A while ago fellow C4 owner/member David Romer pointed out to me that the car featured in the Vargas album art for the The Cars Candy-O album is a 365 GTC/4. Sure 'nuf, it is.



I picked up a copy of the LP yesterday and the store had 2 other copies. All have some dark semi-circle marks top and bottom from the vinyl inside (the cover is largely white). Prices were $2.99 and $3.99 I think. If anyone wants one let me know and I'll pick them up next time I'm out there.

Full story on the art at www.superseventies.com/ac8candyo.html .

Yep. WIll pick one up next time.

I've been a total flake. I've had one here on my desk for Michael for months but never sent it out. I suppose I should make good on that one before I promise to get another.

Last time I was at Amoeba there were about 4 to choose from. Given that there is an Amoeba Records on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley I think you can more easily just get your own Dave. If you have trouble let me know but there are always a bunch in the Hollywood store. I have no reason to suspect Berkeley to be any different. Hell, it can't be ALL Grateful Dead albums in there.

Shipping is really the issue. I don't have any good packing materials for them but I'm sure I can figure something out if I put my mind to it.

Just a strange update on this cover art...  I was in Newport, RI a couple weeks ago at a candy store with my kids and they had a reproduction of this album cover on canvas for sale.  It was 11x14 inches and priced at $11.99. 

 

I've since found it online as well if you want to decorate the office or garage.  It appears to be available in a 24x24 inch size also.   And if you really want to impress the judges at your next Concours d'Elegance then sport you favorite Ferrari model on your chest.   Who knew it was available in so many mediums?  Not me.  The story on the art:

The album cover was painted by artist Alberto Vargas, known for his paintings of pin-up girls that appeared in Esquire and Playboy magazines in the 1940s and 1960s. The idea to hire Vargas came from drummer David Robinson, the band's artistic director and a collector of pin-ups. The 83-year-old Vargas had retired several years earlier but was persuaded to take the assignment by his niece, who was a fan of The Cars. Released in 1979, Candy-O was the Cars' second album. To produce a photo that Vargas could use as a guide, Robinson set up a shoot at a Ferrari dealership in Beverly Hills (Hollywood Sport Cars, owned by the Vandagriffs) and asked the Elektra art department to hire a blonde with "a nice figure." The model's name is Candy Moore (purely a coincidence, says Robinson). She and Robinson struck up a brief romance; they've now been out of touch for years. "I wouldn't mind hearing from her," says Robinson. "Maybe I will now."

Vargas's buxom babe helped Candy-O go platinum in eight weeks, despite accusations that the cover is sexist. "Maybe it is," says Robinson with a laugh. "I don't know."

Vargas, then eighty years old, came to see a Cars concert in L.A. "He just said it wasn't his kind of music," says Robinson, "but he was impressed because he could see that we worked really hard. And he said there were beautiful girls all over the place. He liked that very much."

 

Jeff

Thanks for the background on the art. I finally got a copy of the album on Ebay

Dave