versions or the restoration of files to a specific state, even if they have been been modified or deleted.  The process sequence was:

(1) Snapshot creation: VSS creates a snapshot of a volume or individual files on a disk.  This snapshot represents a "shadow" of the data at a moment in in time.

(2) Copy-on-write mechanism: As files are modified or deleted on the original volume, the VSS utilizes a copy-on-write mechanism.  It stores the original data in the snapshot, allowing users to access the unchanged version while the new changes are written to the live volume.  The lag induced by this can be measured with the appropriate but except with the largest files or on a busy network, it’s not usually something which affects the user.

(3) Shadow copy storage: The shadow copies are stored in a separate location on the disk, typically in a hidden system folder. The storage space occupied by is system-managed by the system, older copies automatically deleted as space is demanded for newer versions.

(4) User accessibility: Users can access the shadow copies through various means, most obviously the "Previous Versions" tab in file properties or the "Previous Versions" feature in Windows Explorer. These interfaces allow users to browse and restore files from a previous point in time.

Shadow copies provided one of the first forms of dynamic file backups for most users and were a convenient form of data recovery without the need of third-party software or external devices.  At scale, similar processes are used by software by companies such as StorageCraft’s ShadowProtect which system administrators can configure in a way that the potential data-losses can be minimized to windows as short as a few minutes.  Combined with off-site backups on large capacity media, it’s still a pest practice approach to data preservation.

Lindsay Lohan's strangely neglected film Among the Shadows (Momentum Pictures, 2019) was also released in some markets as The Shadow Within and it's not known what prompted the change (although there was a film in 2007 called The Shadow Within).  Given the two titles under which the film was distributed have quite different meanings, presumably either the title is incidental to the content or equally applicable.  A dark and gloomy piece about murderous werewolves and EU politicians (two quite frightening species), perhaps both work well and no reviewer appears to have commented on the matter and given the tone of the reviews, it seems unlikely there'll be a sequel to resolve things.

Umbra

Umbra (pronounced uhm-bruh)

(1) Shade; shadow, now restricted mostly to literary use.

(2) The invariable or characteristic accompaniment or companion of a person or thing.

(3) In astronomy, the complete or perfect shadow of an opaque body, as a planet, where the direct light from the source of illumination is completely cut off.

(4) In astronomy, the dark central portion of a sunspot.

(5) A phantom or shadowy apparition, as of someone or something not physically present; ghost; spectral image.

(6) An uninvited guest brought along by one who was invited (archaic).

(7) The fully shaded inner region of a shadow cast by an opaque object.

(8) One of the family Umbridae of mudminnows; a sciaenoid fish, the umbrine.

(9) In typography, a sans-serif display typeface released in 1935 as a variation of the earlier Tempo.  Similar to many contemporary art deco designs, it's constructed with a shadow effect, the letter shapes built as negative space and defined by a black dimensional shadow.

1590s: From the Latin umbra (literally “shade”; shadow), a doublet of umber and of uncertain origin.  If it was from the Old Latin omra, source may have been the primitive Indo-European hzmrup-, related to the Ancient Greek ἀμαυρός (amaurós) (dark) and “rot” & “rotten” in the Luwian hieroglyphic.  Etymologists also note the Hittite Maraššantiya (their name for the Kızılırmak River), and this Indo-European source is said to be a possible borrowing from a Semitic root ḥ-m-r (be red), linked to the Arabic ح م ر‎ (ḥ m r).  All agree there is a connection with the Lithuanian unksna.  The adjectives are umbral & umbrageous and the noun plurals are umbras & umbrae.

The early meaning was that of a “phantom or ghost," a figurative use drawn from the Latin umbra (shade, shadow), which gave rise to the later umbrage (A feeling of anger or annoyance caused by something offensive or (now rarely) a feeling of doubt, from the Middle French ombrage (umbrage), from the Old French ombrage, from the Latin umbrāticus (in the shade), from umbra (shadow, shade)).  The astronomical sense of a "shadow cast by the earth or moon during an eclipse" was first used during the 1670s.  The meaning "an uninvited guest accompanying an invited one" is from 1690s and was an invention in English, from a secondary sense used in Ancient Rome.  The related noun umber (brown earthy pigment) is from the 1560s, from the French ombre (in terre d'ombre), or the Italian ombra (in terra di ombra), both from the Latin umbra (shade, shadow) or otherwise from Umbra, the feminine form of Umber "of or belonging to Umbria, the region in central Italy from where the coloring material was first discovered.  Burnt umber, specially prepared and redder in color, is attested from circa 1650 and distinguished from raw umber, both well-known to artists of the era.

