Socially and culturally, 1986 was a pretty big year. It was the year that the space shuttle Challenger was lost, and the year Pixar Animation Studios was formed. Microsoft stock was first sold to the public in 1986, and The Oprah Winfrey Show made its debut in syndication.
Car sales hit a new record high for 1986, with more than 11.4 million vehicles sold. Looking back, we have chosen ten of our favorite print ads from ’86 and shared them below.
If you were driving in 1986, please tell us what you spent time behind the wheel of. We’d love to know what you were driving when you rushed home to catch a new episode of “ALF.”
Hiding Behind a Familiar Grille: The Captive Imports of 1987
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Dodge and Plymouth
Jaguar
’80s Flashback: 1987 Mercury Merkur Rapido XR4Ti
Merkur
Nissan
Pontiac
Volkswagen
Yugo