Simanaitis Says
On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff
LEO’S ART
THE ART of Leo Bestgen enriched the pages of Road & Track for four decades. His illustrations entertained readers of R&T columns ranging from “Miscellaneous Ramblings” through “Side Glances” to my own “Tech Tidbits.” In fact, his loose-but-not-careless style found its informative way into purely technical articles.
Here are several of my favorite Bestgen pieces. Also, another has already appeared at this website: wp.me/p2ETap-c8 includes Leo’s Sherlock Holmes.
His fine character study of friend Innes Ireland was inspired by a post-race photograph of this grand prix driver. Leo recognized immediately that intensity and determination were the theme.
Innes Ireland, illustration by Leo Bestgen; Road & Track, March 1994.
It was always good fun to give Leo the manuscript of a story and see what he’d conjure up. One “Tech Tidbits” column bounced around concepts of iconic industrial design: Raymond Loewy’s Studebakers, Lurelle Guild’s Electrolux vacuum cleaner and other stuff.
Blond Admirer of Industrial Design, illustration by Leo Bestgen; “Tech Tidbits,” Road & Track.
Leo and I had a good chuckle over his artistic interpretation of “and other stuff.”
One of Leo’s last contributions to R&T came within two months of his death, at age 61, from a heart attack in 2002. “Tech Tidbits” reviewed a book on Wunderkabinetten, shadowboxes of miscellaneous art and collage. The same column also had details of Mercedes-Benz offering full-size operating replicas of the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, generally regarded as the world’s first automobile.
The Patent-Motorwagen of Karl Benz, 1886.
Leo and I chatted about an illustration, but instead he proposed his own interpretation of the Wunderkabinett theme.
Benz Patent-Motorwagen Wunderkabinett, by Leo Bestgen; Road & Track, June 2002.
The pastoral scene in his Wunderkabinett arose through Leo learning that Karl’s wife, Bertha, took the car on a 121-mile round-trip driving adventure in 1888.
Detail of Benz Patent-Motorwagen Wunderkabinett, by Leo Bestgen.
I’m not surprised by the dog chasing Bertha and her Patent-Motorwagen. The cowboy encouraging her on? He’s part of the wizardry and charm of Leo Bestgen, rest his soul. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2012
Simanaitis Says 
Have you ever heard if any of Mr. Bestgen’s artwork has ever come up for sale?
Not to my knowledge. Perhaps some might know.