It’s the cosmic coincidence of the relationship between the diameter of the Moon and its distance from the Sun which makes solar eclipses such a spectacular sight from planet earth.  On other planets, where the relationship is different, solar eclipses may not be as enchanting.  A solar eclipse happens sometimes as the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth, the Moon blocking the light of the Sun from reaching Earth.  Astronomers classify solar eclipses into three types:

(1) A total solar eclipse which is visible from a small area on Earth.  Those who see a total eclipse are those standing in the center of the Moon's shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were night. A total eclipse occurs only when the Sun, Moon and Earth are in a direct line.

(2) A partial solar eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth are not exactly aligned, the sun appearing to have a dark shadow on a small part of its surface.

(3) In an annular solar eclipse, the Moon seems further because the annular happens when the Moon is farthest from Earth and thus does not block the entire view of the Sun, instead looking like a dark disk on top of a larger Sun-colored disk.

A solar total eclipse.

Solar eclipses are not rare, visible around every eighteen months somewhere on Earth although the viewing spot is always relatively small.  Unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses last only a few minutes.  The umbra is the darkest part of a shadow, especially the cone-shaped region of full shadow cast by Earth, the Moon, or another body during an eclipse. In a full lunar eclipse, which generally lasts for one or two hours, the entire disk of the Moon is darkened as it passes through the umbra. During this period the Moon takes on a faint reddish glow due to illumination by a small amount of sunlight that is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere and bent toward the darkened Moon; the reddish tint is caused by the filtering out of blue wavelengths as the sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere, leaving only the longer wavelengths on the red end of the spectrum.

The umbra is the innermost and darkest part of a shadow, the area in which the light source is entirely obscured by the occluding body and if standing in this space, the viewer will experience a total eclipse.  Viewed in the abstract, the Sun, Moon & Earth all being (almost) spherical, umbra forms a right circular cone and, if viewed from the cone's apex, the two bodies will seem the same size.  The penumbra, from the Latin paene (almost, nearly) is the region in which only some of the light source is obscured by the occluding body so the viewer standing in the experiences a partial eclipse.  The antumbra, from the Latin ante (before) is the region from which the occluding body appears entirely within the disc of the light source.  The viewer standing in this apace experiences an annular eclipse, which manifests as a bright ring visible around the eclipsing body.  If the viewer is able to move closer to the light source, the apparent size of the occluding body increases until it causes a full umbra.

An umbraphile (shadow lover) is a person with much interest in eclipses, often making extraordinary efforts to travel to see them.  The construct is umbra +‎ phile.  Phile is from the Latin -phila, from the Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos) (dear, beloved) and from the same source is -phil, a word-forming element meaning "one that loves, likes, or is attracted to," via the French -phile and the Medieval Latin -philus in this sense, from the Ancient Greek -philos, a common suffix in personal names (such as Theophilos), from philos (loving, friendly, dear; related, own) and related to philein (to love) which is of unknown origin.  One authoritative etymologist suggests the original meaning was "own; accompanying" rather than "beloved."

Umbraphilia emerged as a niche in nineteenth century high-end tourism, gentlemen scientists and society figures sailing around the world to observe and sometimes report their findings.  The longest known observation of a solar eclipse was that undertaken on 30 June 1973 when a group travelled on board the Concorde, enjoying seventy-four minutes of totality.

Wraith

Wraith (pronounced reyth)

(1) The apparition of a person living (or thought to be alive), said to appear as a portent of impending death.

(2) A visible spirit; a ghost or any apparition.

(3) In art or graphic design, a a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.

(4) Something pale, thin and lacking in substance (a column of smoke; swirling mist etc).

