Cloisonné

Cloisonné (pronounced kloi-zuh-ney or klwa-zaw-ney (French))

(1) A decorative technique for metalwork, especially brass, whereby colored enamel is baked between raised ridges of the metal; among those for whom "price-taggery" is the measure of things, it was sometimes disparaged as a cheaper alternative to jeweled encrustation or filigree.

(2) Pertaining to, forming, or resembling cloisonné or the pattern of cloisonné.

(3) As applied to metalwork, objects decorated by this technique collectively.

1863: From the French cloisonné (divided into compartments, partitioned (especially in reference to surface decoration)), from the twelfth century Old French cloison (partition), from cloisonner (enclosure; to divide into compartments) from the Provençal clausiō, from the Vulgar Latin clausiōn, stem of clausiō (closed), noun of action from past participle stem of claudere (to close; shut).  The alternative spelling cloisonne is now more common in English.  Cloisonné is a noun; the noun plural is cloisonnés.  The noun cloisonnism describes a school of postimpressionist painting and the verb cloisonner (to partition, to compartmentalize) is French.

Lindsay Lohan wearing vintage art deco bracelet in triangulated black & white, May 2007.

There were several steps in the cloisonné enamel process and they have been little changed since the process was first used in Egypt prior to 1800 BC when gold ornaments were inlaid with small pieces of turquoise, lapis lazuli, carnelian and garnet, the inlays held in position by ribs soldered to the gold base.  Although there’s no surviving evidence in archaeological digs, the speculation of Egyptologists is that goldsmiths and glass workers collaborated to forge or fabricate their creations using artificial gems.  Pieces of colored glass were substituted for the stones and some appear to have been cemented in place.  The modern sequence is usually:

(1) Design and Preparation: The artisan will create a two dimensional sketch which develops into a detailed design; this can be on paper or a digital rendering which is then transferred onto a metal object, made usually of bronze, copper or gold.

(2) Wire Application (Cloisons): Thin metal wires (usually of copper or gold) are shaped to suit the design; these are soldered or glued to the metal surface, forming compartments (cloisons).  It’s these wires which lend a three dimensional form to the design, acting as the barriers which will contain the various enamel colors.

(3) Enamel Filling: Enamel (powdered glass which is mixed with water to form a paste) is applied within the cloison compartments.  While there are designs which used only the one shade of enamel, historically the style is associated with contrasting colors, some vivid, some dark.

(4) Firing: Once the compartments have been filled, the object is fired in a high-temperature kiln.  This causes the enamel to melt, fusing it with the metal; depending on the design, multiple firings may be required to build up the enamel layers and achieve the desired thickness and finish.

(5) Polishing: After the final firing, the surface of the object is polished, this both smoothing the enamel to its final shape and enhancing the color.  As part of this process, some enamel may be removed so the metal wires are granted greater prominence better to define the shapes.

French Second Empire gilt cloisonné enamel carriage clock, circa 1870.

The intricate metalwork and detailed cloisonné engravings associated with the clocks of the First French Empire have always attracted collectors and there’s a view in the industry they’re superior in just about every way to those of the Second Empire.  They certainly tend to be more expensive.  There are those who prefer the later clocks, especially the more restrained.  For the discerning, a sub-genre of Second Empire horology was the carriage (or travelling) clock, small, sturdy and created in shapes suitable to packing in regular-sized boxes.  The earliest were purely functional with little embellishment but their diminutive form appealed to designers seeking to create exquisite miniatures.  From the mid-century on, an increasing number were produced for household use and it’s doubtful many were much used by those on the move.

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider.

The cloisonné "N.A.R.T." badge.

The Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider was a roadster commissioned by Ferrari's North American concessionaire, Italian-born Luigi Chinetti (1901–1994) who ran the N.A.R.T, (North American Racing Team) and wanted to offer something in the spirit of the charismatic 250 California Spiders (1957-1963).  Built by Ferrari's coachbuilder Scaglietti, the N.A.R.T. Spider was certainly a worthy successor but, being very much a traditional sports car with few of the luxury fittings to which buyers had quickly become accustomed, demand was subdued, most preferring its less raucous companion, the 330 GTS which pampered occupants with niceties like power steering, electric windows and air conditioning.  The NART's high price didn't help and of the planned run of 25, only ten were built.  Thus mostly unwanted when new, as a used car the performance of the 275 NART has been stellar, chassis #10709 selling at auction in 2013 for US$27.5 million.  Informally always known as the "NART Spider" despite the factory not using the designation, the only hint of its unusual gestation was a cloisonné badge with the N.A.R.T.'s logo, installed on the Kamm tail.

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider.

