OILING THE WHEELS

Shell's early advertising posters were works of art in their own right, and are now being celebrated in a lavish new coffee-table book

- DAMON COGMAN

Since the dawn of the motoring age, there has been a huge shift in how we relate to our favourite four-wheeled friends. In the beginning, the horseless carriage was a means of displaying your wealth in a smoky, fossil-fuel-burning triumph of noise and spectacle. As we charge towards a cleaner and more sustainable future, however, the one thing that has remained from the early days is the desire to jump aboard our machines and explore as much of our surroundings as humanly possible.

In the early days, one of the triggers for our adventures was the inspirational advertising of oil and fuel behemoth Shell. The first of its beautiful posters appeared in 1920, and they have been gracing our roadsides and garage forecourts ever since. The colours and messages of a life beyond the norm encouraged motorists throughout the world to fill up their tanks and drive to new and exciting places.