Willys-Knight "70" / El Modelo Setenta - Brochure - 1927-1930

Lot of Willys-Knight advertising catalogs and Otto Gerdtzen machinery. Spain, ca. 1925–1930

Exceptional set of original Spanish advertising catalogs corresponding to the American brand Willys-Knight, accompanied by a rare commercial catalog from Otto Gerdtzen, importer and distributor of agricultural machinery with offices in Gijón and Madrid.

The lot constitutes an extraordinary testimony of automotive and industrial advertising in interwar Spain, notable for the rich graphics of its illustrations, executed in a marked Art Deco style, and for preserving texts in Spanish intended for the Spanish market.

Among the most notable pieces are:

* “El Modelo Setenta – Willys-Knight Seis”, with a color illustration of the Model 70 and the motto “Duración larga y económica”.
* “Modelo 70 – El Nuevo Willys-Knight Seis”, dedicated to the new model equipped with the prestigious Knight sliding-valve engine.
* “Willys-Knight Great Six” and “Gran Seis”, with elegant illustrations of luxury cars from the late 1920s.
* Technical booklet “Porqué el Motor Knight es Supremo”, explaining the operation and advantages of the revolutionary sliding-valve engine (Knight Sleeve Valve), one of the most advanced mechanical solutions of its time.
* Delco-Luz catalog, devoted to autonomous electrical systems for homes, chalets, clubs and agricultural holdings, reflecting the rural electrification process of the era.
* Illustrated Otto Gerdtzen catalog, Spanish distributor of agricultural machinery, showing a straw cutter branded “Triunfo”, with technical description, prices and business addresses in Gijón and Madrid.

All prints feature careful typographic composition and excellent lithographic quality, with illustrations typical of graphic design of the late 1920s. They constitute a documentary source of great interest for the study of the introduction of the American automobile in Spain, the evolution of commercial advertising and agricultural mechanization during the first third of the 20th century.

This type of documentation was conceived for ephemeral use, so the copies preserved complete are now scarce and especially valued by collectors of automobilia, historical advertising, Art Deco graphic design and the history of the Spanish industry.

Era: ca. 1925–1930.
Provenance: Spain.
Content: Original illustrated catalogs and brochures of Willys-Knight, Delco-Luz and Otto Gerdtzen.
Condition: Good, with wear, small stains and usage marks typical of commercial publications from more than a century ago.