The NART's existence also created a footnote in the history of Ferrari nomenclature.  Although the ten made have always been regarded as official factory models, Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) was noticeably restrained in his enthusiasm for the venture and instead of being named 275 GTS/4 as would have been the current practice, it was listed in the records of both Scaglietti and the factory as the 275 GTB/4 NART spider.  That may have been because there had already been a 275 GTS (1964-1966) although it had been replaced by the 330 GTS by the time the NART cars were built or it may simply have been Il Commendatore didn't like his plans being changed.  Because of the high prices the things attract when from time to time they are offered at auction, the sales are always well publicized and the modern practice seems sometimes to label them as "NART 275 GTB/4S", "NART 275 GTB/4s" or "NART 275 GTB/4*S".  Given the well-known history and status of the NARTs, the appended "S" seems superfluous however written.

Decalcomania

Decalcomania (pronounced dih-kal-kuh-mey-nee-uh or dih-kal-kuh-meyn-yuh)

(1) The process of transferring designs from specially prepared paper to cardboard, paper, wood, metal, china, glass etc.

(2) A design so transferred (always rare).

1864: From the French décalcomanie, the construct being décalc- (representing décalquer (to trace, transfer (a design)) the construct being dé- (in the sense of “off”) + calquer (to press) + the interfix “-o-” + -manie (–mania).  Decalcomania is a noun; the noun plural is decalcomanias (the plural in French was decalcomania).  Disappointingly, the noun decalcomaniac is non-standard.

The French prefix dé- partly was inherited from the Middle French des-, from the Old French des-, from a conflation of Latin dis- (apart) (ultimately from the primitive Indo-European dwís).  In English, the de- prefix was from the Latin dē-, from the preposition dē (of, from (the Old English æf- was a similar prefix)).  It imparted the sense of (1) reversal, undoing, removing, (2) intensification and (3) derived from; of off.  In French the dé- prefix was used to make antonyms (as un- & dis- function in English) and was partially inherited from the Old and Middle French des-, from the Latin dis- (part), the ultimate source being the primitive Indo-European dwís and partially borrowed from Latin dē-.  In English de- became a most active word-forming element, used with many verbs in some way gained French or Latin.  The frequent use in Latin as “down, down from, from, off; down to the bottom & totally (hence “completely” (intensive or completive)) came to be reflected in many English words.  As a Latin prefix it was used also to “undo” or “reverse” a verb's action; it thus came to be used as a pure privative (ie “not, do the opposite of, undo”) and that remains the predominant function as a living prefix in English such as defrost (1895 and a symbol of the new age of consumer-level refrigeration), defuse (1943 and thus obviously something encouraged by the sudden increase in live bombs in civilian areas which need the fuses to be removed to render them safe) and de-escalate (1964, one of the first linguistic contributions of the political spin related to the war in Vietnam).  In many cases, there is no substantive difference between using de- or dis- as a prefix and the choice can be simply one of stylistic preference.  Calquer (to press) was from the Italian calcare, from the Latin calcāre (to tread on; to press (that sense derived from calx (heel)).

The suffix –mania was from the Latin mania, from the Ancient Greek μανία (mania) (madness).  In modern use in psychiatry it is used to describe a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels and as a suffix appended as required.  In general use, under the influence of the historic meaning (violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity), it’s applied to describe any “excessive or unreasonable desire; a passion or fanaticism” which can us used even of unthreatening behaviors such as “a mania for flower arranging, crochet etc”.  As a suffix, it’s often appended with the interfix -o- make pronunciation more natural.  The use of the suffix “-mania” in “decalcomania” may appear a curious use of an element in a word describing a process in graphical or decorative art given usually it’s appended to reference a kind of obsession or madness (kleptomania, bibliomania, megalomania etc) but here it’s used in a more abstract way.  The “-manie” in the French décalcomanie was used to suggest a fad or craze (the latter in the sense of something suddenly widely popular) and was not related to the way “mania” is used by mental health clinicians.  So, it was metaphorical rather than medical rather as “Tulipmania” came to be used of the seventeenth century economic bubble in the Netherlands which was centred on the supply of and demand for tulip bulbs.

TeePublic’s Lindsay Lohan decals (page one).

The noun decal (pronounced dee-kal or dih-kal) was in use by at least 1910 as a clipping of decalcomania, a process which came into vogue in France as early as the 1840s before crossing the channel, England taking up the trend in the early 1860s.  As a noun it referred to (1) the prepared paper (or other medium) bearing a image, text, design etc for transfer to another surface (wood, metal, glass, etc) or (2) the picture or design itself.  The verb (“to decal” and also as decaled or decaling) described the process of applying or transferring the image (or whatever) from the medium by decalcomania.  The noun plural is decals.  In the US, the word came to be used of adhesive stickers which could be promotional or decorative and this use is now common throughout the English speaking world.  The special use (by analogy) in computer graphics describes a texture overlaid atop another to provide additional detailing.

Variants of the transfer technique which came to be called decalcomania would for centuries have been used by artists before it became popularized in the mid-eighteenth century.  The method was simply to spread ink or paint onto a surface and, before the substances dried, it was covered with material such as such as paper, glass, or metallic foil, which, when removed, transferred the pattern which could be left in that form or embellished.  Originally the designs were deliberate but the innovation of the Surrealists was to create imagery by chance rather than conscious control of the materials.  The artistic merits of that approach can be discussed but young children have long taken to it like ducks to water, splashing colors on one side of a piece of paper and then folding it in half so, once pressed together, the shape is “mirrored”, creating what is called a “butterfly print”, something like the cards used in the Rorschach tests.