1510s: A word of uncertain etymology.  Some trace it back to an Old English from the Old Norse reith or reidh (twisted or angry) and in Old English it evolved into wrethe (used generally to refer to “anger, fury or vengeance”).  As Middle English emerged it shifted to wraith which came to be associated with “a ghost or spirit, especially one thought to be the spirit of one dead or about to die”.  The link between the earlier meanings of anger and the later association with spirits may reflect the origins of the modern idea of “a restless or vengeful spirit”.  Most however prefer a connection with early sixteenth century Middle Scots, some suggesting it was from a translation of the Aeneid (29-19 BC), the epic poem written by the Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BC)) which recounts the legend of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy to travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans.  That view has limited support although many etymologist do seem to agree it was in Middle Scots the form was first popularized, probably as warth, word meaning something like or related to “ghost”, the word perhaps from the Old Norse vorðr (“watcher or guardian” (in the sense of “guardian angel”), source of the Icelandic vörður (guard) and which may also have been an influence on the Gaelic & Irish arrach (specter, apparition)."  Wraith & wrathfulness are nouns, wraithlike, wraithesque, wraithful & wraithish are adjectives and wrathfully is an adverb; the noun plural is wraiths.

A wraith-like Lindsay Lohan, Las Angeles, 2008.  In art or graphic design, a wraith is a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.  It’s used also of something or someone pale and thin, especially in reaction to sudden or considerable weight-loss.

More speculative is the idea of any link with the Middle English wray or bewray and few are convinced any exist despite the similarity in form (something anyway hardly unusual in English).  Even the origin of wray is contested although the orthodox history contends it was from the Middle English wrayen, wraien & wreien (to show, make known, accuse), from the Old English wrēġan (to urge, incite, stir up, accuse, impeach), from the Proto-Germanic wrōgijaną (to tell; tell on; announce; accuse), from the primitive Indo-European were- or wrē- (to tell; speak; shout).  It was said to be akin to the Dutch wroegen (to blame), the German rügen (to reprove) and the Swedish röja (to betray; reveal; expose).  Beray was from the Middle English bewraien, bewreyen & biwreyen, from the Old English bewrēġan, from the Proto-Germanic biwrōgijaną (to speak about; tell on; inform of), the construct being be- +‎ wray.  It was cognate with the Old Frisian biwrōgja (to disclose, reveal), the Dutch bewroegen (to blame; accuse), the Middle Low German bewrȫgen (to accuse; complain about; punish), the Old High German biruogen (to disclose, reveal) and the Modern German berügen (to defraud).  The attraction of the idea of a relationship between wray or beray and wraith is the use of wraith to mean a “vengeful” spirit.

JRR Tolkien (1892–1973), a philologist (is the study of language in oral and written historical sources) of some note, favored a link with writhe on the basis of the sense of “writhing; bodily distorted” (as in a ghost or apparition).  Writhe was from the Middle English writhen, from the Old English wrīþan, from the Proto-West Germanic wrīþan, from the Proto-Germanic wrīþaną (to weave, twist, turn), from the primitive Indo-European wreyt- (to twist, writhe).  It was cognate with the Middle Dutch writen (to turn, twist), the dialectal German reiden (to turn; twist around), the Danish vride (to twist), the Swedish vrida (to turn, twist, wind) and the French rider (to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle).

Not quite what she meant: Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert (b 1982)) in Mean Girls (2004).

In late eighteenth century English, the noun “fetch” could mean “apparition of a living person, specter, a double”, from fetch-life (a deity, spirit, etc who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife (a psychopomp)) the source an English dialect word of unknown origin but which may have been from the Old English fæcce (evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare) and may have been related to or even from the Old Irish fáith (seer, soothsayer).  The (now archaic) "fetch candle" was a mysterious light, which, when seen at night, was believed to foretell a person's death.  The Irish idea of the fetch and the fetch light describes the apparition associated with impending death (commonly in English now called a wraith).  The fetch or wraith was a doppelganger (double) of the dying who appeared when the time was approaching for them to need their spirit to guide them to the afterworld (ie act as a psychopomp).  The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) and the writer Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832) are among those who described seeing their own wraiths although most are said to have been visible only to those surrounding the dying.

1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with touring limousine coachwork by Park Ward.

