Having a quiet day? Fancy yourself as a bit of a car spotter?
Click the link to see lots of Tintin cars, mostly based on real automobiles. If you click on any illustration with the little red 'C' you'll get the answer!
http://dardel.info/tintin/tout.html
Tintin books are renouned for the accuracy of the backgrounds and Tintin creator, Herge, loved his cars. Cue a cartoon-classic-car-fest.
See how many you can get.
Hey Shuie,
Thanks for the link. Tin Tin is a huge part of my youth. I think I had them all at one moment or the other. Great history lessons in there, not only the cars. It is amazing how many great cartoons come from Belgium. The way he concentrated on the important things for that image and left out the rest is great, stylized in a loose way I guess I would call it. Sometimes lots of detail and other times almost none. Haven't read them in a while but I will soon again, even if it is just for nostalgic reasons. 
Danman said: The way he concentrated on the important things for that image and left out the rest is great, stylized in a loose way I guess I would call it.
The art of a good cartoon. I saw a DVD of Sin City (slightly more sinister than TinTin, granted!) and they translated that very point from cartoon into film very well.
Looks like great stuff, wonderful art.
Wish I could play, but of course it's Brit- and Euro-centric. I get a goodly some of them, but I'm not as good at the fine details there.
I did get the American cars.
Hergé was fantastic, and us Belgians are pretty proud of him too.
He's influenced several generations of illustrators that came after him, (Dutch) Joost Swarte and (Belgian) Ever Meulen in particular. Here's an Ever Meulen one I've always liked, this one is not that heavy on the Hergé influence, but it's still there :
Catdaddy,
Sin city was great. Incredible how they got that cartoon atmosphere in a movie.
Walter,
Ever Meulen is great too. I had to look up who it was but then recognized the cartoons from Humo I think. This one is very nice. He creates a great atmosphere.
He's illustrated a lot for Humo indeed Dan.
I was never exposed to Tintin as a child, but my son was immersed in it. Both via the books and the very good recent Canadian TV adaptations. The cars and planes are great, but the moon rocket is my favorite.
Wow, I'm a massive Tintin fan. I've got almost the whole set left over from when I was a kid and my son enjoys them just as much as I did. Ditto Asterix!
They're certainly worth reading again as an adult Danman. Some of the ones I liked least as a boy are now amongst my favourites e.g. The Castafiore Emerald.
But my favourite Tintin car was always the Lancia Aurelia in The Calculus Affair.
Hi Shuggie,
Oh yes, I still enjoy reading them, only I haven't read any Tin Tin lately because I think my brother has those. The titels you mention....... we had them in dutch and he is called Kuifje (little quiff translated). There are several I remember, the blue Lotus and I can't remember the dutch title for the Castafiore Emerald but I know which one you mean.
And you mention Asterix: I have all Asterix and actually I think the Tin Tins were my brothers and we shared then. I love Asterix, these were my childhood history lessons. So much fun. Those poor Romans..... And the other comic that I have all of is Gaston (Guust Flater in dutch). A dreamy office clerk who wants to be an inventor and messes things up constantly. Always loved those and that is Belgian too. And he has a great old car as well, A Fiat 509.
That was a great link, Shuie. Really enjoyed that. Brilliant artwork! I never really got into Tintin as a kid, I was one for Asterix. Still am. It's hilarious!
Asterix is certainly educational. I was picking my son up from school when he was 7 years old and his teacher asked to see me.
Apparently he's used the word 'bum' in creative writing. The teacher told him he couldn't use 'rude' words and he's have to come up with an alternative, so he used 'gluteus maximus' instead. He'd picked it up from Asterix At The Olympic Games.
She was well impressed with this latin speaking child, and there I was beaming with fatherly pride when my son cut in with "it's another word for arse you know". Fortunately she was a really cool teacher.
Yep, Asterix is (and always has been!) way too cool!
I love the things that kids come up with. My stepson (former stepson, seeing as I'm divorced now!) showed his mum some writing he'd done. She says "Well done, that says 'cut': C-U-T, cut". He comes back with "No it doesn't, it says 'cu-t', it's a swear word"... He was 5 at the time, and this was before I had the pleasure of his acquiantance!
It's funny, I read all Asterix books in dutch but 'At the olympic games' I have in English, so I know that part. Very funny how he decided to use it.
It is great how historically correct Asterix is, ok with some variations: like the reason that there are Dolmen all around france...... They really knew history and played with it in a nice way. You can't imagine how often I could use my Asterix based knowledge in history classes.
