As much as the new cars on display, so are the models hired by manufacturers to help showcase the automobiles to the largely male audiences attending car shows around the globe.
Once just pretty women, auto show models now know their car stuff. Which, of course, makes them even more attractive.
Margery Krevsky, co-founder of the Productions Plus agency in 1981, became one of the major booking agents for auto show models. She’s now the author of the book Sirens of Chrome.
The 192-page volume (ISBN 1-879094-84-3, Momentum Books, $24.95) chronicles the history of the “human hood ornaments” from 1900 to now.
The book details:
“These human hood ornaments and walking encyclopedias of fuel-economy and towing-capacity specifications are descendants of ancient Greek lore. They seek not to dash ships upon rocks but to entice the purchase of land-worthy ships to sail upon the highways and byways of America.”
Krevsky writes, of course, with intimate knowledge of her topic. And there there photos of automotive history and women who work in the evolving and still extraordinarily popular auto show model phenomenon.
https://youtu.be/OsGexK-dW24
Article Last Updated: June 22, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