Rolls-Royce has for almost a century used model names which summon imagery of the silently ethereal including Ghost, Phantom, Seraph, Shadow, Spirit, Spectre & Wraith.  The first Wraiths were introduced in 1938 and although World War II (1939-1945) interrupted things, almost 500 chassis left the factory between then and 1946.  The name was revived in 1946 when the company introduced their first post-war model as the Silver Wraith and although stylistically there would be nothing like the imaginative lines of the new US cars, the underpinnings were significantly modernized and the model would remain in the catalogue until 1958 with almost 2000 chassis produced.  Unlike the smaller Silver Dawn (1949-1955), the factory would only ever supply the Wraith rolling chassis to coachbuilders who would fabricate the bodies in accordance with customer preference although, the (slightly) higher-performance Bentley version was available with what came to be known as the “standard steel body”.

1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow long-wheelbase (LWB) saloon with central division (top) and 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith (bottom).

Within two years of the introduction of the Silver Shadow (1965-1980), a long-wheelbase (“LWB” which gained an additional 4 inches (100 mm) odd of rear-seat leg room) version had been produced and this configuration was introduced as a factory option in most markets between 1969-1971.  Built sometimes with an electrically operated glass division (the associated hardware absorbing most of the gained rear legroom) production continued on a small scale until 1976 when the Silver Shadow II was released at which point the LWB was re-branded as the Sliver Wraith II, incorporating not only the Shadow’s worthwhile mechanical improvements (which was good) but also carrying-over the vinyl roof (which was bad).  Rolls-Royce always used a brand of high-quality vinyl called “Everflex” and never used the word “vinyl”.  The re-naming followed the practice adopted in 1971 when the Silver Shadow two-door saloon (1966-1971) and convertible (1967-1971 and then known as a Drophead Coupé (DHC)) was renamed Corniche which, in convertible form would last until 1995, the saloon retired in 1980.

2015 Rolls-Royce Wraith.  The “Starlight headliner” was fabricated by weaving some 1300 strands of fibre-optic cable into the ceiling’s leather lining.  In the US market the option listed at US$14,700, a cost which reflected the high labor component in the production process and it should be compared with the bespoke audio system option which cost US$8,625 (the bulk of the input costs of the audio system was in mass-produced solid-state components).  Rolls-Royce has confirmed the 2023 Wraiths will be their last V12 coupés, the replacement (electric) Spectre going on sale in 2024. 

When introduced in 2013, it was the first time since 1946 the word “Wraith” had been used by the factory as a stand-alone model name.  Only ever available as a two door hardtop (no central pillar) coupé, the Wraith used the highly regarded 6.6 litre (402 cubic inch), twin-turbocharged BMW V12 used in their flagship 7 Series (G11 2015-2022) in happier times.  As is the modern practice at Rolls-Royce, a number of limited production runs of special models were available in the decade the Wraith was made but the platform also attracted the tuners, some emphasizing addition power, some additional stuff, all with high-price tags.

Mansory’s original version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith (top) was almost restrained, something later abandoned when the “Palm Edition 999” (bottom) was released.

German-based Mansory modifies high-priced cars, boosting both power and bling.  A particular specialty is carbon-fibre fabrication, the standard of their work acknowledged as world class and their approach to engineering is also sound, something not always achieved by those who make already highly tuned engines more powerful still.  The appearance (inside & out) of the machinery they modify doesn’t suit all tastes but their success proves a market exists for such things and their sales in markets like the Middle East and India proves that east of Suez there’s a receptive (and rich) audience.  Things from Rolls-Royce, Ferrari etc are anyway expensive but for Mansory (an others) the target market is not millionaires but billionaires, some of the latter needing accessories to prove they’re not merely one of the former.  Just to make sure the message was getting through however, when Rolls-Royce released their SUV (sports utility vehicle), Mansory badged their take as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Mansory Billionaire (the project a co-development with the German fashion house Billionaire).  Disappointingly perhaps, it was advertised with a list price well under US$1 million.  In the long-running cartoon show The Simpsons, nuclear power-plant co-owner C Montgomery Burns used the phrase “price taggery” in one sense but it's applied also when discussing Veblen goods produced for the "conspicuous consumption" market; there, the purpose of the product is to advertise one's disposable income and a well-publicized (high) price-tag is essential.  

The electric Rolls-Royce Spectre.  Instead of an internal combustion engine, the Spectre is powered by two electric motors producing a combined net 577 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque.  There was a time when Rolls-Royce would never have painted their cars purple but the catchment of those with the resources to buy or lease (rent) such things has expanded to include many whose tastes come from different traditions.  It's not the difference between good and bad taste; it's just a difference.

