Print advertisements, brochures, and TV commercials help give us a glimpse into the automotive past. Today’s ad collection shines a spotlight on the 1960 Ford Motor Company domestic American car lineup, which featured four main models — the brand-new, compact Falcon, full-size Fairlane and Galaxie, and the second-generation, luxury Thunderbird — as well as the usual assortment of wagons and trucks.
1960 was a fairly significant year for Ford in terms of change. On the consumer front, the recently introduced Galaxie was completely remodeled, while the Falcon made its debut. The Falcon represented Ford’s entry into the compact car market, and its development was spearheaded by company president Robert S. McNamara — who in 1961 became United States Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy. The Falcon was marketed along with the third-generation Fairlane as Ford’s “Economy Twins.”
One of the curious things about Ford’s 1960 campaign is their use of the Peanuts characters to sell cars. They showed up both in print ads (see one of the Falcon entries below) and TV spots. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Snoopy’s been hawking life insurance for years, but still, it’s pretty bizarre to see Charlie Brown and his friends smoking cigars to celebrate new Fords.
(To see other car lineup advertisement galleries, click here. Got a request for other years and makes? Let me know in the Comments section.)
(Some brochure images sourced from The Old Car Manual Project.)
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Performance models are well catered for in the Falcon series. Those who want the Turbo 6 or FPV V8 is very unlikely to their minds and four receive change. The new potential customers for a performance four falcon is so tiny insignificant. Perhaps the XR trim for those who want private buyer, but that’s about it.
In the early to mid 1970s my dad bought a used Ford Falcon as a second car to get back and forth to work. My oldest brother used it once he was old enough to drive. It was the cutest little car. (We called it the Falcoon.) If you ever find anything on the 1958 Plymouth Fury, I’d love to see it. That was the car my dad bought after he got out of the service and was dating my mom. It was pretty hot.
I can certainly add the ’58 Plymouths to my list for future posts.