Once again the United States Postal Service has honoured the classic car world with a set of five commemorative postage stamps. This new set features classic American cars of the 1950s and includes a 1957 Chrysler 300C, a 1957 Lincoln Premiere, a 1957 Pontiac Safari, a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk (above) and a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado. An article in a New York Times blogsite quotes a spokesman for the postal service, Ray Daiutolo Sr., saying the cars on the new stamps were selected by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee after it was "inundated" by suggestions from the public following the success of the first series. Collector interest made the sporty cars set of 2005 one of the best-selling American stamp issues of all time, he said. Both series are based on paintings by 89-year-old Art Fitzpatrick, whose illustrations for automobile ads in the 60's and 70's have themselves become collector's items. This is a return engagement for Studebaker, as its Starliner hardtop was included in the first set of stamps. The Golden Hawk is a development of the Starliner, less elegant but typical of the period when fins, chrome, and multi-tone paint jobs were the rage.

[image: USPS]