Tag: cars
Brochure Beauties #8: 1937 Willys, The Surprise Car of the Year!
It's hard to believe that I'm almost 10 entries into this series and haven't shared any car brochures. Luckily I found a real gem for the first one. This brochure highlights the new 1937 Willys, with the slogan "The Surprise Car of the Year." The typeface and color scheme are very much of their era, and are a pure delight.
The first image breaks down (OK, unfortunate phrasing) the cost of ownership over 35,000 miles. Can't say I've ever seen a car brochure give a depreciation amount before.
Next up is the money shot, a pretty nice looking pre-war car that boasts up to 35 miles per gallon.
Next we get several exterior and interior shots, with some very well-dressed people looking very approvingly at the beautiful bench seats, roomy interior and spacious trunk.
Kodachrome Memories #5: Parking Lot at the Pentagon, 1949(?)
This slide is purportedly an image of the Pentagon parking lot, but is not dated. The seller indicated that other slides in the same batch were dated 1949, which seems plausible given the design of the cars I can see. As always, if any car experts can chime in with some makes and models that would be a huge help.
Retrotisements — A Year in the Life (1967)
In past ad galleries I've typically stuck with a particular theme or product, such as holiday-themed ads or new car lineups. I'm going to try something new and product an ad gallery from a single year, covering a wide range or products and services. Basically, a sort of visual shorthand to see what someone would've seen in print or TV ads in a particular year. Think of this as a virtual department store of sorts.
For the first edition I thought I'd travel back exactly 50 years to 1967. Let's browse!
Automobiles
Consumer Electronics
Entertainment
Fashion
Food and Beverage
Health and Beauty
Household Goods
Travel
Retrotisements — 1980 Pontiac New Car Lineup
It's been a looong time since my last new car ad gallery -- just over three years in fact since my 1970 Dodge post. For the return of this series, let's fast forward one decade to the dawn of the '80s and the lineup for GM's Pontiac make.
The theme for these ads was a pretty clever twist on the MPG initialism. In this case it stood for:
More Pontiac to the Gallon
More Pontiac Excitement to the Gallon
More Pontiac Excitement for the Great Ones
The only model I wasn't able to find a good print ad for is the Sunbird, so if anyone can help me out please let me know.
(To see other car lineup advertisement galleries, click here. Got a request for other years and makes? Let me know in the Comments section.)
1980 Pontiac Compacts
1980 Pontiac Mid-Sizes
1980 Pontiac Full
Kodachrome Memories #3: Sears Parking Lot, 1940s
Some of the best old Kodachrome slides you can come across are of parking lots. They give you the chance to see a nice cross-section of cars, sure, but they also offer a hint as to the economic condition of the area. A bunch of rusted old junkers paints a very different picture than a lot full of shiny, newer models.
This is a great selection of pre and post-war models, including at least two Woodie station wagons. And as an even bigger bonus, you can see a Sears storefront, from a time when they reigned as one of the great retail operations in America.
Good times, my friends, good times.
If anyone can identify any of the cars in this picture, please leave a comment.
Congrats to Lexus on the Most Obnoxious Holiday Commercials of All-Time
Lexus, a perennial contender for the most annoying holiday commercials of the year, has roared back to the top of my Most Hated Christmas Commercial list in 2011 for all-time after being temporarily dethroned in 2010 by the Hyundai Hipsters. Incredibly, they've found a way to amp up the obnoxiousness even more this time by playing cutesy with their stupid "December to Remember" jingle. If you haven't seen this spot from 2011, get a barf bag handy:
Look, I don't normally encourage class jealousy or class warfare, but this is just fucking ridiculous. Who exactly does this campaign appeal to, if not privileged, upper-class white people without an ounce of shame? At least this year's Acura holiday ads try to be funny.
If it makes you feel any better, feel free to sing along with
Angela Dorian’s Playboy Playmate Pink 1968 AMX
According to at least one source, in 1964 Playboy magazine started giving away so-called Playmate Pink automobiles as prizes to the women selected as Playmate of the Year. For 1968, Angela Dorian -- born Victoria Vetri -- was given the honor and a brand-new 1968 pink AMC AMX, the first model year for the sports car.
This AMX was powered by the base 290 V8 with automatic transmission, air conditioning, tilt wheel, AM/8-track radio and optional rear bumper guards. In addition to the paint job, this car differed from other AMXs in that its dashboard number plate contained Dorian's measurements, making her car AMX 36-24-35.
According to my exhaustive internet sleuthing, Dorian still owns the car, which is now black. At least that's as of 2010, when she was arrested for attempted murd...