The floating glove was used as a way to show where and how to grab things, like, in this case, luggage or the shifter. Sometimes you’d see versions of it grabbing knobs on dashboards or tracing out shift patterns. It was sort of an alternative to an arrow for things that required direct hand manipulation. The fact it’s a glove was a workaround from having to draw an actual severed human hand, which likely may have creeped out people who enjoy choosing a car without seeing dismemberments.
I think the idea has adapted into the modern era with the various hand cursor icons that have come up in the age if graphical computer interfaces, with the most common variant starting with Susan Kare’s pioneering work for the Macintosh in the early 1980s. You know what else is interesting about this pic? The spare tire location on the 4CV. As you can see, it started on the underside of the hood, which must have made the hood heavy and awkward to lift. By 1956, they moved it, which you can see here (1960 example but it’s the same):
Also, that funny-shaped suitcase in the 1954 pic is a funny visual cheat there. Who has suitcases like that? I think the battery moved in front of the tire in the later version, too. There’s also a bit of crash protection that comes from the tire being vertical and up front, too. I mean, in a 4CV, you should take whatever you can get. Such a brilliant combination of mundane things to signal sporting performance, and relate to the person actually involved (which is rare these days, as everything in that vein now is about the vehicle, not the driver…fitting what driving is fast becoming I guess). I’d have added a bottle of rouge if I wasn’t thinking of that Parisienne trim … And is that the ratchet plate exposed to the open at the base? Is the pawl just in the shaft of the lever? What’s the eyelet just above it? Is that a seatbelt catch? Backwards land is freaky. I’m thinking something like this: https://everydaycycles.com/products/road-runner-mountain-bike-wedge-full-frame-bag