Rolls-Royce has announced its intention by 2030 to offer a range of vehicles powered exclusively by electric propulsion.  For Rolls-Royce, the engineering and financial challenges aside, the obstacles are few because, unlike an operation like Ferrari which for decades has based part of its mystique on the noise its engines make at full-cry, it has always put a premium of silence and smoothness.  Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) said it was the howl of the V12 Packard engines (which he dubbed “the song of 12”) he heard on the race tracks which convinced him to make the V12 the signature configuration for the cars which would bear his name but for Charles Rolls (1877–1910), the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, the most influential sound was its absence.  In 1904, he had the opportunity to ride in Columbia Electric car and, knowing what so many of his customers craved, was most impressed, noting: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”  So, in 120-odd years not much has changed.  Ferrari are doubtlessly hoping the hydrogen re-fueling infrastructure develops at a similarly helpful rate, the exhaust note from exploding hydrogen able to be as intoxicating as that of burning hydrocarbons.

Resin

Resin (pronounced rez-in)

(1) Any of a group of non-volatile solid or semisolid organic substances & compounds (that consist of amorphous mixtures of carboxylic acids), obtained directly from certain plants as exudations of such as copal, rosin & amber (or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules) and used typically in pharmaceuticals, plastic production, lacquers, adhesives and varnishes.

(2) A substance of this type obtained from certain pine trees (also called rosin).

(3) To treat, rub or coat with resin.

(4) A precipitate formed by the addition of water to certain tinctures.

(5) Any of various artificial substances, such as polyurethane, that possess similar properties to natural resins and used in the production of plastics; any synthetic compound with similar properties.

1350–1400: From the Middle English resyn & resyne (hardened secretions of various plants), from the Old French resine (gum, resin), from the Latin rēsīna (resin), from the Ancient Greek rhētī́nē (resin of the pine tree), both probably from a non-Indo-European language.  In chemistry, the word came to be applied to synthetic products by after 1883.  The verb resinate (impregnate with resin) dated from 1756.  The adjective resinous (of the nature of, pertaining to, or obtained from resin) is documented since the 1640s, from the Latin resinosus; the earlier adjective was resiny (having a character or quality like resin), noted since the 1570s.  The related (and now rare) noun rosin (distillate of turpentine (especially when in a solid state and employed for ordinary purposes)) dates from the late thirteenth century and was from the Old French raisine & rousine, both variants of résine; it was used as a verb after the mid-fifteenth century.  The later adjectives resiniferous & resinless appear never to have been used except in chemistry or technical literature in relevant industries, the more common forms in general use being resin-like or resinous.  Because the word resin covers a wide field of substances, it usually appears in modified form (acaroid resin, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, phenolic resin, polyresin, polyvinyl resin etc).  The present participle is resining and the past participle resined.  Resin, resinousness & resinite are nouns, resinously is an adverb and resinify is a verb; the noun plural is resins.

The Citroën SM and Michelin's resin wheels

1972 Citroën SM with Michelin RR wheels. 

Although sometimes referred to as being made from “carbon fibre”, materials engineers insist the optional wheels offered on the Citroën SM must be described as “synthetic resin reinforced with long-strand carbon fibre”.  Notable as the first composite road wheel offered for public sale, they were developed by Michelin, the tyre-maker which since 1934 had been Citroën’s parent corporation and the innovation was an appropriate accessory for the SM which, upon release in 1971, was immediately recognized as among the planet's most intricate and intriguing cars.  A descendant of the DS which in 1955 had been even more of a sensation, it took Citroën not only up-market but into a niche the SM had created, nothing quite like it previously existing, the combination of a large (in European terms), front-wheel-drive (FWD) luxury coupé with hydro-pneumatic suspension, self-centreing (Vari-Power) steering, high-pressure braking and a four-cam V6 engine, unique in the world.  The engine had been developed by Maserati, one of Citroën’s recent acquisitions and the name acknowledged the Italian debt, SM standing for Systemé Maserati.  Although, given the size and weight of the SM, the V6 was of modest displacement to attract lower taxes (initially 2.7 litres (163 cubic inch)) and power was limited (181 HP (133 kW)) compared to the competition, such was the slipperiness of the body's aerodynamics that in terms of top speed, it was at least a match for most.

