So after finding the poor abused RAR last weekend and seeing the RAR that has been, uh... restored for sale on eBay I thought it might be interesting to see a genuine mint RAR.
This first generation rocker is in our personal collection. We have had it for many years since it was discovered in the closet at an estate sale. It presumably was put away and not used for most of its life. It is in freakishly mint condition, looking essentially as it did the day it was purchased.
This chair has the wire struts arranged differently than the standard RAR. This was the original design, with the front wire struts crossing as they travel to the back legs. It was determined that this arrangement took too much space and posed a potential problem with the sitters legs being hung up on the struts. It was changed within the first few months to the configuration most commonly seen. Some other details of note on this chair are the perfect condition of the gel coat, the swirls caused by the fiberglass being hand-laid, the pristine runners, and even though the chair is in mint condition, there is still oxidation to the zinc base from age and exposure to air.
<img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment wpforoimg" src=" http://old.designaddict.com/sites/default/files/forum/IMG_5674. 
Here is another
This Zenith rope-edge LAX, like our RAR is in amazing original condition. The coolest thing about it is the color. Red was one of the original colors, but the pigment they used (like many reds) was fugative and faded when exposed to sunlight over time. Subsequently, most red Zenith armshells have a pink or coral color today. I bought it from the original owner and this chair spent its life in a basement away from direct sunlight so the red color is still very vivid. I think it's pretty cool to see how bright these chairs were originally. Also the LAX is quite uncommon as it was soon replaced by the cat's cradle as the lowest height chair base.
I'm ignorant.
Why is this called a rope-edge model ? I assumed that the term referred to an edging found on some upholstered shell chairs . . .
Love that rocker ! It seems there are no wires between the front "struts." Wouldn't this be the most convenient configuration, calf-wise ?
SDR...
The rope edge was a tactic used by Eames and Zenith Plastics in the startup to producing the fiberglass shell chairs. They were having trouble with cracking and breakage at the edges of the chairs and so used rope to reinforce the edging of the chairs.
The problem with the first production rocker base was liability. Whilst sitting, it's very comfortable to rest your feet on the runners, behind the struts. Extremely comfortable actually, that is until you rock forward and squeeze your achilles between the struts and the floor. Very painful. I've given it a go just for fun like. Turns out it's not fun.
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