
Have you ever attended a party at a good friend’s house only to be stunned by all the people in attendance that you don’t know?
Even close friends have past lives—old jobs, distant relatives, neighbors—connections unknown to you. It can seem strange at first, but it makes sense. We can’t know everything about our friends–even ones we’ve known a long time.
Well, automakers are a little like your party-throwing friends. You think you know everything an auto builder makes and sells, and then you go and learn that the company has all sorts of connections you know nothing about.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeO8RaEAGgU]
The truck world can be especially surprising. Turns out that American-made and American-brand trucks have been sold in countries all over the world, and often in forms that seem, ahem, almost completely foreign.
Collected here is a gallery of print ads for American-brand trucks sold in other nations. Note, too, a couple of Fargo ads–Fargo was technically a foreign-market brand employed by Chrysler primarily in Canada and Mexico, though the trucks showed up in Europe as well.
American Truck Ads From Foreign Markets
1949 Studebaker

South Bend Madness! 10 Classic Studebaker Ads
1950 Fargo

South of the Border Madness! 10 Classic Mexican-Market Auto Ads
1953 Fargo

Canadian Confusion: GM’s Short-Lived Passport Dealerships
1961 Fargo

Mass-Transit Madness! A Gallery of Classic Bus Ads
1961 Ford

1961 Jeep

1964 Chevrolet

Grabowsky Madness! 10 Classic GMC Ads
1965 Ford

Bulldog Madness! 10 Classic Mack Truck Ads
1971 Dodge

Aussie Madness! 12 Classic Ute Ads
1973 Chrysler

Pentastar Madness! A Gallery of Classic Chrysler Ads
1983 Jeep

4WD Madness! 10 Classic Jeep Ads
2000 Chevrolet

Listen to the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast