Ad courtesy of Lov2XLR8.no. Imagine this: It’s 1990, and you’re fresh out of college, trade school, or the military, looking to buy your first new car. You come from a long line of bow-tie loyalists,...
Advertisement and brochure images courtesy of Lov2XLR8.no. Ruth Campanelli’s husband was having a mid-life crisis. Perhaps he set out to buy a Ford Mustang (a 390-powered Mustang GT fastback would be...
1978 Corvette print advertising. Magazine ads and brochure images courtesy Lov2XLR8.no. In 1978, Chevrolet marked a milestone anniversary for its celebrated sports car: The Corvette turned 25 years o...
Can you imagine buying tires for your car knowing that they are only guaranteed to last 5,000 miles? Considering that the average American motorist drives 12,000 to 15,000 miles every year, that mean...
1964 Pontiac ad. Images courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society. Ads from automakers today tout things like fuel economy, display screen size, and cargo space. In 1964, Pontiac took a...
Art courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society. I wonder how many muscle car devotees conjured up their ultimate 1972 GTO from this ad during the model year. For anyone who construed the...
1969 Mercury Marauder X-100 brochure courtesy of Lov2XLR8.no. Life is all about compromise. For maximum velocity, weight is the enemy, which typically means that smaller is favorable to larger. Not e...
Vintage advertisements courtesy Lov2XLR8.no. Introduced for the 1967 model year, Chevrolet’s Camaro was designed to go head-to-head with the phenomenally successful Ford Mustang. By the Camaro’s thir...
The team of Fitz and Van (Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman) created highly praised advertising artwork for Pontiac in this era. Vintage artwork courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society....
1967 Rambler Rogue advertisement, courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society. American Motors’ print ad leaves little to the imagination with its depiction of young adults reinstalling t...
Vintage ads courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society. Many automakers diversified their advertising content for the same car to reach more potential buyers, and Pontiac was no differen...
1968 Plymouth Road Runner. Ad courtesy Lov2XLR8. A casual observer may have said that Mopar had all the muscle cars it needed in 1967, but Chrysler’s market research indicated that simply wasn’t the ...
Magazine ad courtesy of LOV2XLR8. Introduced for the 1975 model year, Ford’s Granada was initially intended to replace a pair of aging mid-sizers: the Maverick and the Torino. In marketing its newest...
The 1990 Acura NSX debuts at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show. Photo courtesy Honda Motor Company, Ltd.; ad photography courtesy the author’s collection. For decades, Japanese cars were about simple reliab...
1970 Buick GSX print ad, courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society. By all accounts, the 1970 Buick Gran Sport 455 was the then-ultimate muscle car from GM’s most conservative brand, po...
Ford Mustang Mach 1 magazine ad courtesy Lov2XLR8.no. Introduced in August 1968 as a 1969 model, Ford’s Mustang Mach 1 was intended to be the Swiss Army Knife of pony cars. With a matte-black hood, h...
Photo by author. Longtime readers of the Hemmings Daily will recall me mentioning that my parents owned a 1965 GTO when I was very young. It was Burgundy with a black interior, the 360-hp Tri-Power e...
Magazine ad from the author’s collection. Remember the scene in the movie Viva Las Vegas when Elvis and Cesare Danova (aka, Count Elmo Mancini) are lying under the Count’s Ferrari when Ann-Margret wa...
1954 De Soto Coronado. Brochure and ad scans from author’s collection. During the boom years of the immediate postwar era, auto manufacturers were doing their best to create ads that touted their new...
Magazine ads courtesy of Lov2XLR8.no. When Dodge introduced its redesigned Charger for the 1968 model year, chief of design Bill Brownlie believed the sportier and more aerodynamic two-door hardtop p...
Ads courtesy of the Automotive History Preservation Society If you’ve ever noticed that sometimes the car in the ad looks a bit different from the car that you buy, you may find this blog entertainin...
If ever there was an era of false advertising claims, the 1950s had to be it. It seemed as if you could have said – and claimed – anything about the thingamajig you made and market it as such. Not on...
Photo of GM ad by author. Though the Oldsmobile ad/brochure that I blogged about a few weeks ago ( Spooky 1969 Olds Literature: Dr. Oldsmobile Creates a W-Machine. Or Two. ) featured an elaborate vin...
Print ad courtesy Production Cars.com. Formerly part of Auto Union with DKW, Horch and Wanderer, Audi didn’t (re)exist as a brand until 1969. The marque made its U.S. debut for the 1970 model year, w...