Raymond Sheppard and Car magazines

Autocar 22 Feb 1952

Raymond Sheppard produced many drawings for advertisements over the years - the most famous being the Esso Tiger (more of which another day). I wanted to focus on Autocar and The Motor magazines today as I was so surprised to discover Sheppard here!

Autocar 12 Dec 1952

According to Grace's Guide (the leading source of information about industry and manufacturing in Britain from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the present time),Iliffe and Sons Ltd, of Coventry created "The Autocar (price 3d. weekly), which was founded as far back as 1895, and has always been regarded as the leading motor paper and the authority on all motoring matters, not only in this country, but also abroad. It enjoys the largest circulation of any automobile paper published throughout the world.".  

Apparently it still has 16 editions worldwide! "In 1988, it absorbed its long-time rival The Motor magazine, founded on January 28 1903, briefly calling itself Autocar & Motor afterwards, before reverting to Autocar", says Wikipedia.

The cover picture appears to have started in the 1920s from covers I can find on the Net, with major car companies and also secondary car industries taking the poll position such as 'Fram Oil Cleaner' and more relevant to this article 'Lockheed Hydraulic Brakes'.

The Sheppard illustrations are in full colour and as you can see show a black-headed gull, a kingfisher, a sparrowhawk catching a pigeon in mid-air, a kingfisher and a herd of elephants. Both magazines had similar covers which must have caused confusion for the gentleman commuting to the City when grabbing it from a railway newspaper stand in 1952 and 1953

Would they have sold more car parts, or got a loyal following for Lockheed as a result of a beautifully drawn naturalistic setting? I doubt it myself, but I'm glad Sheppard got the job!

As a footnote all of these covers have the initials C.J.L. on them under the 'banner' Lockheed blurb. Any ideas want this meant? The advertising firm who sold the artwork to the magazine?

The Motor 26 Nov 1952

The Motor 24 Dec 1952

  

Autocar 18 Sep 1953
and also The Motor 4 March 1953