Although an ancient practice, it is French engraver Simon François Ravenet (1706–circa 1774) who is crediting with give the technique its name because he called it décalquer (from the French papier de calque (tracing paper) and this coincided with painters in Europe experimenting with ink blots to add “accidental” forms of expression into their work.  Ravenet spent years working in England (where usually he was styled Simon Francis Ravenet) and was influential in the mid century revival of engraving although it was in ceramics decalcomania first became popular although the word didn’t come into wide use until adopted by the Spanish-born French surrealist Óscar Domínguez (1906–1957).  It was perhaps the German Dadaist and Surrealist Max Ernst (1891–1976) who more than most exemplified the possibilities offered decalcomania and it was US philosopher turned artist Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) who said of him: “Like every consequential modern painter, Max Ernst has enforced his own madness on the world.”  Motherwell was of the New York School (which also included the Russian-born Mark Rothko (1903–1970), drip painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and the Dutch-American Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)) so he was no stranger to the observation of madness.  Condemned by the Nazis variously as an abstractionist, modernist, Dadaist and Surrealist, Ernst fled to Paris and after the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945) he was one of a number of artistic and political figures who enjoyed the distinction of being imprisoned by both the French and the Gestapo; it was with the help of US art patron and collector Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) he in 1941 escaped Vichy France and fled to the US.

That “help” involved their marriage, hurriedly arranged shortly after the pair landed in New York but although in the technical sense a “marriage of convenience”, she does seem genuinely to have been fond of Ernst and some romantic element wasn’t entirely absent from their relationship although it’s acknowledged it was a “troubled” marriage. A divorce was granted in 1946 but artistically, she remained faithful, his work displayed prominently in her New York gallery (Art of This Century (1942–1947)), then the city’s most significant centre of the avant-garde.  Through this exposure, although he never quite became integrated into the (surprisingly insular) circle of abstract expressionists, Ernst not only became acquainted with the new wave of American artists but contributed also to making European modernism familiar to Americans at a time when the tastes of collectors (and many critics) remained conservative.  He was an important element in her broader mission to preserve and promote avant-garde art despite the disruption of war.  So, the relationship was part patronage and part curatorial judgment and historians haven’t dwelt too much on the extent it was part love; even after their divorce, Guggenheim continued to collect pieces by Ernst and they remain in her famous “Venice Collection” at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.  As a wife she would have had opinions of her husband but as a critic she also classified and never said of Ernst as she said of Pollock: “...the greatest painter since Picasso.”

Untitled (1935), Decalcomania (ink transfer) on paper by André Breton.

For Ernst, the significance of decalcomania was not its utility as a tool of production (as it would appeal to graphic artists and decal-makers) but as something which would result in a randomness to excite his imagination.  What he did was use the oil paint as it ended up on canvas after being “pressed” as merely the starting point, onto which he built elements of realism, suggesting often mythical creatures in strange, unknown places but that was just one fork of decalcomania, Georges Hugnet (1906–1974) rendering satirical images from what he found while André Breton (1896–1966 and a “multi-media” figure decades before term emerged) used the technique to hone surrealism, truly decalcomania’s native environment.

Decalcomania in psychiatry and art: Three of the ink-blot cards (top row) included by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1885-1922) in his Rorschach Test (1927), a projective psychological tool in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed with psychological interpretation or historical statistical comparison (and now, also AI (artificial intelligence)) and three images from the Pornographic Drawing series by Cornelia Parker (bottom row).

Nor has decalcomania been abandoned by artists, English installation specialist Cornelia Parker (b 1956) producing drawings which overlaid contemporary materials onto surfaces created with the decalcomania process, the best known of which was the series Pornographic Drawing (1996) in which an inky substance extracted from pornographic film material was applied to paper, folded in half and opened again to reveal the sexualised imagery which emerged through the intervention of chance.  Although it’s speculative, had Ms Parker’s work been available and explained to the Nazi defendants at the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946) when they were considering the Rorschach Test cards, their responses would likely have been different.  Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi Deputy Führer 1933-1941) would have been disgusted and become taciturn while Julius Streicher (1885–1946; Nazi Gauleiter of Franconia 1929-1940) would have been stimulated to the point of excitement.

Europe after the Rain II, 1940-1942 (Circa 1941), oil on canvas by Max Ernst.

Regarded as his masterpiece, Europe after the Rain II (often sub-titled “An Abstract, Apocalyptic Landscape”) was intended to evoke feelings of despair, exhaustion, desolation and a fear of the implications of the destructive power of modern, mechanized warfare.  It was a companion work to an earlier to the earlier Europe after the Rain I, (1933), sculpted from plaster and oil on plywood in which Ernst built on a decalcomania base to render an imaginary relief map of Europe.  It was in 1933 Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) gained power in Germany.

