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The Windy Varga Zippos                                                                               


Zippo Manufacturing Co.'s first national print ad appeared in Esquire Magazine in December 1937 and carried the image of the now famous pin-up girl leaning into the wind lighting a cigarette.  The "Windproof Beauty" design was the creation of Enoch Bolles, one of  the earliest and most widely published glamour illustrators at the time, and appeared in many Zippo print ads in the late 1930's and early 1940's.  The image was also reproduced on the boxes in which the Zippo lighters were packaged from 1938 to 1941, after which production shifted to the World War II black crackle Zippos in 1942 with their simplified packaging.  The Windproof Beauty reappeared on Zippo boxes for a brief period in early 1946.


The image was reintroduced in 1982 on Zippo boxes in celebration of Zippo's  50th Anniversary.  In 1993  the image was reproduced on "The Varga Girl 1935" Zippo which came in a collector tin.  "Varga" was the name used for Alberto Vargas, the artist from Peru who became famous for his pin-up calendars in the late 1940's and the Vargas girls in Playboy Magazine during the 1960's.  Vargas did work at Esquire Magazine under his name without the "s", but he did not do any work for Esquire until late 1940.  The implication that the design was created by Vargas when in fact it was created by Enoch Bolles resulted in some copyright problems for Zippo which have since been resolved and the famous Zippo Lady is now called "Windy" and has become very popular with collectors with many variations of her image continuing to be produced.
     
         

1992 brass Zippo with prototype design with
Windy for the 1932-1937 5-year anniversary  which reads: "Windproof Zippo Lighter - A Week's Trial, Then All the While- Zippo's 5th Year Anniversary".		  
The three lighters above are dated 1982 and are prototypes for the commemoration of Zippo's 50th Anniversary.  The official lighter issued for the commemoration was a plain brass Zippo with diagonal lines and a special bottom bearing the 1932 and 1982 dates and was distributed in a box with the Windy design. The Zippos above which are engraved with Windy and "Commemorative Lighter 1932-1982" have the special bottoms and are quite rare as 50th Anniversary Zippos with Windy did apparently never go into full production.
 
       

In 1993 Zippo issued as it "Collectible of the Year" a limited
edition commemorative lighter featuring a high-polish chrome
case with a pewter "1935 Varga Girl" replica emblem in a
collector's tin, also with Windy's image.  The toned Zippo on the
far left is silver plated with a gold plated emblem; the middle is
engraved brass and the right is engraved on a high-polished chrome.
  All are dated 1993 and are prototypes.
 
       

1999 Zippo with Windy in a  red dress & cape on matte finish case which reads: "Zippo Lady Circa 1935".
Windy in a light
"green dress and cape on 1993 high-polish Zippo with "Commemorative Edition since 1932 Windproof Lighters" .
1999 high-polish Zippo with Windy in a blue dress and yellow cape which reads: "Windproof Beauty -
If any Zippo Lighter ever fails to work,
we'll fix it free -
Zippo - Zippo
Manufacturing Co."
A beautiful 1999 high-polish  Zippo with a large Windy dressed
in red. 
       
       

1999 high-polish Zippo with Windy in a green dress and white cape which reads: "United States of America
Zippo American
Classic Zippo Manufacturing Co."
1999 high-polish
Zippo with Windy
in a yellow dress & red cape which
reads: "Zippo is the one lighter that will pass the fan test. Y
our dealer will prove it to you. Hundreds
of thousands
of Zippo Lighters -
Zippo
Manufacturing Co."
1999 high-polish
Zippo with Windy
in a brown dress
and yellow cape
which reads: "American Classic - Zippo Since 1932".
1999 Zippo with 
Windy dressed in
red on a high polish
on an engraved high-polish chrome finish: "Limited Edition for Okinawa 1999 No.
0013 Zippo's First
Lady" .
 

See more Zippos:  Scrimshaws - Coca-Cola - Early Zippos -Town & Country - Windy Zippos , more Zippo Zippos or go to the Gallery Index