Michelin RR wheel on Citroën SM.

However, lacking the high-performance pedigree enjoy by some of that competition, a rallying campaign had been planned as a promotional tool.  Although obviously unsuited to circuit racing, the big, heavy SM didn’t immediately commend itself as a rally car; early tests indicated some potential but there was a need radically to reduce weight.  One obvious candidate was the steel wheels but attempts to use lightweight aluminum units proved abortive, cracking encountered when tested under rally conditions.  Michelin immediately offered to develop glass-fibre reinforced resin wheels, the company familiar with the material which had proved durable when tested under extreme loads.  Called the Michelin RR (roues resin (resin wheel)), the new wheels were created as a one-piece mold, made entirely of resin except for some embedded steel reinforcements at the stud holes to distribute the stresses.  At around 9.4 lb (4¼ kg) apiece, they were less than half the weight of a steel wheel and in testing proved as strong and reliable as Michelin had promised.  Thus satisfied, Citroën went rallying.

Citroën SM, Morocco Rally, 1971.

The improbable rally car proved a success, winning first time out in the 1971 Morocco Rally and further success followed.  Strangely, the 1970s proved an era of heavy cruisers doing well in the sport, Mercedes-Benz winning long-distance events with their 450 SLC 5.0 (1977-1980) which was both the first V8 and the first car with an automatic transmission to win a European rally.  Stranger still, Ford in Australia re-purposed one of the Falcon GTHO Phase IV race cars which had become redundant when the programme was cancelled in 1972 and the thing proved surprisingly competitive during the brief periods it was mobile, the lack of suitable tyres for the large, heavy machine meaning the sidewalls repeatedly failed.  The SM, GTHO & SLC proved a quixotic tilt and, for better (Group B, 1982-1986) and worse (everything else), the sport went a different direction.  On the SM, the resin wheels had proved their durability, not one failing during the whole campaign and, encouraged by customer requests, Citroën in 1972 offered them as a factory option although only in Europe; apparently the thought of asking the US federal safety regulators to approve "plastic wheels" (as they’d already been dubbed by the motoring press) seemed to the French so absurd they never bothered to submit an application.

Reproduction RR wheel in aluminum. 

Michelin ceased to make the RR when SM production ended in 1975 but did provide another batch for sale in the mid 1980s and this was said to be a new production run rather than unsold stock.  A cult accessory for a cult car, perfect examples now sell for around US$2000 each which does sound expensive but, given what it can cost to restore (or even maintain) a SM, it’s not a significant sum and, unlike much of the rest of the machine, the RRs are at least trouble-free.  Michelin are not said to be contemplating resuming production but another company has produced visually identical wheels made from aluminum; these only slightly heavier.  Despite the success and the fifty-year history of robustness, Citroën didn’t persist and the rest of the industry never adopted the resin wheel.  The reason was two-fold: (1) Even if economies of scale operated to lower the unit cost, the technology was always going to be more expensive than using aluminum and advances in alloys meant the metal units can provide similar strength with only a slight weight penalty and (2) the resin was always susceptible to high temperatures, something not encountered on the SM which used inboard brakes.  Most cars don’t use inboard brakes and as Ford found when testing resin wheels during Lincoln's downsizing programme in the mid-1970s, although the weight reduction was impressive, almost the same was possible with aluminum at much lower cost and the problems caused by heat-soak from the brakes were insoluble.  So it proved until the late 1980s when, with the development of new, heat-resistant materials, reinforced composite wheels were made available on the limited-production Dodge Shelby Shadow CSX-VNT.

Shelby Shadow CSX-VNT (1987 Shelby American publicity still (left) and MWC Fiberrides wheel on 1989 model (right)): “This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper” (the concluding line of T.S. Eliot’s (1888-1965) poem The Hollow Men (1925)).