Europe after the Rain I, (1933), oil & plaster on plywood by Max Ernst.

Even the physical base of Europe After the Rain I was a piece of surrealist symbolism, the plywood taken from the stage sets used for the film L'Âge d'or (1930) (The Age of Gold or the Golden Age depending on the translator's interpretation).  Directed by Spaniard Luis Buñuel (1900-1983), L'Âge d'or was a film focused on the sexual mores of bourgeois society and a critique of the hypocrisies and contradictions of the Roman Catholic Church's clerical establishment.  While one of France's first "sound films", it was, as was typical during what was a transitional era, told mostly with the use of title cards, the full-screen explanatory texts which appeared between scenes.

Snow Flowers (1929) oil on canvas by means of frottage & grattage by Max Ernst.

Technically, Ernst was an innovator in Decalcomania, in 1925 using the technique of frottage (laying a sheet of paper over a textured surface and rubbing it with charcoal or graphite).  The appeal of this was it imparted the quality of three dimensionality and Ernst liked textured surfaces as passages in a larger composition.  He also employed grattage (frottage’s sister technique) in which an object is placed under a piece of paper, which is then covered with a thin layer of pigment and once the pigment is scraped off, what is revealed is a colorful imprint of the object and its texture.

1969 Chrysler (Australia) VF Valiant Pacer 225 (left), 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo (centre) and cloisonné Scuderia Ferrari fender shield on 1996 Ferrari F355 Spider (right).

There was a time when decals on cars were, by some, looked down upon because they were obviously cheaper than badges made of metal.  That attitude changed for a number of reasons including their use on sexy, high-performance cars, the increasing use of decals on race cars after advertising became universally permitted after 1968 and the advent of plastic badges which, being cheaper to produce and affix, soon supplanted metal on all but the most expensive vehicles.  By the mid 1970s, even companies such as Porsche routinely applied decals and the Scuderia Ferrari fender shield, used originally on the cars run by the factory racing team, became a popular after-market accessory and within the Ferrari community, there was a clear hierarchy of respectability between thin, “stuck on” printed decals and the more substantial cloisonné items.

A video clip explaining why a Scuderia Ferrari fender shield costs US$14,000 if it's painted in the factory.

However, many of the cloisonné shields were non-authentic (ie not a factory part number), even the most expensive selling for less than US$1000 and there was no obvious way to advertise one had a genuine “made in Maranello” item.  Ferrari’s solution was to offer as a factory option a form of decalcomania, hand-painted by an artisan in a process said to take about eight hours.  To reassure its consumers (keen students of what the evil Montgomery Burns (of The Simpsons TV cartoon series) calls “price taggery”), the option is advertised (depending on the market) at around US$14,000.

Narthex

Narthex (pronounced nahr-theks)

(1) In church architecture, a portico (enclosed passage) at the west end of a basilica or church, usually at right angles to the nave and located between the main entrance and the nave.

(2) In botany, a taxonomic genus within the family Apiaceae (umbelliferous plants), now included in Ferula, Narthex asafoetida and thus obsolete.

1665-1675: From the Medieval Latin narthex, from the Medieval Greek narthex (enclosed porch, enclosure (the earlier meaning was “box”), from the Ancient Greek νάρθηξ (narthēx) (giant fennel, scourge (and later “casket” (the Modern Greek νάρθηκας (nárthikas)), and, on the basis of the suffix, probably a pre-Greek word.  The connection between the giant fennel plant and boxes is that the fibre from the stems of the plant was used to make boxes.  In Greek, the word was linked also to νάρδος (nárdos) (nard plant, spikenard, nardin, muskroot).  The Modern Greek νάρθηκας (narthekas) long ago relinquished the early senses and now means either the feature in church architecture or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of a broken arm.  The plant was well known in Greek mythology.  In the Θεογονία (circa 730–700 BC) (Theogonía (the genealogy or birth of the gods)), known in the West as The Theogony, an epic poem of a thousand-odd lines by the (8^th-7^th century BC) poet Hesod, it was in hollow fennel stalks that Prometheus conveyed fire from Heaven to Earth.  In Armenia the name for a narthex is gavit.  The adjectival form was narthecal and the plural either narthexes or narthices, the English form preferable for most purposes.

Narthexs were part of many early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches, located traditionally to the west of the nave and functioned (1) as a lobby area and (2) as the place where penitents were required to remain.  Although the archaeological record suggests there may have been some early churches with annexes or even small separate structures located nearby which fulfilled the latter function, narthexes seem quickly to have been integrated.  That means that structurally and architecturally, a narthex was part of the building but theologically was not, its purpose being to permit those not entitled to admission as part of the congregation (mostly catechumens and penitents) nevertheless to hear the service and (hopefully) be encouraged to pursue communion.

