Classic Car Ads: Safety

Safety sells, but we weren’t always all that safe.

I havent heard much about how safety sells in recent years. Automotively, weve moved on from safetyin general termsto Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). ADAS systems include things like blind-spot alert, rear cross-traffic alert, pedestrian detection, and lane-keep assist. Really, stuff we should all be pretty good at by nowwithout help.

More classic car ads

But before the technological ramp-up to the autonomous-car era–which we are now insafety was a bigger deal. Consider that, for the first half of the automotive era, most cars were equipped only with drum brakes, which were much less effective than disc brakes, and suffered diminished performance when things got wet.

Tires commonly suffered blowouts, and there was no such thing as rollover protection. As a reminder of the safety features we now take for granted, we have collected a number of vintage car ads. Peruse them at your leisure, and tell us what you think about vintage safety systems.