After the Sturm und Drang of Shelby American’s Cobras and Mustangs, that the Shadow CSX-VNT (1987-1989 and based on the Dodge Shadow (1986-1994)) was the last production car built by the operation meant things at the storied facility ended “not with a bang but a whimper” but Carroll Shelby (1923–2012) did for his personal use retain Shadow CSX-VNT Number 001 (of the 500 built) and he was a fair judge of what was good to drive.  Shelby’s team designed the composite wheels (dubbed “Fiberrides”) with manufacturing handled by MWC (the Motor Wheel Corporation).  Although conceptually similar to the Michelin RR wheel in being a lightweight, composite unit that lighter than an aluminium wheel of the same dimension, the Fiberrides differed in the materials used and the technique of construction.  Despite appearing a generation earlier, the Michelin RR’s resin system was more advanced than what MWC did which was to use familiar glass-fiber reinforced plastic; Michelin’s approach offered some advantages but the tooling for mass-production was expensive and the costs would never have been amortized in the run of fewer than 3,000 needed for Shelby’s project.  While not a Cobra, the CSX-VNT is genuinely “a Shelby” and although not much sought by collectors, there is a minor following because they remain competitive machines in autocrossing although the guides now caution the plastic wheels are over three decades old and there have been reports of cracks being detected; the advice is, if being used in competition, switch to metal wheels and keep the Fiberrides for display.  The composite wheels have never been re-produced so the planet’s stock of them is static and thus, because nothing lasts forever, slowly diminishing.

1973 Citroën SM with reproduction RR wheels in aluminium. 

True carbon fibre wheels have had a little more success, although only at the top-end of the market, Koenigsegg in 2013 manufacturing carbon fibre single-piece wheels which it offered as a US$40,000 option; a number which needs to be considered in the context of the US$2 million price tag for one of their cars.  Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Ford have all flirted with carbon fibre wheels and some manufactures are interested in the possibilities offered by hybrid designs which use aluminum for some components and carbon fibre for others, an idea familiar from earlier steel/aluminum combinations and unrelated to the "polycast" units of the 1970s & 1980s which used a conventional wheel to which a decorative plastic centre was bonded.  Regulatory authorities are apparently still pondering things.

The SM V8

1974 prototype Citroën SM with 4.0 V8.

Ambitious as in 1971 it so obviously was, circumstances combined in a curious way that might have made the SM more remarkable still.  By 1973, sales of the SM, after an encouraging start, had for two years been in decline, a reputation for unreliability already tarnishing its reputation but the first oil shock dealt what appeared to be a fatal blow; from selling almost 5000 in 1971, by 1974 production numbered not even 300.  The market for fast, thirsty cars had shrunk and most of the trans-Atlantic hybrids (combining elegant European coachwork with large, powerful and cheap US V8s), which had for more than a decade done good business as alternative to the highly strung Italian thoroughbreds, had been driven extinct.  Counter-intuitively, Citroën’s solution was to develop an even thirstier V8 SM and that actually made sense because, in an attempt to amortize costs, the SM’s platform had been used as the basis for the new Maserati Quattroporte but, bigger and heavier still, performance was sub-standard and the theory was a V8 version would transform both and appeal to the US market, then the hope of many struggling European manufacturers.

Recreation of 1974 Citroën SM V8 prototype.

Citroën didn’t have a V8; Maserati did but it origins were in racing and while its (never wholly tamed) raucous qualities suited the character of the sports cars and saloons Maserati offered in the 1960s & 1970s, it would have been less than ideal for something like the SM.  However, the SM’s Maserati V6 was a 90^o unit and thus inherently better suited to an eight-cylinder configuration.  Therefore, in 1974, a 4.0 litre (244 cubic inch) V8 based on the V6 (by then 3.0 litres (181 cubic inch)) was quickly built and installed in an SM which was subjected to the usual battery of tests over a reported 20,000 km (12,000 miles) during which it was said to have performed faultlessly.  Unfortunately, bankruptcy (to which the SM, along with some of the company's other ventures, notably the GZ Wankel programme, contributed) was the death knell for SM production and the one-off V8 prototype was scrapped while the unique engine was removed and stored, later used to create a replica of the 1974 test mule.

The abortive Traction Avant V8

Citroën Traction Avant (TA) 22 (V8), Paris Motor Show, 1934 (the Coupé below, a Berline on the raised platform).  The frontal styling with fared-in headlights would have been exclusive to selected body-styles offered with the V8.