For ceremonies other than services, the narthex was otherwise a functional space, the church’s baptismal font often mounted there and in some traditions (both Eastern & Western) worshipers would sometimes anoint themselves and their children with a daub of holy water before stepping foot in the nave and some branches of the Orthodox Church use the narthex for funeral ceremonies.  There were also architectural variations in the early churches which persisted in larger building and cathedrals, the narthex divided in two, (1) an esonarthex (inner narthex) between the west wall and the body of the church proper, separated from the nave and aisles by a wall, trellis or some other means and (2) an external closed space, the exonarthex (outer narthex), a court in front of the church façade with a perimeter defined by on all sides by colonnades.

In the Western Church, reforms removed the requirement to exclude from services those who were not full members of the congregation which of course meant the narthex was rendered technically redundant.  However, the shape churches had assumed with a narthex included had become part of the tradition of the Church so architects continued to include the space, both as part of the nave structure and something semi-separated.  They attracted a number of names, borrowed mostly from secular buildings including vestibule, porch, foyer, hallway, antechamber, anteroom, entrance, entry, entryway, gateway, hall, lobby, portal & portico, the choice dictated sometimes by local tradition, sometimes by the nature of construction and sometimes, it seems to have been entirely arbitrary.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the esonarthex and exonarthex retained distinct liturgical functions, some rituals terminating in the exonarthex while services still exclusively penitential services are usually chanted in the esonarthex.  In dialectal northern English, the casual term for the penitents forced to remain in the narthex was “the narts”.

The NART Ferrari spiders

1966 Ferrari 275 GTS

Although Ferrari produced the 275 GTB (berlinetta (coupé)) (1964-1968) and 275 GTS (spider (roadster)) (1964-1966) in unison with substantially the same mechanical specification, the two had completely different coachwork, sharing not one external panel.  Styled by Pininfarina, the 275 GTS, elegant and well-proportioned, recalled the earlier 250 Cabriolets and buyers appreciated the sophistication of the improved specification but Luigi Chinetti (1901-1994), Ferrari's North American distributer, remembering the sensuous lines of the 250 California Spider (1957-1960), asked the factory for a run of spiders (roadsters) based on the 275 GTB.

1960 Ferrari 250 California Spider

Ferrari commissioned its traditional coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Scaglietti, to produce the series and in 1967, the first tranche of ten of a planned twenty-five was completed and delivered to the United States.  The spiders were based on the newly-released 275 GTB/4 which included a number of refinements to the original series, most notably the twin-cam heads, the factory rating the 3.3 Litre (201 cubic inch) V12 at 300 horsepower, a lift of 20 over the earlier single-cam engines.  Because Chinetti’s competition department was called the North American Racing Team (NART), the ten roadsters have always been referred to as the “NART Spiders” and although the factory never adopted the designation, Chinetti added to the tail of each a small cloisonné badge with the team's logo.  Interestingly, the factory also continued to list the cars as 275 GTB/4s, even though the usual naming convention would have been to designate them as 275 GTS/4s, a hint perhaps from Ferrari that it really wasn’t their idea.

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4

The addition of the badge, an unusual addition to anything from Scaglietti workshops, was not unreasonable given the spiders were very much a co-production, Chinetti receiving technical assistance and the precious benefit of official status from the factory but it was made clear that financial responsibility for the project lay exclusively with the US operation which would be required to pay for each prior to delivery.  On that basis things proceeded but, modified from production 275 GTB/4’s with (then typically Italian) labour-intensive coach-building techniques, the spiders were expensive and sales were slow, American buyers more seduced by Ferrari's new and more luxuriously trimmed and cheaper 330 GTS; even then air-conditioning was a persuasive inducement and the more spartan NARTs languished for some months in Chinetti’s showroom waiting for someone with a longing for the ways things used to be done.  As a consequence, it was only that first run of ten which was built but they’ve since become highly prized by collectors, NART #10709 in August 2013 selling at auction for US$27.5 million (including commission) at RM Sotheby's in Monterey, California.

1969 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider

Daytona 24 Hours, 1967: First-Ferrari 330 P3/4 (#23; Chris Amon & Lorenzo Bandini), Second-Ferrari 330 P4 (#24; Mike Parkes & Ludovico Scarfiotti and Third-Ferrari 412 P (#26; Pedro Rodriguez & Jean Guichet.

