Topic: Art and cars #17 - Ever Meulen, Jackie Brenston, Cormac McCarthy and the 1949 Futuramic Oldsmobile

[Ray B.]

Art and cars. Painters, writers, musicians, actors, movie makers: in a nutshell, artists. Cars of special importance in their work, or in their life.

These 3 artists are all related to the same car. Not the same model, maybe, but same brand, same period, same engine.
Who are they, and what is this car? (You have to explain the precise connection between each artist and that car)
Two points for each one, as this is not easy. One for the car.

[autominded]

Well here's a try, probably not correct but I did find some names.

The car is Pontiac.

1st picture
In the 60's many Pontiac brochures were made by the artist Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman.  I did see some picture from Art but not from Kaufman. My guess is that the first picture is Van Kaufman.

2nd picture
I think that this is Elvin Jones born in Pontiac.

3rd picture
I don't know why but I think it is Hal Needham. Director of Smokey and the Bandit....with a Pontiac in a lead role.

[Ray B.]

Sorry, autominded, it's neither a Pontiac, neither any of the men you propose. The interesting thing is that you managed to find an ID for each of them, though.

[Ray B.]

I will add that, for two of those artists, you are whether spot on, whether quite close of their specialty.

[Ray B.]

I will add that, for two of those artists, you are whether spot on, whether quite close of their specialty.

Clues anyone?
In addition to that, I will add that:
- the third man (that is the one whose profession was wrongly identified) received the most important national award recently.
- the car that all three have in common has already been featured several times in group puzzles.

[Ray B.]

As guesses are few, I keep replying to my own puzzles.
What's funny about those Art and cars puzzle or such, is that quite often puzzlers will give a name that would be the right answer, but in another puzzle. Or that such a name appears in another type of puzzle.
This one is no exception.

[neilshouse]

I think I've solved a good proportion of this puzzle.
17a is Ever Meulen the comic book artist.
17b is Jackie Brenston.
I have no idea who 17c is.

The car they all have in common is an Oldsmobile.
Ever Meulen is the owner of a 1949 Olds Convertible and Jackie Brenston sung the song 'Rocket 88'.

[Ray B.]

Neilshouse, this is amazing.
I am not surprised that you found Jackie Brenston, but I didn't think there would be a puzzler who knew Ever Meulen, and his love story with his 49 Olds (a 98 Sedanet, not a convertible). Although a great artist in my eyes, he is little known outside Belgium, New-York and Paris.
Now 17c's face you don't see often too, but he is better known, especially since this award.

[Ray B.]

I've read something about clues in another section.
Now, about "artist" 17c. The photo was a bit old. Would a more recent one ring a bell?

[Ray B.]

In the last opus of this man, there is no car, if I remember well, but  something that rolls plays a very important part.

[Ray B.]

Still no idea about the last one?
We know that the man is not a film director.
We know he recently received the most sought-after national award in his field.
We know the car is an Oldsmobile Rocket, circa 1949 (but I admit that knowing how he is connected to one requires a good knowledge of his work).

Does this ring a bell?

[Ray B.]

In the last opus of this man, there is no car, if I remember well, but  something that rolls plays a very important part.

And the very title of this work is a word intimately connected to the automobile.

[neilshouse]

Is he a writer?

[Ray B.]

YES!

[Ray B.]

He is a writer, and the picture above is the cover of one of novels.

[Allemano]

Cormac McCarthy is the man we're looking for and the novel's title is "The Road" for which he got the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

[Ray B.]

At last! Bravo, Allemano!
Great writer, fantastic book. There there's no Olds rocket in this one. It must be searched in another. The way it appears is quite funny.
You have a point for McCarthy, and there will be another if you find the car. Locked for you 72 hours.

[Allemano]

is it to find in one of the books of the so called "The Border Trilogy"? And do have rabbits something to do do with it?

[Allemano]

My guess would tend to "Cities of the Plain" ("..a brand new eighty-eight")

[Ray B.]

Amazing! Yes.
I don't have my english copy of the book with me right now. When I do I'll scan the page.

To sum this up, a character tells a story about crossing the plains of west Texas, at night, in a brand new 88. It's a long ride and they push the fast car easily to a 100-110 mph, encountering no living soul except lots of jackrabbits jumping here and there. After a few hours of driving, they notice that the engine has an illogical tendency to heat up. They stop in a service station to get gasoline. Another car is there, with a young couple. The girl then looks at the front of their Olds and starts screaming: the wide gaping grille of the Olds (who has been compared to a catfish mouth) is completeley filled with dead bodies of jackrabbits pressed together in a bloody cake.

The count is: neilshouse 4points, Allemano 2 points

[Allemano]

on google books you easily find "A Cormac McCarthy companion: the Border trilogy" so, I only had to scroll the article to "Oldsmobile" or "Olds".