The Asterix books contained some pretty spot on political parodies too. Pretty sophisticated stuff really. That's why I love them so much. As a kid you could just enjoy watching the Celts beating the crap out of the Romans. Then as an adult you can still enjoy seeing the Celts beating the crap out of the Romans plus you can laugh at the authors lampooning the EU, petit nationalism and religious superstition. Obviously a pair of smart arse 'liberals' the pair of them
RIP Giscinny.
Yes RIP Goscinny. Too bad Uderzo took over the writing after Goscinny died. The later Asterix stories are really bad compared to the old ones. He should have just stuck to drawing them.
You are right about the deeper meaning and cracks at society they put in there, something you don't get as a child but then as a grown up you suddenly realize. I'm sure they had great fun working on the stories. And to bring over the top violence in such a fun way is nice too. 
You're right about Underzo's srories I'm sorry to say.
As for the over the top violence. Remember when Asterix lost his temper when he and Obelix were being sold as slaves in 'The Laurel Wreath'? I'll never forget the look on that guy's face when Asterix hit him. I almost died laughing.
We should stop talking about Asterix before someone tells us off for hijacking a Tintin thread. However Asterix does appear in one Tintin book and ancestors of the Thompson twins appear in an Asterix episode.
If you can tell me which ones Danman I'll post you a DVD of that BBC guitar history series
Glad so many of you are enjoying this. Mostly us Europeans, I guess- but Tintin never really broke through big in America.
Herge did have an exquisite taste in cars, though. With American cars at their zenith in style and engineering excellence when the books were written, it's no wonder he cherry-picked so much great yank iron. The finest European cars are there, too. The Lancia Aurelia made for a great chase with the Chrysler, Shuggie.
Quite happy to let Asterix into things, just as Herge was when he slotted him into the Mardi Gras scene in Tintin and the Picaros.
Ever Meulen's work looks fantastic, Walter. Still has the ligne clair, but with a stylised American touch. Beautiful.
Shuie said: Ever Meulen Still has the ligne clair, but with a stylised American touch.See, now that's exactly what I meant, but you say it more elegantly! The one I posted is fairly old though, and he's evolved to an even more personal style that combines his earlier style with an obvious cubist influence. Whew, that sounds very pretentious, haha.
Ok, Shuggie,
the last about Asterix.
Of course the Thompson twins (Jansen en Janssens for the dutch) showed up in Asterix and the Belgians announcing that Ceasar has arrived. I knew that one but the other one I had forgotten but luckily I read other posts too: Shuie was so kind to mention that Asterix showed up in Tin Tin and the Picaros.
PS: yes that is actually the first Asterix we had as a child and the reason I started buying them all. You mean the guy on that stand that was holding the disk and making arrogant remarks? That is hilarious, and his arms aiming all strange directions after the hit. That is an image I looked at over and over again as a child, so funny! This is all from memory because I have them still stored in a box in the attick untill I get my house finished.....
Well since you admitted you didn't know and Shuie jumped in with the answer anyway I'm afraid you don't win the DVD. Tough but fair I think
You are right, sadly enough, and I am a way too honest person in for this world. Maybe you should send the DVD to Shuie.
This is like reading about an alternate reality.
As a dumb murrican, I'd never heard of any of these...not Tin Tin nor Asterix. Comic books, I assume? Er, graphic novels?
They sound great, wish we had them over here. Are they reprinted in book-sized volumes? Sounds like good stuff for the grandkids.
The Hergé reminds me of certain late 40s-early 50s American animations, vaguely urban in setting, with art deco and those great long fat-fendered cruisers everywhere. You watch that stuff as a kid with no inkling how it's conditioning you for life! Love that look; those cartoons (I don't even remember which they were - that stylized kinda parody of upscale urban life was pervasive) probably planted the seeds of my instinctive automotive and architectural tastes.
Comic books. Fairly sure both Tin Tin and Asterix have been translated to English.
(just checked, both are on Amazon in any case, in English - highly recommended, total classics, and as stated above, highly enjoyable for adults too, Tin Tin mostly for the style, Asterix for clever humor)
And this link is worth reading too : "Ligne Claire" wikipedia
Yes they both are translated into English. Have had English versions of them.
They really are like common knowledge for west Europeans I guess. Like you had Peanuts and Yogi Bear etc we had these. Tin Tin dates back to the thirties I think and went on until the eightties or so. They really are not only for children. We all read them as children and that is great but when you reread them as a grown up they still are great and maybe even better. Because there are so many things in there about history, social life and politics that children dont understand. Humor for all ages.