It was a shame because, despite being most associated with the US industry, it was the French engineer Léon Levavasseur (1863–1922) who in 1904 created the first V8 engine and at the 1934 Paris Motor Show, Citroën displayed their “TA 22”, a variation of their Traction Avant model but fitted with a 3.8 litre (233 cubic inch) V8, created by joining on a common crankcase two of their 1.9 litre (117 cubic inch) four-cylinder units.  At the show, several models were displayed and the promotional material confirmed the 22 would be available with a choice of coachwork including the Berline (four-door saloon), Familiale (long wheelbase (LWB) nine-passenger, four-door saloon with three rows of seats), two-door Coupé and Décapotable (two-door cabriolet).  Looming bankruptcy however halted the project and Michelin, having just taken corporate control, insisted the company concentrate on the best-selling, most profitable lines.  A reputed two dozen-odd 22s were built before the Michelin Man dropped his axe and it's never been clear if any passed into private hands in V8 form, most of the pre-production run having been re-fitted with standard 11 CV four cylinder engines under the usual hood (bonnet) and wings before being sold as TA 11s.  Inevitably, rumours abound, the most persistent being (1) an unnamed doctor or dentist in Brittany or Gascony locked a TA 22 in a barn where it remains, perfectly preserved and (2) there's one in a "secret garage" hidden somewhere in the Far-East, a remnant of the French colonial presence in Indo-China.  There's also the tale that one of the pre-production run displayed at the Paris Motor Show was stored in an underground car-park (in a "bricked-up room" to conceal it from the Nazi occupation forces which had a great fondness for the Traction Avant) in the Javel district of Paris (close to the Citroën factory) and it survived the war, only to be "destroyed" by Pierre "PJB" Boulanger (Pierre-Jules Boulanger, 1885–1950; chairman of Citroën 1935-1950).  Monsieur Boulanger was killed in an accident at the wheel of a TA 15-Six but, like the other legends, there's no documentary evidence of any of the V8 cars existing after 1935.  In recent years, some aficionados have built V8 TAs in the style of the 22 CVs, most fitted with contemporary Ford flathead V8s, an engine produced in several versions in France during the 1930s.   

1938 Citroën 11B Traction Avant coupé, one for four built in 1938 from a total production of 15.  Lovely though the art deco lines were, the 11B’s performance was rendered mediocre by the use of the even then rather agricultural 1.9 litre four-cylinder engine which, despite the fitting of twin downdraft carburetors, generated only 46 horsepower (hp) at a 3800 RPM of some harshness.  In the US, the memorable coffin-nose Cord 810 & 812 had already proved a power-train which combined a V8 with FWD could work and such a powerplant for the Traction Avant would have been transformative.  That the project was abandoned was one of many entries in the company’s long list of missed opportunities.

1937 Cord 812 Phaeton (left) and 1967 Cadillac Eldorado (right).

Thirty years apart, Cord and Cadillac demonstrated a big, FWD V8 could be made to work.  Rushed into production, the Cord had flaws but in a more buoyant economy might the resources might have been found to rectify the problems.  The Eldorado used an unusual chain-drive(!) version of the General Motors (GM) Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission which at the time raised the odd eyebrow but, coupled with engines as large as 500 cubic inches (8.2 litres which for 1970 briefly was tuned to a rated 400 hp), it proved robust and reliable.  Whatever happened later, in the 1960s, Cadillac's engineering could be said still to be the "standard of the world".

Lindsay Lohan in Tsubi Scooter Jeans, Andrea Brueckner Saddle Bag, L.A.M.B. Lambstooth sweater, Manolo Blahnik Butterfly sandals & Louis Vuitton Inclusion resin bangles, Los Angeles, April 2005.

Evidence does however suggest a V8 SM would likely have been a failure, just compounding the existing error on an even grander scale.  It’s true Oldsmobile and Cadillac had offered big FWD coupés with great success since the mid 1960s but they were very different machines to the SM and appealed to a different market.  Probably the first car to explore what demand might have existed for a V8 SM was the hardly successful 1986 Lancia Thema 8·32 which used the Ferrari 2.9 litre (179 cubic inch) V8 in a FWD platform.  Although well-executed within the limitations the configuration imposed, it was about a daft an idea as it sounds, the understeer prodigious when tested on racetracks although it seems to have been manageable when sensibly driven on the road.  Even had the V8 SM been all-wheel-drive (AWD) it would probably still have been a failure but so configured it would now be remembered as a revolution ahead of its time.  As it is, the whole SM story is just another of Citroën's many intriguing cul-de-sacs, albeit one which has become a minor cult.