However, despite the modest demand for the NART spiders, Ferrari must have been convinced the concept was viable with full factory backing and when, in 1968, the 275 GTB/4 was replaced with the 365 GTB/4 (1968-1973), a companion spider was listed as an official model, again built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti.  This model came to be known as the Daytona in recognition of Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish in the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona even though the cars which contested the race were different models, the connection being some photographs from the race which were used in promotional material when the 365 GTB/4 was released.  It was the first new model since the 1-2-3 finish and the name stuck, an attachment about which Ferrari seemed never much enthused although views seem to have softened over the years and "Daytona" appears now even on the corporate website.  The V12 was now 4.4 litres (268 cubic inches) and generating some 340-355 horsepower (depending on market) although the figure on which many fixated was the claimed top speed of 174 mph (280 km/h), the need to out-pace the mark of 171 mph (275 km/h) set by the Lamborghini Miura P400 in 1966 said to be one of the design objectives.  Quite a few verified Ferrari’s claim; few attempted it in the somewhat trickier to handle Miura although contemporary reports confirmed the factory's number.  The Ferrari might actually have gone faster, given enough road.  Luigi Chinetti (1901–1994), who drove the competition version of the Daytona in the 1971 Le Mans 24 hour classic (the last year before the 3.7 mile (6 km) Mulsanne straight was spoiled by the chicanes the FIA imposed) reported than on Mulsanne it never actually stopped accelerating.  Remarkably, the Daytona finished fifth, even winning the mysterious Index of Thermal Efficiency.  Whatever it was, Ferrari must have been content with the thing's terminal velocity but Lamborghini wanted bragging rights and the more powerful Miura P400 S debuted in 1969 with a claim of 180 mph (290 km/h) which Autosport magazine in 1970 almost matched, clocking 288.6 km/h (179.3 mph).  That turned out to be the decade's high-water mark, the succeeding P400 SV more powerful still but a little slower because the aerodynamics were slightly compromised by the need to add a little width to accommodate some needed improvements and the use of fatter tyres which absorbed a surprising amount of energy.  It would be many years before a production car went faster than the P400 S.    

1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Daytona)

What was however learned from 275 NART experience was that the customers had become sybarites who wanted cars which looked like the austere roadsters of old but fitted with the accruements of modernity, air conditioning, power steering and electric windows.  On that basis the Daytona entered production and in what was by then a much more competitive market, the approach was vindicated, the Daytona close to doubling the sales of its predecessor, including 122 spiders.  Intriguingly, within a few years of the end of Daytona production ending, the realization hit that there wouldn’t again be something like the 365 GTS/4, the days of the big, front-engined V12s thought over and even if one returned, the feeling in the 1970s was that government regulations would be there would be no more roadsters and interest in Daytona spiders began to spike.  With only 122 produced, the math of the supply-demand curve was predictable and prices of spiders soared above the berlinetta, the factory having made more than ten times as many of them.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 (Daytona)

Thus stimulated was the roofectomy business which had long been part of the coach-building trade but few conversions were potentially as lucrative as a Daytona.  Done properly, the results could be satisfactory but, beyond the roof, there were a number of differences between the two and not all were done properly.  However it’s done, a genuine Scaglietti spider is going to be worth some multiple of a conversion in similar condition, which may now attract little premium over a berlinetta, originality now more of a fetish than it was in the 1970s and 1980s.  In 2013, the New York Times reported Ferrari, unhappy about what they regarded as fakes being traded, were going to try to pressure the high-end auction houses not to host such sales but the industry persists and there are a number of replica 275 NARTs although, not all were based on a twin-cam original, industry sources suggesting a premium above a berlinetta of 20% at most.  Other popular candidates for conversion include the Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupés (1968-1971; on which an exact conversion is also very challenging), Maserati Ghiblis (1967-1973) and the early Jaguar E-Types, technically a simpler job especially in years gone by when suitable cars were both cheaper and more numerous.

1976 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 NART by Michelotti 

In a footnote to the Daytona’s history, either not discouraged by his experience with the 275 NART or impressed by the prices the ten were commanding, Luigi Chinetti commissioned the construction of five 365 GTB/4 Daytona NART Spiders, the design turned over to Giovanni Michelotti (1921–1980).  In the spirit of 1950s minimalism, Michelotti’s first design, shown at the 1974 Turin Motor Show featured cut-down doors and a removable targa top but the second, built for the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, was more a conventional race-car, its lines attuned to aerodynamic enhancement although it never made the event because of a dispute with the notoriously difficult stewards.  Still interested in the concept however, in 1976 Chinetti ordered three more NART Daytonas from Michelotti, configured this time as road-cars with air conditioning and electric windows, the target market the US.  Unlike the 275 NARTs, the three NART Daytonas really were used cars, production of the originals having ceased in 1973.  One of them has been a fixture on the show and auction scene for a while, Michelotti using it as a display piece and it spent two years as an exhibit at the Le Mans Museum before bouncing around the premium auction circuit where it’s exchanged between collectors at increasingly higher prices.  The wedge shape certainly marks the design as a product of the age but so did the detailing: instead of a delicate cloisonné on the tail, NART was printed in big, bold, upper-case letters.

Clutch

Clutch (pronounced kluhch)

(1) To seize with or as with the hands or claws; snatch.

(2) To grip or hold tightly or firmly.

(3) In slang, to spellbind; grip a person's emotions, attention, or interest; to become tense with fright or panic (both archaic and rare outside US).

(4) To operate the clutch in a vehicle.

(5) The hand, claw, etc when grasping.

(6) Power of disposal or control; mastery (usually in the plural).

(7) The act of clutching; a snatch or grasp; a tight grip or hold.

(8) A device for gripping something.

(9) In automotive and other machinery, a mechanism for readily engaging or disengaging a shaft with or from another shaft or rotating part (a specialized form of coupling); a control, usually a pedal, for operating this mechanism.

