If you’re impressed by attention to detail, you’ll certainly be impressed by this 1974 Volvo print ad. While American carmakers at the time were selling consumers on style and affordable luxury, Volvo was sharing with car shoppers the virtues of its seats. Really. The driver’s seat specifically.
Apparently, and I don’t actually doubt this, the Volvo driver’s seat was designed to promote long-trip comfort, and make you a better driver. While this is entirely consistent with period Volvo advertising—which entirely eschewed claims of power, luxury, or style—it is surprising that even Volvo would go into this much detail about a single feature of the car. Of course, to tie the message up neatly, the ad text concludes with this:
If this seems like a lot of thought to put into the place where you sit, you’ll be even more impressed by something else. The thinking that went into place where we put our seat. Our car.
Now, it is interesting that in the single image of the whole vehicle, the vehicle does appear to be hustling along. Perhaps a subliminal suggestion that even though your Volvo has been thoughtfully engineered and was well screwed together, there’s still a good time to be had?
Also, and we haven’t actually counted, how many period Volvo ads featured a car of this color, or the yellow below?
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1974 Volvo Gallery
(Click below for enlarged images)
