Posts from ‘Favorite Car Ads’
Favorite Car Ads: 1975 Triumph TR7
1975 Triumph TR7
Though I was already reading car magazines in 1975, I have a clearer memory of the TV commercials for the Triumph TR7 than I do the print ads. That said, I recall the print ads, too, and they had a profound impact on my development as a car guy.
Favorite Car Ads: 1968 Dodge Charger
1968 Dodge Charger
The 1968 Dodge Charger is an unassailable classic muscle car, and one of the most sinisterly beautiful cars ever made. The new-for-1968 Dodge and Plymouth intermediate cars had shed almost all the dowdiness of their earlier-1960s counterparts, introducing sleeker new shapes that seemed tailor-made for scoops and stripes… and the Dodge Charger’s transformation was the most dramatic of the bunch.
1988 Volvo Turbo Wagon (left) and 1988 Lamborghini Countach
When you’re an automaker whose advertising people have spent years brilliantly crafting a message of safety and reliability, you’re going to need to do something special when you add performance to the mix. And so it was when Volvo wanted to get the word out about its turbocharged models—especially the wagons.
Favorite Car Ads: 1959 Rolls-Royce
1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud
Rolls-Royce doesn’t advertise much. Sure, the legendary British ultra-luxury-car builder often sponsors special events, but you rarely see Rolls print or TV ads, and you never see digital promotions.
Favorite Car Ads: 1937 Cord 812
1937 Cord 812 Phaeton Convertible
Question: What’s the nicest graduation gift you ever received… high school or college? If it was a car, you’re one of those people that everyone else in your class hated. Still, kudos to you. Scoring a car as gift—for any reason—is pretty cool. I suspect your grades were better than mine.
Favorite Car Ads: 1976 Ford Granada
You can’t have it both ways… that is, you can’t have it both ways unless you worked in Ford’s marketing department in the mid-to-late Seventies.
Favorite Car Ads: 1934 Tatra 77
1934 Tatra 77
It’s a shame that Tatra isn’t better known to American auto enthusiasts, because the Czechoslovakian automaker produced some of the most interesting cars and trucks of the industry’s first century.
1976 Ford Mustang II
I had this ad taped up in my high-school locker during my senior year. Not because I was a Mustang II fan—I was not—but because this ad so plainly laid bare how desperately Ford wanted their pony car to perceived as European and high tech, which it really wasn’t. (Note: I’m not quite that old. I graduated high school in 1983, and had found the Mustang ad in a back issue of Popular Science, I think.)
Favorite Car Ads: 1949 Ford
In high school, a buddy of mine and I often traded notes between classes. These notes consisted of little more than the random wit and doodles of two really bored teenagers, but they were often pretty funny. One practice we engaged in was creating ad copy for fake products. This copy was always rich with absurd branded slogans and liberal use of the ™ tag.