(10) In sports, an extremely important or crucial moment of a game (rare outside US).

(11) Any critical position or situation; emergency (rare outside US).

(12) A small purse that can be carried in the hand and usually has no handle or strap (also called clutch bag).

(13) In poultry production, a hatch of eggs; the number of eggs produced or incubated at one time; a brood of chickens.

(14) One of several collective nouns for books or dancers.

1175–1225: A variant of (the now Northern English dialectal) cletch, from the Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen & cleken, a variant of clicchen, from the Old English clyccan (bring together, bend (the fingers), clench), akin to the Scots cleck (to hatch) from the Old Norse klekja (to hatch) and related to the Old Frisian kletsie (spear) & the Swedish klyka (clasp, fork).  It was cognate with the Irish glac (hand).  The origins of the English verb were Germanic, the source the Proto-Germanic klukjaną, from the Proto-Germanic klu- (to ball up, conglomerate, amass), from the primitive Indo-European glew- (to ball up; lump, mass).  It was cognate with the Swedish klyka (clamp, fork, branch). The noun is from Middle English cleche, cloche, & cloke (claw, talon, hand), related to the Scots cleuk, cluke & cluik (claw, talon), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.

The meaning "to grasp" is early fourteenth century; that of "to seize with the claws or clutches" from later that century.  The sense of "hold tightly and close" is from circa 1600, influenced by the Middle English cloke (a claw) whereas "a brood, the number of eggs incubated at any one time" (in reference to chickens) dates from 1721 and is a (southern England) dialectal variant of cletch (1690s), noun from the verb cleck which is from the 1400s Middle English clekken (to hatch, give birth to), most likely from a Scandinavian source such as the Old Norse klekja (to hatch), perhaps of imitative origin in the same way as cluck.  The original meaning (a grip, grasp, tight hold) dates from circa 1200, the form clutches (in the sense of “the hands" suggesting grasping rapacity or cruelty) not emerging until the 1520s.  A product of the industrial revolution, the mechanical clutch (movable mechanical coupling or locking and unlocking contrivance for transmitting motion) is from 1814 with the "seizing" sense extended to "a coupling device for bringing working parts together".  Originally applied to the static machines in mills, it was first used to describe the transmissions (as the coupling between crankshaft and gearbox) in 1899.  The now rare meaning "moment when heroics are required" is attested from the 1920s but never gained currency outside the US

The clutch purse

One’s eye is always drawn to a nice clutch purse.  Salma Hayek (b 1966) with Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) skull clutch, Evening Standard Theatre Awards, London, November 2015.

The modern definition of a “clutch” is a handbag without handles but with a detachable (sometimes a chain) strap and (usually) rectangular in shape.  Most often an evening bag, they can be used during the day, the most defining characteristics being they’re slim and primarily hand-held.  Bags and purses predate pockets and the clutch bag seems to have been a very early solution to the problem of carrying small, high-value possessions.  Evidence survives in the historic record in paintings and tapestries but few examples remain extant because almost all were made from perishable materials, a seven-hundred year old relic on display at London’s Courtauld Gallery the oldest known to exist.

For her much anticipated appearances at the Cannes film Festival, Salma Hayek has over the years made the clutch purse her signature accessory, guaranteeing attention from the photographers.

Lindsay Lohan with Carmen Steffens evening clutch, annual amfAR fundraiser at the Cannes Film Festival, Hotel Eden Roc in Cap D’Antibes, May 2017.

In many parts of the world, clutch bags never went away but in the west, the increasing emancipation in the nineteenth century meant bags became larger and the clutch all but disappeared.   It was the resurgence of classical style dresses in the 1920s which led to its revival because it was an ideal accessory for the diaphanous flapper dresses of the era, a style which didn’t detract from the line of the body.  They’ve not since faded from popularity and are now an essential fashion accessory, performing also the socially invaluable function of giving the hands something to do. Because clutch purses so often tend to the rectangular in all aspects, they’re often styled using the motifs associated with the art deco era of the early-mid twentieth century and most designers seem to favor the elaborate, decorative styles of the earlier (pre 1929 Wall Street crash) art deco.  Given the small size of a clutch purse, this can be a challenge to implement but so can the more simplified plays of flattened and stylized geometric shapes or abstract patterns.

Cadillac, Ferrari and the clutch pedal

Although not all early Ferraris were so equipped and by 1976 the 400 GT was even offered with an automatic transmission (General Motors’ famously robust Turbo-Hydramatic 400), the open-gate shift was for decades a motif associated with the marque.  However, advances in hydraulics and electronics meant that by the early twenty-first century, the inefficiencies and technical disadvantages attached to automatic transmissions had been overcome to the point where no Ferrari with a manual transmission, however expertly driven, could match their performance.  Using automatic transmissions meant a clutch pedal was no longer necessary but it didn’t mean clutches were deleted; instead they were automated.  Scuderia Ferrari first used the technology in the Tipo 640 Formula One car in 1989 and any doubts about its speed or reliability were quickly allayed, the machine winning at its maiden appearance in the Brazilian Grand Prix.  Development continued and in 1997, the automated system, dubbed F1, was offered as an option in the F355, the first road car so equipped, the electro-hydraulic system operated by paddles behind the steering wheel linked to the F355's otherwise conventional 6-speed manual transmission.

It certainly started a trend and paddles quickly become almost a de rigueur piece of technology for high-performance cars, the occasional old style, three-pedal model released only to cater for the dwindling number of drivers who enjoyed the experience of the way things used to be done.  In Ferrari dealerships, the numbers dwindled fast and the last Ferrari with a manual transmission was sold in 2012, the replacement a dual-clutch transmission (also called twin-clutch or double-clutch) which used two separate clutches for odd and even gear-sets although the separate transmissions had their respective clutches contained in one housing, working as a single unit.  The model which enjoyed the distinction of providing a swansong for the old open gate was the California.  Upon release in 2008 it was estimated between 5-10% of buyers would opt for a clutch pedal but, between then and late 2011, a mere three were ordered (some sources say two or five but the factory insists it was three).

2012 Ferrari California (top) and 2012 Cadillac CTS-V sedan.

So the last decade at Maranello has been automatic (technically “automated manual transmission”) all the way and although a consequence of the quest for ultimate performance, it wasn’t anything dictatorial and had customer demand existed at a sustainable level, the factory would have continued to supply manual transmissions.  Amusingly, Cadillac had in 2004 begun offering a model with a manual transmission for the first time since the 1953 Series 75 (among the Cadillac crowd the Cimarron (1982-1988) is never spoken of except in the phrase "the unpleasantness of 1982" ) and by 2013, while one could buy a Cadillac with a clutch pedal, one could not buy such a Ferrari.  For most of the second half of the twentieth century, few would have thought that anything but improbable or unthinkable.

Whether that’s going to change isn’t certain but in 2025 Ferrari disclosed the idea was being considered.  Not only have there been requests from “customers in good standing with the factory” but also it will have been noted a niche industry has emerged where specialists convert the paddle-shifted into cars with the traditional gated transmission, complete with a clutch pedal.  In some cases this is done exclusively with the use of genuine Ferrari parts while others use a mix of those and some machined as replicas; either way the build costs tens of thousands of dollars so it’s easy to see why the feeling in  Maranello may be there’s a lucrative gap in the market.  It’s not that Ferrari’s view about the technical superiority of the automated transmission has changed, just that the laws of physics and the realities of human physiology interact to impose a limit on the performance it’s possible for modern cars to attain.  While years of technological advances and investments in engineering probably could make cars quicker and faster, Ferraris in their present form already offer performance beyond what most drivers safely can exploit (certainly on public roads).  Indeed, Ferrari note the AWD (all-wheel-drive) SF90 XX already is within two-tenths of a second of the 2.3 seconds the current Formula One race car takes for the 0-100 km/h (0—60 mph) run and there’s little point in pushing further in this direction because the Formula One drivers of today have a very different physiology from those of earlier generations because of the specific muscle development required to withstand the stresses and G-forces.  A typical human simply wouldn’t cope.

In the Ferrari boardroom, when pondering the return of the gated transmission, the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 probably won't much be discussed but the principle is the same: The three-speed automatic (left) is quicker while the four-speed manual (right) is more fun.

So while the focus on ultimate performance might be restricted to a handful of special models, the famous gated shifter might make a comeback, not because it’s better but because it’s more fun.  In the post-war years the British manufacturers sold to Americans shiploads of their underpowered, antiquated roadsters, not because they were fast but because they were so entertaining to drive and the collector market does support the allure: all else being equal, between a Ferrari with a gated shift and an otherwise identical one with paddles, it’s the one with the clutch pedal which will command a premium.  That preference extends to other segments such as the Porsche 911 & Jaguar E-Type and while with that pair the manual gearbox offers both higher speeds and more fun, even though many US muscle cars were in the 1960s & 1970s ordered with automatic gearboxes because that was the quickest way along a drag-strip’s ¼ mile, it’s now the ones with a four-speed manual which are most sought.  The attraction for Ferrari is of course that fun can be just another packaged commodity on the option list and if it does re-appear, the gated transmission is expected to be expensive because while its old technology, it needs to be profitable and the factory are well acquainted with the margins options offer.  On the 2019 812 Superfast for example, in addition to the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) of US$561,272, buyers could tick the box for, inter alia, the AFS (Adaptive Front Lights) & SBL (Static Bending Lights) combo (US$3,375), yellow brake calipers (US$1,519), a pair of cloisonné prancing horse fender shields (US$15,000), carbon-fibre dashboard inserts (US$7,593) and a golf bag matching the interior trim (US$10,000).  All those were cheaper than matte paint (US$40,000) but Bentley charge US$160,000 for a Breitling clock so it’s not unreasonable to expect a Ferrari gated shift to list well into six figures and to "test the waters", at least initially, availability will be restricted to a single model although, as the "customer is always right", if demand clearly exists, supply will follow.